The Celtic League

British Irish Institutions 4-3-2010

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 22:20:25 +0000

The League’s Director of Information (DOI) was interviewed on Manx Radio this week ahead of a British – Irish Parliamentary Association conference due to take place on the island later this year.

Bernard Moffatt was interviewed on the programme to find out what the position of the League is in relation to closer cooperation between the different Irish and British parliamentary jurisdictions and whether he thought there were any benefits.

In the interview Mr Moffatt said that following devolution across the UK, “these sorts of institutions are more important” than they were in the past and that they had probably helped the island’s government to see the wider picture on particular issues than they might have done previously. However, Mr Moffatt explained that from a Celtic League perspective “we would prefer an institution that brings together the Celtic countries”, but the British – Irish Parliamentary Association – and similar organisations – go a considerable way towards that. Though Mr Moffatt pointed out that the League is not particularly a fan of promoting ties with a `wider dimension’ than the Celtic countries.
Mr Moffatt pointed out that links should be strengthened between parliamentarians in “adjacent jurisdictions” rather than in working with organisations like the Commonwealth. He added that:

“… as long as there is a strict monitoring of the interchanges of this type of assembly and it doesn’t become just a talking shop and an excuse for a holiday, then I think they should be promoted and there should be more Manx involvement in it. After all the Isle of Man is uniquely placed, it is right at the heart of the British Isles and we are uniquely placed geographically to be a centre.”

The British Irish Parliamentary Association (BIPA) that is due to meet in the Isle of Man is different from the better known British – Irish Council. The BIPA was established in 1990 to specifically bring together members of the Irish and UK Parliaments and the British Irish Council was established in 1998 as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

The British Irish Council met together last month in Edinburgh and for the first time Cornwall was represented on the Council as an observer member. It was suggested that Cornwall became an observer member of the Council last year by the (Plaid Cymru) Welsh representative on the British Irish Council. Brittany is now the only Celtic country that does not have a presence on the British Irish Council.

At their 2009 Annual General Assembly (AGM) in Cornwall/Kernow the Celtic League discussed a draft paper, written by the League’s General Secretary, entitled `A Celtic Council’. The paper set out various possible models of cooperation that could be followed in order to establish more formal links between the Celtic counties. The issue will be further discussed at the League’s 2010 AGM in the Isle of Man later this year.

Link:

British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA)

www.biipb.org

British-Irish Council

http://www1.british-irishcouncil.org/

Manx Radio Broadcast

http://www.youtube.com/user/celticleaguetv

This article prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary Celtic League. For follow-up comment or clarification contact:

Tel: 0044 (0)1209315884
M: 0044(0)7787318666
gensec@celticleague.net

MANNIN: Bobbies on the beat? Or up the mountain!

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:29:08 +0000

What seemed like a fairly robust dismissal by the Isle of Man Chief Constable of concerns that his officers were involved in a politically motivated crack-down on Nationalist agitation has it seems an increasingly hollow ring with some members of the public.

As more information comes to light it is clear that the reaction to this outbreak of alleged nationalist graffiti has prompted a different reaction from Manx police than other examples of graffiti and criminal damage around the Island. The media may not have noticed this but some of those in the community have. Questions are being posed as to why numerous squads of officers are spending hours on surveillance in remote country areas of the Isle of Man whilst residential areas are virtually unpoliced.

Persons contacting the Celtic League is recent days (who have made it clear that they do not sympathise with those responsible for the recent daubing) have said that, in their view, police in the past have been either lukewarm or indifferent to random graffiti.

In another instance a person (who again stressed he did not support the daubing) was incensed by the Chief Constables assertion on Manx Radio that his force was dealing with the incidents in the same way they would deal with any criminal damage, pointing out that they had been less than robust in dealing with damage to a vehicle reported by his family.

It is clear that even amongst people who find the daubing activities repugnant there is also a considerable degree of unease over the proportionality of the police response.

One respondent cited vandalism to whole streets of cars in the past where the only police response was an appeal for information on Manx Radio. He asked why they don’t have groups of officers out “in residential areas rather than having them running around the hills looking for nationalists”

. He also qualified his remarks by saying that he did not condone the `nationalist daubing’ but the police had `lost the plot’.

BREIZH: Successful demonstration in support of reunification 27-2-2010

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:27:48 +0000

There has been a large demonstration today involving several thousand people who support the Breton campaign for reunification.

We hope in due course to have a more detailed report which will be carried on either Celtic News or in the next issue of Carn.

There is an article with illustrations on the Agence Bretagne Presse news site at:

http://www.agencebretagnepresse.com/fetch.php?id=17559

(For those without a good knowledge of French a reasonable translation can be accessed using the Babelfish translation site).

The turn out for today’s demonstration is a clear indication to its organisers that strong support exists for the reunification agenda and it is certain that other protests and demonstrations will follow.

The Celtic League (CL) outside Brittany can compliment the struggle by CL branches sending messages of support (see link below):

http://44breizh.com/

Note: Loire-Atlantique (department number 44) was originally part of Brittany, and contains what many people still consider to be Brittany’s capital, Nantes. The area was separated from Brittany in 1941 by the Vichy regime.

ÉIRE: Irish government asked to help trace missing CR gas

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:26:41 +0000

The Celtic League has asked the Irish government to press the UK on the whereabouts of several hundred canisters of CR Gas which was held in N. Ireland in the 1970-80s and has now `disappeared’

The League say chemical disposals of this type should take place under controlled circumstances and the fear is that the CR with its highly carcinogenic constituents has simply been dumped in landfill sites.

“Minister for Foreign Affairs
Micheál Martin TD
Department of Foreign Affairs
80 St Stephen’s Green,
Dublin 2

24/02/10

Dear Minister

I write with reference to our correspondence with your Office in January and your reply (Ref. AI1000013)

I attach the text of a reply from the MOD to our query.

`Ref: UKCT&R/Parliamentary/TO/20100217_TO00459

Dear Mr Moffatt

Thank you for your letter of 16 January 2010 to the Secretary of State for Defence requesting information on the stocks and subsequent disposal of CR gas in Northern Ireland. Your letter has been passed to this office to reply.

We have extensively trawled through our records, unfortunately, due to the passage of time we have been unable to locate any official records relating to the retention and destruction of CR gas in Northern Ireland.

I am sorry to give what I know will be a disappointing reply.

Paul Stephenson
Operations Directorate’

I am bound to say that I find this communication the most baffling of all the correspondence on this matter.

The UK seem to hold secure records which indicate this chemical agent was not used at the prison but they hold no information on the disposal of all the CR held in N Ireland and elsewhere. Such disposals will have occurred some years after the problems at the Prison and we are therefore not talking about `historical records’.

You will be aware that there are strict International controls over chemical weapons (these stocks were held by the military) and it is extremely worrying that they simply seem to have disappeared.

Disposals of this type would have been handled by the UK’s Porton Down establishment and if so the absence of records is odd!

The lack of clarity is further compounded by the fact that the UK government have in the past produced comprehensive records on such disposals from as far back as the 1950s

Perhaps you could make some enquiries from your UK counterpart it would be most disturbing if toxic material has simply been disposed of in landfills or dumped in the various sea dumps of Irelands North and North East coasts.

Yours sincerely,

J B Moffatt (Mr)”

UK border agency racism allegations 27-2-2010

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:25:03 +0000

Shocking allegations about alleged racism in the UK Border Agency have been publicised by Plaid Cymru Assembly Member Bethan Jenkins.

In an article on the WalesHome.Org website she cites the revelations of former Border Agency official Louise Perrett and says these allegations must be investigated (link below):

http://waleshome.org/2010/02/we-must-investigation-uk-border-agency-allegations/

There is a quite disgusting litany of concerns outlined which if proven would seem to indicate that bigotry and intolerance is endemic within the body.

Some of the more shocking allegations Louise Perrett claims to have witnessed include a case worker seek out the opinion of two team leaders and the legal department because she did not want to approve a Congolese woman’s application for asylum. An officer in the legal department, Louise says, responded by singing: “Umbongo, umbongo, they kill them in the Congo.”

In another instance Perrett says the `grant monkey’, a stuffed gorilla, was placed on the desk of any officer who approved an asylum application, as a mark of shame.

The Celtic League has in the past clashed with Border Agency political head, Phil Woolas MP over access to the UK for Welsh language students from Patagonia (see link):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/message/3181

Woolas himself has also attracted controversy with some of his remarks such as when he suggested a Moslem teaching assistant should be suspended for wearing her veil in class (see link):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/6050392.stm

So far the Border Agency and Woolas remain reticent on the Perrett allegations so we hope that individuals and NGOs will support Bethan Jenkins call for a full investigation.

EASA evaluating information on Slovak Dublin explosives flight 27-2-2010

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:23:42 +0000

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has responded to a concern expressed by the Celtic League last month about the deliberate planting of explosives on a scheduled airline flight from the Slovak Republic to Ireland.

In January as part of what Slovak authorities called a `security exercise’ the explosives were placed on the plane at Poprad-Tatry Airport. Subsequently the explosives passed undetected through Dublin airport and were finally seized by Gardai at a flat in the City centre. The passenger whose baggage was used was completely unaware of the incident until Irish police swooped and although briefly arrested was completely exonerated of any involvement. He was said to be `traumatised’ by the events.

Following revelations about the bizarre incident the Celtic League wrote to EASA and asked if it to conducting an enquiry. The reply, from Chief Legal Adviser, F Manuhutu says that the body is:

“evaluating the information provided and will come back as soon as possible”

Though diplomatic interest in the incident soon dissipated the issue of how explosives could be planted on a plane and remain undetected for so long continues to be unresolved.

Related link on Celtic News (also contains link to Irish Times report on the matter) here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/message/3210

MANNIN: Debate over police tactics continues 27-2-2010

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:22:12 +0000

The debate over police tactics on the Isle of Man, in the wake of an outbreak of apparently nationalist inspired graffiti, continues to provoke debate and controversy.

Following our publication of the experiences of a young man stopped by Police near Ballacraine, in the west of the Island, at Christmas, a member of the legislature has also voiced concerns.

Writing in an article comments column of Isle of Man newspapers, Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), Juan Turner, expresses his view that the police should aspire to be a community force. Mr Turner said:

“I fully agree with Mr Moffatt about needing a Community Police Force. Having been at a function one evening a year or so ago, it was a really cold but fine clear night so I made the 3.5 mile walk home in the early hours of the morning having left the car at home. Whilst walking along Peel Road on the pavement opposite the Milestone garage, a police van drove across the road, stopped – facing the wrong way up the road and started questioning me as to where I was going, where I had been and who I was. Why they felt the need to come tearing across the carriageway like some emergency I really don’t know. It was rather intimidating and high handed, especially as there was two of them and one of me. Had I have told them to mind their own business I’m sure that they would have found a reason to put me in the van – because that is how they operate. I don’t accept the old excuse that ‘we are just being vigilant’, there is a difference between that and just being a general nuisance to the public.”

(The full text can be accessed on the link below):

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Police-deny-hounding-nationalists.6097137.jp

However, some attitudes on the Island are more trenchant and the MLC was immediately taken to task by an anonymous contributor who asks him caustically:

“I take it next time you get assaulted or have your house burgled you wont bother calling the police. Police officers are supposed to ask questions and if you are wandering around at 3am on Peel Road next to industrial estates that have been burgled you will get stopped and asked what you are up to.”

Sadly Mr Turner’s critic seems unaware that the most famous burglary of industrial premises on Peel Road in Douglas was committed by a group of Police Officers themselves back in the 1980s, who gave a whole new meaning to the term `late night shopping’.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/celtic_league/message/3260

Baltic hell of imprisoned Irishman is to close 26-2-2010

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:30:09 +0000

The ‘Baltic hell’ being endured by imprisoned Irishman Michael Campbell is to eventually be closed but in the medium term there will be no change to the appalling conditions that he and others in the jail have to endure

Prison conditions at the Lithuanian Prison where Campbell is held were once again the subject of criticism this month.

Professor Rod Morgan, an independent expert in criminal justice and the former head of Britain’s Youth Justice Board has produced a report which re-iterates earlier criticisms by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which in 2008 inspected the Lukiskes Remand Prison in Vilnius.

Michael Campbell has been held on remand in Lukiskes prison for almost two years and the Celtic League have repeatedly raised the circumstances of his prison conditions with both Lithuanian and Irish authorities.

The 2008 CPT report found conditions at the prison were `totally unacceptable’ with overcrowded cells in a poor state of repair and filthy, little or no access to natural light, inadequate artificial lighting, lack of ventilation, unhygienic toilets, inadequate drinking water provision and absence of outdoor exercise facilities.

Violence and suicides at the remand facility are also alarmingly high.

The Lithuanian authorities have finally started to comprehend the unacceptable nature of conditions at Lukiskes and on a visit to the Prison last month the Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, announced it is to close.

However, this news is likely to be cold comfort to Michael Campbell who has had to endure years on imprisonment in this Baltic hell and in the medium term nothing will change.

Series of (carefully choreographed images) of the visit by President Grybauskaite to the infamous jail cannot conceal depressing nature of the facility – link here:

http://www.president.lt/en/press_center/photographs/26-01-2010/sladeshow/4528.html#view

The Full report of the CPT on its most recent inspection of police and prisons
in Lithuania can be found at:

http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/ltu/2009-22-inf-eng.htm#_Toc217276983

ALBA: Draft referendum bill published 25-2-2010

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:35:10 +0000

The Scottish Government has published its draft referendum bill on independence today (25th February 2010), which it will put out for consultation.

The draft Referendum Bill outlines the options that voters will have and was described by First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, as an opportunity for the Scottish people to decide the future of Scotland as a nation. The bill outlines two options that will be put on separate ballot papers, with the first asking if voters want Scotland to have new devolved powers and the second will ask if “The parliament’s powers should also be extended to enable independence to be achieved.”

The consultation presents the public with two alternative questions for the first ballot. The first option regards granting maximum devolution in all areas for Scotland, with the exception of defence, foreign affairs and finance regulation and the second option available regards giving Scotland the much more limited recommendations of the Calman Report.

The draft Bill also includes rules about the conduct of the poll and earlier this week it was announced that a Scottish Referendum Commission would be set up to oversee the future poll. The Celtic League wrote to the European Union this year to ask if it would consider sending election observers to monitor any referendum vote to ensure that no unfair practices occur.

Speaking today at the launch of the consultation, First Minister Salmond said:

“The Scottish Government believe in the sovereignty of the people. And as set out in the manifesto on which we were elected, we are committed to giving people the opportunity to express their views in a referendum.

“The importance of referendums on constitutional matters across the UK is clear, with the National Assembly for Wales having voted unanimously for a referendum to extend its powers, and Westminster backing a referendum on reforming the electoral system. There is no reason why Scotland should be treated differently, or less democratically.

“More than 10 years on from the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, the debate in Scotland is no longer about whether or not the Parliament should take on new responsibilities – it is about the form of change, and that issue underpins the consultation. The people want our Parliament to be able to do more, so the debate is now about how much more. And it is time the people had their say.

“I believe that the future prosperity and development of our country is best served by Scotland becoming independent, and the Scottish Government would campaign for a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote in the referendum – ‘yes’ to more responsibilities for the Parliament, and ‘yes’ to additional powers to enable independence to be achieved. “‘Yes-Yes’ was the winning campaign in 1997 – and will be a winning campaign for Scotland again.

“The case for an independent Scotland is stronger and more urgent following the economic crisis. It is exactly the powers and flexibility offered by independence that Scotland needs in order to support recovery now, and deal effectively with the challenges and opportunities of the future. But I recognise that there are also those who argue that the responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament should be extended in more limited ways.

“The draft Bill reflects that and provides the framework for a referendum shaped by the people of Scotland. I look forward to the consultation, the debate on the Bill – and to campaigning for a ‘Yes-Yes’ vote in the referendum itself.”

The Celtic League took part in the National Conversation consultation that ran from August 2007 to November 2009 and plans to also contribute to the Referendum (Scotland) Bill consultation, which runs between Thursday February 25 and closes on Friday April 30 2010.

Links:

www.scotland.gov.uk/referendum

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/a-national-conversation

This article prepared for Celtic News by Rhisiart Tal-e-bot General Secretary Celtic League. For follow-up comment or clarification contact:

Tel: 0044 (0)1209315884
M: 0044(0)7787318666
gensec@celticleague.net

British nuclear directorate evasive about plant stormwater issue 25-2-2010

admin — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:33:43 +0000

The Celtic League are continuing to press the HSE Nuclear Directorate (ND) about the monitoring of storm water outfalls at Sellafield following the unusual weather event in November 2009.

So far the ND seem reticent about commenting on events at that time (see below):

“Mike Weightman
HM Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations
and Director, Nuclear Directorate
4N.2 Redgrave Court
Merton Road
Bootle
L20 7HS

25/02/10

Dear Mr Weightman,

I wrote to you earlier this month asking about the monitoring of potentially polluted storm water outfalls from the Sellafield plant during the extraordinary flooding event in Cumbria in November 2009.

The query, which is clearly related to the monitoring of the safe operation of the plant was first responded to (promptly) with a holding reply and subsequently with a response from Dorothy Rimmer (Deputy/ND FOIA Officer) dated 22 February 2010 (unreferenced)

Ms Rimmer advises:

`It would appear that due to the nature of your enquiry , it would be for the Environment Agency to respond’.

I do not accept (given the substance of our query) that this is the case. Our query is directed primarily at achieving an appreciation of what you at the Nuclear Directorate do to ensure possible pollutants are not accidentally emitted from storm water outfalls at the site. If the answer to this is `nothing’ please advise accordingly.

You will be aware that unusual flooding events can prove problematic for nuclear installations, as was evidenced by the incident at Blayais in France in 2005.

Why is the Nuclear Directorate so reticent about commenting on drainage security on the Sellafield site? Is it perhaps the case that this is an area that the Nuclear Directorate have not subject to thorough scrutiny?

Finally, I would point out that the Celtic League is one of a number of organisations asked on occasion to contribute an input to `the nuclear debate’ by various UK government agencies. We always try to respond in good faith. I would expect the Nuclear Directorate to exhibit the same professional approach.

The text of our earlier letter is set out below:”

‘Ref: Cumbria flooding – November 2009

Can you advise what, if any, steps were taken to increase monitoring of storm-water outfalls from the Sellafield nuclear facility during the unprecedented rainfall in that area of Cumbria in November 2009?

Can you also advise what monitoring devices are fitted to storm-water outfalls from the site and how often these are checked?

Finally, does the Nuclear Directorate provide any specific information on, or gather data from, storm-water outfalls from Sellafield and other nuclear sites?

Yours sincerely,’