<HTML><PRE>Subj:	Fwd: News 01/08/98 0951 CST - Dublin to Boost Boyne Valley Site
Date:	98-01-08 14:22:51 EST
From:	Buni1957
To:	DeeMcA, RedAxe66, Love irela, Connemara7
To:	FenianBoyo, JustaLocal
CC:	sean@cafes.net, haavar75@hotmail.com


-----------------
Forwarded Message: 
Subj:	 News 01/08/98 0951 CST - Dublin to Boost Boyne Valley Site
Date:	98-01-08 11:02:51 EST
From:	jdooling@worldnet.att.net (Jay Dooling)
Sender:	owner-ireland_list@email.rutgers.edu
Reply-to:	jdooling@worldnet.att.net
To:	jdooling@worldnet.att.net (Ireland News)


News from the Wire Services Re: Ireland & the Irish

RT 01/08/98 09:30 N.Irish Prisoners Reject Peace Efforts
PA 01/08/98 09:29 Sea Search Called Off After Hoax
PA 01/08/98 09:02 Dublin To Boost Protestant Victory Site
PA 01/08/98 07:31 Maze Governor Hails Mowlam's Courage
PA 01/08/98 06:51 Explosives Haul Uncovered In Dublin
PA 01/08/98 06:17 Belfast Arrests: Held Over Bar Killing
RT 01/08/98 06:06 Ireland's IDA Posts Record New Jobs In 1997
PA 01/08/98 00:32 Hardline Activists Mowlam Has To Convince

                 ******************************

		 N.Irish Prisoners Reject Peace Efforts

RTw  01/08/98 09:30   

Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd
 
    By Martin Cowley

     BELFAST, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Pro-British political leaders 
on Thursday failed to persuade their "Loyalist" guerrilla 
allies in Northern Ireland's notorious Maze prison to reverse 
their opposition to the province's shaky peace 
process.
     The visit took place as police in Belfast arrested four 
men in connection with a New year's Eve shooting that 
has provided the latest twist to Northern Ireland's spiral of 
tit-for-tat violence.
     Security sources said those arrested were being questioned 
in connection with the killing of Edmund Treanor 
in a Belfast pub. Five others were injured when the bar was 
sprayed with gunfire.
     Leaders of the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) went into the 
Maze to talk to jailed members of the Ulster 
Defence Association (UDA) and Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) 
guerrilla groups, who have withdrawn their 
backing from the peace process.
     They paid the visit 24 hours before Britain's Northern 
Ireland secretary, Mo Mowlam, was due to go through the 
same prison gates to try to persuade the UDA and UFF men to 
change their minds about the multi-party peace 
talks, which are due to resume in Belfast on Monday.
     The Loyalist inmates are unhappy at what they see as too 
many British government concessions to their 
republican foes.
     The governor the Maze prison, Martin Mogg, said Mowlam may 
also meet Irish Republican Army (IRA) inmates, 
who are held in the jail.
     John White, a senior UDP member, said his visit to the UDA 
and UFF had not been a success.
     "I have been unable to convince the prisoners to change 
the position they have adopted," he told reporters.
     White, whose party speaks for the UDA and the UFF, said 
however that he had been asked to postpone a 
meeting of the UFF leadership until Mowlam has visited the 
prison on Friday.
     He regarded this as a "positive" development.
     If the meeting of the UFF leadership had gone ahead as 
planned, he said it was likely that the guerrillas 
outside the prison would have followed the inmates' lead and 
rejected the talks process.
     This would have put a question mark over whether the UDP 
would have been able to attend the peace talks on 
Monday.
     White said earlier he had come to the Maze as a UDP 
politician and also as a former jailed member of the UFF 
to try to persuade the prisoners to give the talks process 
another chance.
     He said the prisoners, who retain considerable influence 
over efforts to bring peace to Northern Ireland despite 
being behind bars, were delighted that Mowlam was to take the 
"courage and time" to speak to them about their 
anxieties.
     The latest threat to the peace process began with the 
murder inside the Maze of Billy Wright, the notorious 
leader of the hardline Loyalist Volunteer Force, which rejects 
the peace process and is fiercely committed to 
continued British rule of Northern Ireland. Wright was shot 
dead by members of the Irish National Liberation Army, 
an IRA splinter group opposed to British rule in Northern 
Ireland. Wright's killing was followed by two revenge 
killings in the province claimed by the LVF. Despite splinter 
group killings, the main guerrilla factions on both 
sides of the sectarian and political divide are maintaining 
their own ceasefires. REUTERS

                 ******************************

			Sea Search Called Off After Hoax

PA   01/08/98 09:29   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Ian Graham, PA News

   A massive air and sea search in the Irish Sea was called off 
today after an apparent hoax.
   Lifeboats and helicopters, together with an RAF Nimrod, 
spent more than six hours scouring storm-lashed seas 
between Ulster's north coast and the west coast of Scotland 
after receiving a call on a mobile phone from a man 
claiming to be on board a sinking catamaran en route from the 
west of Ireland to Preston, Lancs.
   Police went to an address in Preston and got no reply but, 
according to coastguards in Belfast, later gained 
access and found a man inside with a mobile phone.
   Colin Duncan, Belfast coastguard district controller, said: 
"Police in the north west of England made inquiries 
which led them to a house in Preston which was locked up and 
into which they gained entry.
   "Inside they found a man who had a mobile phone with him. 
The phone proved to be the one which had been 
used to make the calls.
   "It all looks as if it has been a massive hoax."
   Mr Duncan said: "We are none too pleased."
   He said he felt particularly for the lifeboat and helicopter 
crews, together with coastguard teams which had set 
up lookouts on cliff tops in a bid to find the yachtsman.
   "These people are going to be well disgruntled."
   He said the man, believed to be 62, had been taken into 
custody.
   The search was launched before dawn when coastguards 
received a call on a mobile phone claiming to be 
from a yachtsman on board his 42-foot catamaran, the Naomi, 
which said he was taking on water and had lost 
power, knocking out all navigational and communication aids.
   He rang back a short time later, saying he was taking to his 
life-raft and believed he was somewhere near 
Rathlin island, off Northern Ireland's Co Antrim coast.
   A huge search between Rathlin and the Mull of Kintyre and 
Isle of Islay was launched and then extended up the 
west coast of Scotland and down the west coast of Ireland when 
nothing was found.
 
   A spokesman for Lancashire police said officers had called 
at the house in an attempt to trace relatives of the 
"missing" man but had got no response.
   Just before 2pm they returned to the house in Ingle, 
Preston, and broke in. They found a 52-year-old man with a 
mobile telephone inside.
   It is understood his phone had been used to make calls to 
the coastguard and the emergency services.
   The man has now been taken to Fulwood police station for 
questioning.
   A spokesman said: "It appears to have been a massive hoax.
   "The man claims he used to be a second coxswain on a 
lifeboat so may have known the area of the search very 
well.
   "He is very embarrassed, confused and distressed. He seems 
to have realised the enormity of what has 
happened."
   The man is currently being questioned by police and may be 
charged with telecommunications offences.

                 ******************************

		Dublin To Boost Protestant Victory Site

PA   01/08/98 09:02   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Chris Parkin, PA News

   The site of the Battle of the Boyne, the still-controversial 
victory 300 years ago of a Protestant army over a 
Catholic force in Ireland, is to be given a boost - by the 
Irish Republic's government.
   The move has been authorised by Dublin Foreign Minister 
David Andrews, leader of the Irish Republic's 
delegation at modern-day Ulster peace talks, "to assist in the 
promotion of reconciliation and mutual 
understanding".
   Although best remembered in Northern Ireland - where the 
Orange Order celebrates the victory on July 12 each 
year - the battle between the victorious William of Orange and 
King James II was actually on the banks of the River 
Boyne, in the Republic's Co Meath.
   Reporting his decision today, while completing a two-day 
visit to Northern Ireland, Mr Andrews declared: "It is 
right for the (Irish) government to take steps to mark and 
celebrate the variety of our past, while recognising its 
traumas."
   The Irish minister said Dublin had recently aided the 
erection of a monument in Belgium to Irish soldiers who 
fell in the First World War and was currently helping fund the 
memory of a 200-year-old north-south rebellion 
against British rule in Ireland.
   He added: "We should do more to preserve and interpret key 
historic sites in Ireland.
   "I think, in particular, of the site of the Battle of the 
Boyne, which attracts many visitors from Northern Ireland - 
including members of the Orange Order.
   "The battle is part of the history of all the people of 
these islands, and, indeed, has a wider European historical 
significance.
   "It is right that we should look at how best to encourage 
and facilitate an understanding of the Battle of the 
Boyne, and an appreciation of the environment in which it took 
place."
   Mr Andrews said the site of the battle would be enhanced by 
making it more accessible to the public and 
providing additional information about the events of 1690.
   He said: "Many Northern friends, and others, have made this 
point to me, and it is worthy of serious 
examination."

                 ******************************

		  Maze Governor Hails Mowlam's Courage

PA   01/08/98 07:31   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Deric Henderson, PA News

   The governor of the Maze prison spoke today of Mo Mowlam's 
courage in agreeing to meet with top loyalist 
paramilitaries in a bid to save the troubled Northern Ireland 
peace process.
   He told PA News: "It's a brave decision. She wants to 
process to succeed and needs all the help she can get. 
We can guarantee her safety, absolutely."
   The Ulster Secretary is to visit leaders of the UFF inside 
the top security jail tomorrow in a desperate effort to 
keep the peace process on track.
   Arrangements are also being made for her to meet with 
leaders of the rival loyalist paramilitary group the UVF.
   Republican leaders inside the jail are considering a request 
to meet MsMowlam as well.
   Maze governor Martin Mogg, 53, who is also director of 
operations in the Northern Ireland Prison Service, will 
accompany Ms Mowlam and her ministerial team for crucial talks 
with the five-man leadership of the UFF whose 
political representatives have still to decide whether they 
will be back at the Stormont negotiating table on Monday.
 Mr Mogg, a former governor at Durham said: "I think Ms Mowlam 
is extremely brave to do this  and I can guarantee 
her safety absolutely.
   "It's a correct decision. She is determined to do all she 
can to maintain the peace process and I feel exactly the 
same. I want this to succeed for the people of Northern Ireland 
and she is right to do what she is doing."
   Mr Mogg added: "She is determined to do all she can to 
pursue the peace process and this could well be a step 
towards that.
   "I can understand how people feel - particularly people who 
have been victim of the troubles. But by the same 
token we must do all we can to end the troubles in Northern 
Ireland. I am working towards that end and I wholly 
support what the Secretary of State is now doing."
   As Mr Mogg spoke inside the prison near Lisburn, Co Antrim, 
leaders of the Ulster Democratic Party, the political 
wing of the UFF, had a meeting with their men in one of the H-
blocks to try and persuade them to give the peace 
process another chance.
   But even though they have withheld their support for their 
men at the negotiating table, Ms Mowlam is under 
fierce pressure to convince them that talking is the way ahead.
 She will meet two of the most feared loyalist paramilitaries 
when she sits down with the five-man UFF leadership 
at the jail tomorrow.
   Johnny Adair, from the Shankill area of Belfast, is serving 
16 years for directing terrorism, and Michael Stone a 
life sentence for a series of murders including an attack on 
mourners attending the Milltown Cemetery funeral for 
the three IRA terrorists shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar in 
March 1988.
   Adair told PA News: "I am glad she is coming. Hopefully we 
will work something out."
   Stone added: "We will be there to listen, not negotiate. But 
it is brave of her to come."
   The UFF leadership at the jail will make its new assessment 
after tomorrow's meeting but some of them have 
not given up hope the process can be salvaged.
   Bobby Philpott, 43, from south Belfast, serving 17 years, 
said: "We have met Mo Mowlam before (when she was 
shadow Northern Ireland secretary). It's no real surprise she's 
coming in to see us. We hope she meets all sides 
including the provos. The situation is on a knife edge but I 
support my party to be at the talks.
   "Over the next six to eight weeks the provos will jump ship. 
Just wait and see.
 The republican leadership at the Maze will consult with senior 
Sinn Fein officials before they make any decision.
   Padraic Wilson, 38, serving 24 years for conspiracy to 
murder, said: "We want this process to work. We are in 
this to try and remove the need for armed struggle and I hope 
it works."

                 ******************************

		  Explosives Haul Uncovered In Dublin

PA   01/08/98 06:51   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Chris Parkin, PA News

   Irish police today discovered one-and-half-tonnes of home-
made explosives in Dublin.
   Detectives also arrested four people - believed to include 
at least one linked to the recent formation of a 
breakaway hardline republican group opposed to Sinn Fein's 
participation in Northern Ireland peace talks.
   The find was made on the pier at the fishing port of Howth, 
on the northern edge of Dublin Bay.
   But police sources said it was thought the explosives had 
been stored there, rather than shipped in.
   The four suspects were being questioned at two separate 
Dublin police stations after being detained under the 
terms of Irish anti-terrorist legislation.
   They were thought to have connections with the 32 County 
Sovereignty Committee, established last month to 
combat the involvement in multi-party Belfast negotiations by 
the IRA's Sinn Fein political representatives.
   The group was set up after increasing reports of discontent 
over the peace moves within both Sinn Fein and the 
IRA.
 One of the prime movers in establishing the new republican 
group was a sister of Bobby Sands, the leader of the 
10 IRA men who died on hunger strike in Northern Ireland's Maze 
prison in 1981.
   The organisation claimed last month that the current talks 
were leading to an internal settlement in Ulster of the 
variety opposed by most nationalists.
   It was formed following a meetings of IRA and Sinn Fein 
dissidents in Dublin at the end of November.
   Bernadette Sands McKevitt, 39, the committee's vice-
chairperson, reported: "Basically, a lot of people got 
concerned about the way the situation was developing.
   "We are trying to attract nationalist-minded people from 
right across the board."
   Ms Sands McKevitt said she could not say whether the people 
involved in founding the group had been 
members of other organisations, but added: "I have not been a 
member of Sinn Fein."
   She also "refuted entirely" ever have been a member of the 
IRA's ruling Army Council.
   She said that like her brother Bobby she had a strong 
commitment to "Irish national sovereignty. I do not believe 
it is on the agenda at the Stormont talks".
   The end-of-year emergence of the 32 County Sovereignty 
Committee was swiftly dismissed by Sinn Fein.
   A senior spokesperson said: "They are just a small group. We 
are happy that our organisation is stable and 
solid."

                 ******************************

	 Belfast Arrests: Several Believed Held Over Bar Killin

PA   01/08/98 06:17   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Ian Graham, PA News

   A number of people were arrested in the loyalist Shankill 
Road area of west Belfast today and were being 
questioned in connection with "serious crime" in the north of 
the city.
   It is believed they were being quizzed about the murder of a 
Catholic shot dead in the Clifton Tavern on New 
Year's Eve.
   Five other people were injured when two gunmen sprayed the 
bar in north Belfast's Cliftonville Road with 
bullets.
   The shooting was claimed by the Loyalist Volunteer Force as 
a further retaliation for the murder of their leader 
Billy Wright in the Maze prison but police suspect that 
mainstream paramilitaries from the Ulster Freedom 
Fighters who are supposed to be on ceasefire may have been 
involved.
   Relatives of the victim, Edmond Treanor, appealed for no 
retaliation and to date there have been no further 
attacks.
   The RUC said the arrests today took place in the Lower 
Shankill area and that the operation was continuing.
   During one search a weapon, thought by detectives to be an 
air rifle, was recovered.
   The arrests will do little to help the peace process as 
loyalist political parties continue their deliberations on 
whether to return to the multi-party talks at Stormont when 
they resume on Monday.
   Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam is due to visit the 
Maze prison tomorrow for talks with UFF and Ulster 
Defence Association inmates who have told their Ulster 
Democratic Party political associates that they no longer 
have faith in the peace process.
 John White, the Ulster Democratic Party prisons spokesman, met 
UFF and UDA prisoners in the Maze jail today 
ahead of Ms Mowlam's visit.
   He said he met them as a former UFF prisoner himself in an 
effort to win back their support for the peace 
process.
   "I had been involved in that organisation most of my life 
and have served a lengthy period in prison because of 
my activities with the UFF.
   "I know the fears of the prisoners and I am here today as an 
ex-prisoner myself to try and convince them of the 
necessity of us staying in the talks."

                 ******************************

		  Ireland's IDA Posts Record New Jobs In 1997

RTf  01/08/98 06:06   

Copyright 1998 Reuters Ltd
 
    DUBLIN, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Ireland's Industrial Development 
Agency (IDA) said on Wednesday a record number 
of jobs had been created in companies it supported in 1997.
    It also said the planned closure of the Seagate Technology 
Inc <SEG.N> Technology Inc <SEG.N> plant with the 
loss of 1,400 jobs would do little to cloud the positive 
picture.
    "Even if we count in the much regretted pending job losses 
announced by Seagate...the overall results are 
significantly stronger than in any previous year," IDA chief 
Kieran McGowan said in a statement.
    The IDA said 15,170 jobs had been created in companies it 
supported in 1997 which include 1,100 overseas 
firms. This was well above the 13,250 jobs created in 1996 and 
nearly double the amount five years ago.
    Meanwhile 5,200 jobs had been lost, in line with normal 
expectations and representing 4.8 percent of 
employment.
    The organisation's focus has been on information technology 
businesses, with more than 8,000 of them 
getting IDA support through a regime of tax incentives and 
subsidies.
    Information technology played a big part in the creation of 
the so-called "Celtic Tiger" booming Irish economy. 
One example was Seagate, a Californian disc drive maker, which 
stunned the Irish government and business 
community when it announced last month it would close its plant 
south-west of Dublin.
    McGowan noted that the sector had been a key contributor to 
the Irish economy's growth in recent years but 
warned that it was a "constantly changing and developing area."
    He said some companies could be world leaders one year but 
"find themselves under severe pressure within 
a few short years."
    He said the IDA was taking this into account in developing 
future strategies but gave no details.
    The IDA statement said it supported companies which created 
total annual sales, mostly imports, of 18.5 billion 
Irish pounds ($25.4 billion). The companies spent 6.9 billion 
Irish pounds in Ireland.
   ($ = 0.728 Irish Pounds)
 REUTERS

                 ******************************

		   Hardline Activists Mowlam Has To Convince

PA   01/08/98 00:32   

Copyright 1998 PA News

  By Mike Harrison, PA News

   Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam will meet Maze Prison 
inmates belonging to the Ulster Defence 
Association and Ulster Freedom Fighters tomorrow in a bid to 
convince them to support the peace process.
   Among the more hardline and high-profile activists serving 
sentences at the Maze are:
   :: MICHAEL STONE, 42, a member of the UDA's four-strong 
"camp council". He entered loyalist folklore in 1988 
when he ambushed the funeral in West Belfast of three IRA 
terrorists who had been shot by the SAS in Gibraltar.
   He opened fire at mourners at the Milltown Cemetery and 
threw three grenades, killing three people and injuring 
60. He was jailed for life.
   :: JOHN `MAD DOG' ADAIR, 33, a former head of the UFF. He is 
serving a 16-year sentence, passed in 1995, 
after he admitted directing terrorism. He also received a 
concurrent seven-year sentence for membership of an 
illegal organisation.
   He met Mo Mowlam when, as Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary, 
she visited inmates, also including Michael 
Stone, at the Maze in October 1996. A father of three, Adair 
got married in the prison, where a reception was held, 
last February.
   :: SAM McCRORY, leader of the UDA's prisoners in the Maze. 
On Monday he described the ceasefire as "more 
shaky than ever".
   He said: "We want to send a clear message to the Government 
that we don't want to play second-fiddle to Sinn 
Fein-IRA."
   :: BILLY ADAMS, 38, a member of the UDA. He was sentenced to 
10-12 years in jail after two sub machine guns 
and two balaclavas were found in his car in 1994.
   He was released on parole at Christmas, when he said: "We 
want to see our political party making progress, 
but they are being pushed aside.
   "They do not seem to be making any progress no matter how 
hard they try."
 
-------
Jay Dooling (jdooling@worldnet.att.net)
Irish Aires - 90.1FM KPFT in Houston
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Irish_Aires/homepage.htm
Dooling & Mabe, CPA 
http://www.doolingmabe-cpa.com/
-------------
<FONT  COLOR="#0f0f0f" BACK="#fffffe" SIZE=3>

----------------------- Headers --------------------------------
Return-Path: <owner-ireland_list@email.rutgers.edu>
Received: from  relay14.mail.aol.com (relay14.mail.aol.com [172.31.109.14]) by air21.mail.aol.com (v37.8) with SMTP; Thu, 08 Jan 1998 11:02:51 -0500
Received: from smithers.rutgers.edu (smithers.rutgers.edu [165.230.4.69])
	  by relay14.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-4.0.0)
	  with SMTP id KAA17976 for <buni1957@aol.com>;
	  Thu, 8 Jan 1998 10:55:13 -0500 (EST)
Received: (qmail 12484 invoked by alias); 8 Jan 1998 15:53:45 -0000
Delivered-To: ireland_list-og@email.rutgers.edu
Received: (qmail 12481 invoked by uid 6539); 8 Jan 1998 15:53:44 -0000
Received: (qmail 12475 invoked from network); 8 Jan 1998 15:53:40 -0000
Received: from mtigwc03.worldnet.att.net (204.127.131.34)
  by smithers.rutgers.edu with SMTP; 8 Jan 1998 15:53:40 -0000
Received: from robert-dooling ([12.65.134.141])
          by mtigwc03.worldnet.att.net (post.office MTA v2.0 0613 )
          with SMTP id AAA4483; Thu, 8 Jan 1998 15:54:01 +0000
Comments: Authenticated sender is <jdooling@postoffice.worldnet.att.net>
From: "Jay Dooling" <jdooling@worldnet.att.net>
To: "Ireland News" <jdooling@worldnet.att.net>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 1998 09:51:56 -0600
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
Subject: News 01/08/98 0951 CST - Dublin to Boost Boyne Valley Site
Reply-to: jdooling@worldnet.att.net
X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v2.54)
Message-ID: <19980108155357.AAA4483@robert-dooling>
Sender: owner-ireland_list@email.rutgers.edu
Precedence: bulk

</PRE></HTML>
