Denis-Donaldson

I’m stunned this evening to read about the shooting of Denis Donaldson, the former Sinn Fein head of administration. According to the BBC:

…a neighbour had found Mr Donaldson’s body on the floor of his house with a gunshot wound to the head….Mr Donaldson moved out of his Belfast home last December, and had been living in a run-down cottage without electricity or running water in County Donegal.

For once, I can echo the words of Gerry Adams: “We are living in a different era, and in the future in which everyone could share”. In the back of my mind, I suspected that Donaldson might be a target, but ruled it out because, as Adams said, times have changed.

Moreover, Ian Paisley has waded in. Not to offer words of consolation to Donaldson’s family, of course. No, he’s using it to justify (yet again) his entrenched position. Congratulations, Reverend Paisley, I’m glad to see the human element didn’t win over the usual political sentiments.

Given Donaldson’s connections to both the IRA and British intelligence agencies, there will certainly be some speculation as to who was behind his murder. Details are still emerging and the full story isn’t likely to be known for a few days yet. Fingers will be pointed in all directions.

I have to say that some responsibility must lie with the Sunday World, for tracking the man down and broadcasting his whereabouts to the world at large. Surely an ill-conceived plan all for the sake of a story?

As I said earlier on, I’m a bit shocked at the events still unfolding. However, John’s words from earlier today are still ringing in my ears and my thoughts (and hopefully yours too) are with the family of this man.

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006 // News & Media, Northern Ireland: Politics

After a truly stunning 20 votes (none of which were mine, BTW), the people have spoken on our first ever poll.

Almost half of you believed this to be the work of the dreaded Securocrats, an evil, lurking menace whose sole intention is to snatch well-deserved power from the hands of Sinn Fein. Well, I don’t know about that. I almost felt sorry for Sinn Fein at the time the news broke, but part of me believes in Karma and that if they’re getting dirty tricks now it’s because they’ve played enough of their own.

A third of people believe there’s someone higher up in Sinn Fein whose identity was covered by the sacrifice of Denis Donaldson. Unionists would be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of this. Did you consider this might be fuel for dissident republicans to reorganise? I mean, if there have been agents in Sinn Fein pressing a ‘peaceful’ agenda, then that implies the leadership were duped into taking a political path. Yes, I agree that Sinn Fein should be put under instense scrutiny, their agenda is one-sided and unrealistic if you ask me, but at least it’s relatively peaceful. What happens if they lose control of that dissident element?

Stormontgate And The Collapse Of The Assembly

As you know, I don’t have a lot of respect/trust for the boys and girls in Sinn Fein. I heard an interview between Martina Purdy and Martin McGuinnes on the radio back when this broke.

When pressed as to why Sinn Fein weren’t pressing for an inquiry, McGuinness said something strange. He said that an inquiry wouldn’t suit Sinn Fein’s position (or words to that effect). What? What does that mean, exactly? I translate it as “We’re pretty sure there’s more dirt out there and we’d prefer if people didn’t do too much digging…” Very suspicious…

But what about the larger implications? We don’t have an assembly. We’re being governed by direct rule (remember water charges?).

Perhaps we needed Stormontgate to move the IRA toward disarming, but society has suffered in the meantime? The extreme parties are flourishing in a period of political uncertainty.

At least when the Assembly was running, the politicians were earning their money! We could see them and assess their abilities as real politicians - how they handled policies, the foot and mouth crisis, education, etc. They were finally accountable to us on real issues!

Stormontgate gave politicians a much needed reprieve from the need to prove themselves to the electorate. They went back to good old partisan politics, like putting on a comfy old pair of slippers. I don’t care how the Assembly was wiped out, we need it back, if only to watch how our politicians perform in normal society. Whether you agree with the posturing and point-scoring of the other major parties, the losers in Stormontgate are the people of Northern Ireland. Yet again.

Questions need to be asked. And I’m surprised that Sinn Fein are on the frontline.

Sunday, January 8th, 2006 // Northern Ireland: Politics