Thoughts on Spate of Violence in Northern Ireland

Thoughts on Spate of Violence in Northern Ireland

The rejection of the killers of Officer Ronan Kerr was widespread and from all communities and quarters:

Prime Minister David Cameron

Gerry Adams

Fr John Skinnader

First Minister Peter Robinson

Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry and Raphoe Rev Ken Good, and Dr Seamus Hegarty, Catholic Bishop of Derry

And the investigation seems to be developing so perhaps those with information have come forward:

Third arrest over Ronan Kerr murder

However, that same article states the dissident groups are targeting Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) members in spite of the public rejection of their methods.

And most recently, a 500 pound bomb was planted in a van under an overpass on the Belfast to Dublin motorway.

In these cases, the key seems to be dissident Republican groups. The peace makers in Northern Ireland have to ask themselves why haven't the people in these dissident Republican groups been reached when so many in Ireland have? The integration of the police force seems to be making them insecure and angry. Would more public statements by Catholic / Republicans who want the PSNI integrated reach them? Somehow the peace process passed by these dissidents. What steps can be taken to turn their hearts and minds so they have no desire to resort to violence?

Libyan Revolutionaries Apologize to Victims of IRA Bombings

The Government of Free Libya announced an apology to lawyers representing almost 160 victims of Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombings for the Semtex supplied by Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The Government of Free Libya is an interim authority presently headquartered in the town of Benghazi in eastern Libya.

Jason McCue from the London-based H2O Law, the firm which successfully sued four men over the 1998 Omagh bomb, speculated large amounts of Libyan supplied Semtex, which was unaccounted for after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, may be in the hands of dissident republican groups and even may have been used in the bomb which killed Officer Ronan Kerr last Saturday.

Allegedly Irish IRA paramilitaries were trained in the 1970s in the Libyan desert.

Families of those killed by IRA bombings involving Semtex or having other connections to Libya are planning to bring legal suits against the former Libyan foreign minister Moussa Koussa who recently defected from Libya and is now in Britain.

The United States dropped financial sanctions on Monday against Moussa Koussa saying the move might encourage other senior aides to abandon Colonel Qaddafi, the country’s embattled leader.

Meanwhile, in addition to the Irish victims of violence, Scottish authorities want to interview Moussa Koussa about the airplane bombing over Lockerbie in 1988 and other issues “in the next few days.”

Read about Ronan Kerr here.

Read more: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/libya-rebels-apologise-to-families-of-ira-victims-15138654.html#ixzz1InKnSzQE