Joseph's space

The INLA’s LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

By J. P. Anderson

TO THE casual observer, this security picture shows a stylish 'woman' slipping through the front door of a bank 'she' was about to rob.

With long black hair and sunglasses, the female looked rather fetching in a knee-length red and white dress with a matching red scarf. But underneath this disguise was one of the most dangerous - and ugliest - armed robbers in the country.

This was the moment that INLA gun man Danny Hamill (49), nicknamed 'the Rabbit,' used a key to get into the AIB bank branch in Crumlin, Dublin and robbed €700,000 in cash from two terrified staff members inside.

The convicted armed robber and terrorist pulled off the heist with his accomplice on Saturday, June 3, 2006.

Gunpoint

The experienced thieves had planned the job well - the night before they jammed the ATM machine at the bank branch. Then they sat back and waited for staff to turn up the next morning to fix the machine.

At 11.30am two female staff members arrived at the branch and went inside. Both men, each armed with a semi-automatic pistol, had somehow obtained the keys to the front door of the building.

When the staff members went inside, the robbers opened the door and went in after them. The Rabbit and his partner held the two women at gunpoint in the bank for 30 minutes forcing them to open various safes, the ATM machine and the foreign exchange desk. Hamill even disconnected the hard drive "mother unit" attached to the CCTV and put the unit - which included this picture - in a bag and took it with him.

Unfortunately, for the two hoods a member of the public had spotted them going into the bank and alerted gardai.

Local detectives Robert Reilly and Katherina Joyce, who was pregnant at the time, arrived at the bank as the two hoods left the bank. They were struggling to carry a large heavy bag between them containing the cash and the CCTV hard drive.

Garda Reilly followed the two men into an adjoining car park where they got into a car belonging to one of the bank workers, having stolen her keys on the way out. The brave cops drove into the car park and blocked the entrance as a second squad car arrived.

Hamill ignored the Garda’s request to put up his hands and drop the gun. The Rabbit got out of the passenger side of the car and pointed a pistol at Garda Reilly and threatened to shoot him.

The detective ran for cover and fired a warning shot after he saw that Hamill was still pointing the gun at him and Garda Joyce. The men surrendered as reinforcements arrived.

The gun Hamill was holding was later found to have a bullet in the breach and was ready to be fired.

Gardai recovered a set of keys for the front door of the bank; two loaded nine millimetre semi-automatic pistols, 34 rounds of live ammunition, a radio scanner tuned to garda frequencies, the CCTV hard drive and cash.

Hamill, originally from Armagh, has been involved in crime in Dublin for the past 20 years. In the early 1990s, Hamill was a member of a notorious gang of armed robbers and drug dealers controlled by George 'the Penguin' Mitchell. Among his associates were convicted armed robbers John McGrail, Mickey Boyle and Frank Ward. Ward is currently doing time for shooting and seriously injuring pub owner Charlie Chawke and Boyle is doing life in the UK after being caught carrying out a gangland assassination for the Penguin. Another associate of Hamill's was Johnny Doran who did almost 10 years for drug trafficking.

Hamill first got involved in crime when he joined the IRA and later the INLA. In 1981, he was arrested for possession of firearms in Co. Monaghan as part of an INLA gang. He was also jailed for five and two years respectively for armed robbery and assault on a garda. In the late 1990s, the Rabbit again came to Garda attention when he was part of a gang that robbed almost IR£6 million in a four-year period between 1996 and 1999.

Dangerous

The dangerous villain finally came a cropper earlier this week when he pleaded guilty to the armed robbery and the false imprisonment of the bank staff. Hamill, from Clanmaurice Road, Donnycarney, had originally denied the charges and the trial was due to last for three weeks. Detective Inspector Brian Sutton, from Crumlin Garda station who led the investigation, told Judge Tony Hunt in the Circuit Criminal Court that gardai were never able to ascertain how the two men came to get the keys for the bank, after the judge asked about this.

He agreed it could have possibly been either a system failure with the bank's security system or "through voluntary or involuntary assistance from the staff" but that gardai were never able to confirm how this happened.

Defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC said his client had given him a clear and unambiguous instruction to apologise for the wrong he had done, specifically to the two bank officials, the gardai and the wider community who he said "are plighted by violence".

The defence counsel asked Judge Hunt to accept that his client "showed some humanity" by not firing his weapon, "when other people in his situation would have done".

The court was even told that Rabbit had been involved in helping old ladies go on day trips. However, no one was told where he got the dress from!

EU Immigration Guidelines Due

By J. P. Anderson

The French Immigration Minister is due to unveil a series of guidelines on immigration, which EU officials say will set the immigration agenda in Europe for years to come.

The proposed package will be built on the newly agreed returns directive, which obliges states to give residency to illegal immigrants or to send them home.

It also empowers governments to detain people for up to 18 months during processing, and recommends that EU member states select immigrants according to their needs.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has indicated that immigration will be one of the main issues during his country's six-month presidency of the EU.

Cuba Cracks down, Rounds up Dissidents before Freeing Most

By J. P. Anderson

HAVANA (AFP) - Cuba this week rounded up and detained more than 30 dissidents after accusing the United States of "instigating" opposition to the Communist regime, a top rights activist told AFP Saturday.

As many as 35 people were arrested and around 70 targeted in all, but most have now been freed, economist Martha Beatriz Roque of the rights group Agenda for the Transition said.

The regime's roundup was aimed at halting a meeting of pro-democracy advocates and clamping down on the dissidents' plan to mark the US Independence Day holiday on July 4th, she said.

"Almost all the people arrested have now been freed," she said.

Those who were not detained received warnings from the government, were placed under house arrest or barred from travelling to the capital, Havana, she said.

"The objective of the operation was to prevent a meeting of the Agenda group scheduled for Thursday, and to bar them from participating in the celebration of the United States' Fourth of July holiday," Roque said.

The Agenda meeting was cancelled and the July 4th party went ahead without incident at the home of Michael Parmly, the US diplomat and chief of mission at the US Interests Section (USIS) in Havana, Roque said.

Cuba's communist government has accused the USIS of serving as a "headquarters" for opposition groups, which are banned in Cuba, and says the US funnels money, communications and other forms of support to regime opponents via the Interests Section.

Wednesday, the government of President Raul Castro issued a statement saying acts of dissidence in the streets would not be tolerated and denounced "an escalation" of what it called "warped" opposition that was "instigated" by the US Interests Section.

The brief arrests came just days after the European Union decided to formally lift sanctions against Cuba imposed following a 2003 dissident crackdown in the Americas' only one-party communist state.

Raul Castro has made no nod to political pluralism, and his economic reforms have been quite limited.

Since officially becoming president in February to succeed his ailing brother Fidel, Raul Castro has allowed Cubans to buy computers, own mobile telephones, rent cars and spend nights in hotels previously only accessible to foreigners -- if they can afford such luxuries.

In his latest reform move, he announced last month that the government was scrapping salary caps long meant to underscore egalitarianism but which his administration says hurt productivity.

He also has implemented reforms that give farmers better pay and more flexibility to buy farming equipment, a move designed to lessen the impact of the world food crisis.

The younger Castro brother, 77, also has commuted 30 death sentences, released some political prisoners, and signed human rights accords.

In addition, television has fewer taboos and Granma, the venerable Communist Party mouthpiece, even has taken to publishing grievances from residents.

A change on decades-old travel restrictions would be the most momentous to date by his government.

The Spanish daily El Pais cited an unnamed government official in a report in April as saying Raul Castro would give a green light soon to migration reform, simplifying exit and entry permits and ending the requirement for people to get permission to leave the country.

In an economically stressed country of more than 11 million people, such a policy change would test Cuba's stability, as the nearby United States grants automatic residency and working rights to all Cubans who reach US soil after fleeing their homeland.

Mandatory permits and a passport add hundreds of dollars in travel costs in a country where most workers make about 17 dollars a month. Many critics see the regulations as just short of an effective travel ban for Cuban nationals.

Late last month ailing longtime leader Fidel Castro, 81, strongly denied rumours that he is the leader of a faction of hardline Communists disgruntled about reforms introduced in Cuba since his brother Raul succeeded him.

Foreign Yellow-Pack Workers Must Reconsider Their Status and Look For Jobs To Other EU Countries Not In Recession

By J. P. Anderson

MORE than a quarter of a million people could be on the dole by Christmas following the biggest ever monthly rise in numbers signing on the Live Register.

Opposition politicians dubbed the unprecedented rise in the number of jobless as "Black Friday" after it was confirmed more than 19,000 people joined the register in June -- way beyond the average 7,100 a month during the previous five months of the year.

Economists and politicians were shocked by the speed of the increase, which on some measures is the fastest since 1975.

"The rise so far translates to a 60pc increase over a year," said Rossa White, economist at Davy Stockbrokers.

"That is just below a 60.8pc spike in the first half of 1975 -- a period characterised by the first oil shock."

Labour enterprise spokesman Willie Penrose said: "The figures are truly shocking and cap a week of terrible economic news for the Government and the Irish people."

Even when seasonal factors such as school holidays are taken into account, numbers jumped by 10,100. This brought the seasonally adjusted total on the register to more than 217,000.

Unemployment has increased by almost a fifth in just three months, according to CSO estimates. They put the unemployment rate in June at 5.7pc -- up from 4.8pc in the first three months of the year.

Mr White said he expected unemployment to be more than 6pc by the end of the year, and 7.5pc at end-2009.

"It is a Black Friday," said Fine Gael enterprise spokesman Leo Varadkar.

"At least 54,000 people have lost their jobs, and the live register has risen by a third since Fianna Fail scraped back into power on the back of false economic promises."

The Government defended its record on the jobs front and said the live register did not fully measure unemployment.

Only two-thirds are unemployed for the whole week, with a 10th receiving benefit on a part-week basis, and a quarter are signing on for credits or are people whose payments are suspended, disallowed or awaiting decision, a spokesman said.

Doubts

The June increase casts doubt on Government estimates given at last Wednesday's Exchequer returns, which saw the live register averaging 210,000 over the course of this year. Analysts said the figure will now be at least 220,000.

That would add €100m to the social welfare bill over a full year. However, over half of this could come from the €600m surplus in PRSI payments held in the Social Insurance Fund, rather than the taxpayer.

Department of Finance officials indicated a potential overspend of €500m this year, most of it on social welfare. The Government is expected to outline next week where it will find savings to offset this budget overrun.

"Even if the live register increase in the remaining months of the year returns to the previous average, the live register would stand at 250,000 by December," said Lynsey Clemenger, economist at Ulster Bank Markets.

"The Government estimate may well prove too conservative."

Economists are also worried by the fact that the increase during June was evenly split between men and women, indicating that economic troubles have spread beyond the building industry.

"The figures indicate the widening impact of the slowdown," said Fergal O'Brien, senior economist at the employers' body IBEC.

Meanwhile, Labour Party finance spokesperson Joan Burton also pointed out that the number of houses repossessed in the first six months was double that for the same period of 2007.

THE blame game over Ireland’s expanding dole queues shifted last night to concerns that cutbacks could hit the “poorest of the poor” in a bid to meet growing welfare payment demands.
The Government was accused of being complacent in creating jobs during the boom over the past decade.
The Taoiseach was personally responsible for a “botched handling of the economy”, it was claimed.
However, attention will now turn to the cutbacks that will eat into department spending plans, with a list of saving demands set to land on ministers’ desks next Tuesday.

Those savings will help pay for the extra €500 million needed to meet increased welfare payments. Yesterday’s Live Register figures show June saw the highest increase ever in people signing on. Nearly 1,000 extra people registered as unemployed every working day during the month.
GOAL’s John O’Shea said yesterday he was concerned by reports that Irish Aid could be one of the first to see cutbacks, which would hit third world help directly.
Fine Gael left the blame for the downturn with the Fianna Fáil-led Government.
“Fianna Fáil is not telling the truth when they claim this is all due to the global ‘credit crunch’. No other EU country bar Spain is experiencing the same surge in unemployment, and many are seeing unemployment levels fall,” said party employment spokesman Leo Varadkar.
“While all EU countries are struggling with the international slowdown, Ireland is also struggling from the collapse of a domestically generated and debt-fuelled housing bubble and a sustained loss of competitiveness. These are the direct result of Brian Cowen’s big mistakes in public spending, competitiveness and housing,” he argued.
Labour’s Willie Penrose said the unemployment figures were shocking and capped a week of terrible economic news. Earlier this week, the Government revealed its tax take for the first half of the year was €1.45 billion below expectations.
“The worst thing that could now happen would be for the Government to engage in a splurge of thoughtless cutbacks that would... add yet greater numbers to the dole queues,” he said.
A government spokesman noted the Live Register included part-time workers, seasonal and casual workers entitled to benefits or allowances.

HOME repossessions more than doubled in the first half of 2008, figures indicate, in another clear sign of the economic downturn.
Figures from the Courts Service obtained by Labour TD Joan Burton showed the courts issued 126 possession orders so far this year.
That compares with just 59 in the first half of 2007 — an increase of 113%.
In fact, in the entirety of 2007, there were just 108 repossessions — a figure which has already been passed this year with six months of 2008 still to run.

Courts grant possession orders to allow for the repossession of a property. Repossession doesn’t always occur, however, as judges occasionally put a stay on an

order to allow the home-owner more time to find payments to satisfy the lender.
Nonetheless, the figures demonstrate that recent interest rate hikes are having a devastating effect on some householders.
Banks have been increasing mortgage rates in recent months as the credit squeeze pushes up their funding costs.
Adding to pressure on households, the European Central Bank increased its key rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a seven-year high of 4.25% The banks are expected to pass on this increase to mortgage holders. The increase will add about €40 a month to the cost of an average €250,000 mortgage.
Ms Burton said that, while the repossession figures thankfully represented only a small percentage of households, the dramatic upward trend was unmistakable.
“The personal tragedy and family trauma involved in repossession is huge.
“Unfortunately, as mortgage interest continues to rise, and as unemployment continues to increase, it seems inevitable that this trend will continue and that more families will suffer in this way,” Ms Burton said.
“Already, householders are faced with the very real prospect of negative equity, which has serious economic and social consequences.”
Ms Burton said many of the economic problems facing the country were a direct result of the slump in the property market, and laid the blame for this at the Government’s door.
Ms Bruton claimed the collapse in building activity was brought about largely as a result of Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s “mishandling” of stamp duty reform — a claim Mr Cowen has consistently rejected.
The Labour TD said it was essential the Government meets its promises not to cut social welfare payments.

As Handgun Use Spreads

By J. P. Anderson

A HIGH Court judge has said reasonable people are "entitled to feel alarmed"

about the large increase in the number of pistols licensed for private use.

There was "a pressing need'' for drawing together into a clear law the multiple "piecemeal"

rules on the control of firearms, Mr Justice Peter Charleton urged.

He made the remarks when giving judgment in a case in which he rejected a bid by a shooting enthusiast to overturn a garda decision to refuse him a firearms certificate for a Glock 22 handgun.

The judge said the increasing numbers of weapons licensed for personal use -- with 1,600 pistol licences granted last year -- was "exactly the opposite'' to Britain where handguns have been banned.

Inquiry

The UK ban followed an inquiry into the shooting dead of 15 schoolchildren and a teacher by a man armed with two pistols and two revolvers in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996.

The judge said the control of firearms was spread across five firearms Acts and the 2006 Criminal Justice Act. Codification of the firearms laws was almost as pressing the need for a clarification of laws on sexual violence, he said.

The judge noted that from 1972 to 2004, "one of the most vicious periods in Irish history'', no revolvers, pistols or rifles above .22 calibre were licensed in Ireland except in the most "exceptional circumstances".

However, the policy against the licensing of pistols was relaxed last year "for whatever apparent reason", Mr Justice Charleton said.

While the recent proliferation of pistols and larger calibre rifles may not have been widely noticed and may not be part of a general policy, a reasonable person was "entitled to feel alarmed" by their spread.

The judge refused a challenge by Ronan McCarron to the 2005 decision of Supt Peadar Kearney of Letterkenny Garda Station to deny him a certificate for a .40 calibre Glock model 22 pistol.

Mr McCarron said he wanted it for target practice, but the gardai did not believe it was suitable for this and considered it a particularly dangerous weapon.