The hopes that were raised in the latest advances in the peace process were dashed as Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble criticized the transparency of IRA decommissioning and said he was "putting the process on hold." Trimble demanded a more explicit statement from the IRA on the number and type of arms it put beyond use. But the IRA and Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Féin, … [Read more...] about Peace Process Put on Hold
Belfast
Enrollment Down at Holy Cross
A catholic school whose pupils were forced to run a daily gauntlet of sectarian hatred last year is in danger of closing because of falling student numbers. Fr. Aidan Troy, chairman of the board of governors of Holy Cross Girls Primary School in north Belfast, warned that the intake for the new academic year had fallen by a third. Holy Cross was at the center of Loyalist … [Read more...] about Enrollment Down at Holy Cross
The Last Word: A Pall of Darkness Falls on Belfast
Thank Christ the murdered man was Catholic. No Catholic will say that on the record, but every northern Catholic knows what it means, and no Catholic has to amplify when it is said privately. It means that if Gerard Lawlor, aged 19, shot dead by loyalists last Sunday night [7.21.02] in north Belfast, had been a Protestant, there would have been political hell to pay, and an … [Read more...] about The Last Word: A Pall of Darkness Falls on Belfast
Historic Pubs of Belfast
Think of Irish pubs and the mind turns to Dublin; sipping a pint of Guinness as the sun streams over the aged wooden interiors of Doheny and Nesbitt's or following the literary trail of Joyce, Behan and Kavanagh through Davy Byrne's, Mulligans and McDaids. Celebrated in verse and novel, a focal point for every tourist, Dublin pub culture is a treasure to be prized. But travel … [Read more...] about Historic Pubs of Belfast
Apprentice Boys to March
As we go to press, nationalists in South Belfast are planning to stage a protest in response to the Parades Commission's decision to grant a loyalist organization permission to march through a Catholic neighborhood. However, the commission also ruled that the band accompanying the marchers should remain silent as it marched through the area. The decision came as a surprise … [Read more...] about Apprentice Boys to March