We look at the stories that were making the headlines this week in 1984
Poleglass housing: ‘HE doing its utmost’
THE Housing Executive is doing its utmost to carry out all repair work outstanding in the Poleglass area, according to a spokesman at the organisation's regional headquarters in Newtownards.
"The Executive is aware that there are some repairs outstanding but we are trying our best to have these cleared up." said the spokesperson.
The NIHE official was speaking after a sit-in at the Housing Executive Offices in Poleglass by local people. Angry protesters had demanded the sacking of the area maintenance officer and the urgent reprimand of all staff who deal with Poleglass repairs. According to a representative of the Poleglass Community Association, tenants with complaints are being fobbed off at the local office.
"Even repairs that are carried out do not get to the root of the problem. They are cosmetic jobs with the result that the faults re-occur," he said. "Faults in the solid fuel fires such as the escape of fumes, are not given the priority they should get, while some residents have been waiting for up to three years for compensation they are entitled to because of faults in their homes."
The Poleglass Community Association (PCA) is calling for a contractor to be hired immediately by the Housing Executive so that all repair work can be carried out."
However, the Executive spokesperson stressed that regular meetings were being held with the PCA in an attempt to clear up repair problems.
"We are aware of the backlog in insurance claims, but they are being investigated at present, though this of course is taken up at a higher level to ensure something is done about the problem."
Unity Flats to get a playpark
THE Unity Flats Tenants’ Association has been told that moves are afoot to equip a deserted playground within the complex.
The playground has lain empty for many years but in recent months the local community group had been pressing both the DoE and the City Hall to upgrade the site.
Now the Tenants’ Association secretary, says the Belfast City Parks Department has put the playground on its priority list.
"The Parks Department are taking delivery of a bulk order of apparatus," he said, "when all the items are in their possession an order will be sent to the Technical Services Department to have the equipment erected."
The following equipment has been allocated to the site: one set flat swings, one set cradle swings, small slide, wave slide, rocking horse, critter and tug.
The spokesperson stressed the plan would be welcomed in Unity.
“This is good news indeed for the children here in Carrick Hill, who will be delighted to have proper playing facilities once again, having been without them for a long time. For the sake of the children, we are now hoping that the work will be carried out as soon as possible.
IN REHEARSAL: Maria (Frances O’Neill), Captain Von Trapp (Kathleen Spotswood), Lisel (Rosaleen Carson), Fredriech (Anne Marie Doherty), Louisa (Nuala McGuinness), Kurt (Paula Toner), Birgitta (Geraldine Lavery), Marta (Louise Copeland), Gretl (Kim Begley) ahead of the St Rose’s production of the Sound of Music
Editorial
WE shall never cease to wonder at the ever-trusting nature of some sections of the Nationalist population.
Despite 14 years of total subservience by the judiciary to every directive from the British Government on "security" measures, some people were still surprised that a judge acquitted a Special Branch officer of killing two men in cold blood in Armagh.
In our view, it would have been even more surprising if the judge had not acquitted him, given past experience and the make-up of the judiciary itself.
One should not forget that these "learned" gentlemen of the law, accepted imprisonment without trial; trial without jury; accepted confessions gained by torture; agreed to remands in custody for years on end; and as a final ignominy on the profession they so jealously protect, they have accepted the evidence of self-confessed paid perjurers to put people behind bars for decades to come.
This is the stark reality or life in the Six Counties as it is today, and anyone who still carries even a glimmer of hope that justice could somehow be done in cases with "political" connotations would be as well to disabuse himself of the notion very quickly.
It all boils down to one's interpretation of the role of the judiciary in society. And in our society in particular with its deep political divisions, and given the fact that a large section of the people reject the very legitimacy of the state itself, we feel that it is safe to assume from past experience, that the judiciary here looks on itself first and foremost as the protectors of the State from which it gets its authority. That being the case, it would be illogical from their point of view, to convict the armed protectors of the State from doing the job they are paid to do. And, barbaric though it may seem, this includes the gunning down of unarmed civilians, by design or by mistake, with the full authority of the State and the protection of the law.
While not surprised at this verdict, we believe nevertheless, that the case did serve a useful purpose in highlighting once again the impossibility of reconciling the differing political viewpoints in a Six County context, and although Judge McDermott may not have realised it, this verdict has just hammered another hail into the lid of the coffin of the Northern Ireland State.
In passing, does this verdict and the hundreds more like it, not make nonsense of Bishop Cahal Daly's current great drive against deprivation, which he sees as a means of defeating political violence. We have stated often in the past, and we state again, that it is not unemployment or deprivation that causes the political violence in the Six Counties, but the injustice and immorality of the State itself.
