WE look at the stories that were making the headlines this week in 1984
I was ‘duped’ by Executive says Divis Flats resident
THE last resident of the Whitehall Block in the Divis Flats says he will not be moving because he has "been duped" by the Housing Executive. As a result, the demolition of the flats may be held up for as long as eighteen months. Seamus McAreavy, who 'celebrates' his 15th year in the flats this St Patrick's Day, is accusing the Executive of failing to fulfill a promise to re-house him in the now completed phase 2 of the Ardmoulin Development.
He has now been informed by the Executive that he will now have to wait until the third phase is finished – sometime in 1985 – before he can be accommodated in Ardmoulin.
Mr McAreavy's flat is affected by severe dampness and water is seeping in from the flats above where copper piping has been stolen by vandals. The only form of heating in his two bedroomed ground floor flat, is a superser loaned to him by the Executive.
Surrounded by his belongings which he had packed into cardboard boxes last August in anticipation of moving out, Seamus spoke to the Andersonstown News. "As far as I can see, the Executive hope I will end up floating out of here. However, I will be staying in this dump until they give me a house in Ardmoulin or a mobile home beside the Phase 3 site. I have had enough promises and refuse to be harassed out of this flat by the bad conditions," he said
Sean McKnight of Sinn Féin who has been campaigning on Mr McAreavy's case, slammed the Executive.
“Obviously enough homes weren't built at Ardmoulin to cater for the local demand. This indicates a lack of foresight on the Executive's part comparable to that shown when they built the Divis disaster,” he said.
"Seamus McAreavy is determined to stay," he went on, "and it's the Executive's duty to make up for their mistake by making his home habitable and by investigating his demand for a mobile home."
However, a Housing Executive spokesperson rebutted the allegations made by Mr McAreavy. "Mr. McAreavy is the last tenant in Whitehall and is delaying our plans for demolition.”
"We have made Mr McAreavy seven different offers of accommodation in the lower Falls area, two of these have been for new houses. If he will accept a tenancy he will be given a home in the last phase of Ardmoulin.
Editorial: Miscarriage of justice
THE gross injustice meted out to the Maguire family and the late Guiseppe Conlon who died in prison protesting his innocence, has had another airing on television.
Sentenced to long terms of imprisonment on concocted evidence, the entire family including a 13-year-old boy are now acknowledged by everyone to have been innocent victims of the anti-Irish feeling in England at the time. Yet Mr and Mrs Maguire still languish in jail with failing health and decreasing prospects of any form of normal family life with their children.
What is so frustrating about the whole thing is the fact that despite having proved their innocence again and again in the full glare of the TV cameras, that it has little effect on a racially biased community.
It is ironic that the media which did much to put the Maguire family in the predicament they are in, with their hysterical outbursts at the time of the trial, are now in no position to undo their dirty work.
Without fear of contradiction, we maintain that the so-called English popular press is the worst in the world. Lies, racial bias and bigotry are its hallmarks and it is sad indeed that so much of it is sold and read in Ireland. Nevertheless, if the English gutter press were the Maguire's prosecutors, then the "learned" and be-wigged judges were their persecutors and the real culprits in this mammoth miscarriage of justice.
In almost all walks of life, if a person makes a mistake in the execution of his duty then he is bound to make amends or be held accountable. But not in the case of judges. They can make all the "mistakes" they want, give as many biased verdicts as they like and are never called to justify them. This tradition of judicial immunity, in our opinion, has led to all sorts of wrong verdicts in the past, and will continue to do so until such times as the people are in a position to make them justify their actions in an open forum, and if it emerges that their sloppy professionalism or bias has caused a miscarriage of justice then they should be made to pay for it like all the rest of us.
