Irish News, 21. January, 2004

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UDA violence greeted with loud silence

by Brian Feeney

Last week provided a perfect lesson of the double standards that political unionism and those running the NIO operate when faced with loyalist violence – or unionist violence as it should more accurately be called.

The week began with UDA inmates trashing their wing of Maghaberry to the tune of over £100,000.

Let's be clear they are UDA inmates, for there is not and never has been a UFF wing in any jail here any more than there has ever been a separate UFF organisation.

Hardly a word of condemnation from any NIO minister or unionist politician. Any unionist politician who spoke demanded that 'something be done'. Code for asking the British administration to give in to UDA demands.

Curious, since the NIO had already given in to UDA and RIRA demands months ago and the violence was merely aimed at forcing NIO acts of completion on separation.

The BBC had been invited into the jail before the UDA trashed it to see how close the work was to completion. Outside the jail the Prison Officers Association (POA) was busily blackmailing the NIO into spending millions on security measures for the homes of its overpaid members because the PSNI had alleged in 2002 that the names of 1,400 warders had fallen into the IRA's possession.

For some reason no-one thought of pointing out to the terminally tedious Finlay Spratt who kept repeating the police allegation, that it was the UDA who were attacking his members homes since 2002, not the IRA.

Why would they? There are no IRA prisoners. Of course it sounds much more dangerous to pay lip service to the fiction of an IRA threat to excuse spending £30 million on warders' houses.

Again no one raises the fact that thousands of RUC officers' homes remained unprotected throughout the decades of the IRA campaign.

You had to be pretty high-ranking and even then under specific threat to have your house done up.

The UDA know all this, however, and were therefore incensed that the POA was using a non-existent IRA threat to have their homes upgraded while going slow on completing the changes at Maghaberry.

So, during the week the UDA left pipe bombs at POA premises thereby emphasising the fact that the threat was not from the IRA.

Finally, the week culminated with traffic chaos caused by UDA hoax bombs mostly in Catholic districts but also in Comber, Whiteabbey and at an M1 bridge.

Were you listening carefully for any unionist politician either that day or earlier in the week? Nathin'.

In fact the person who expressed outrage most effectively was David Dunseith on Talkback. Well, it had to be him since no unionist politician was available.

Now just imagine if it had been IRA hoax bombs. The door on the BBC studio would have been taken off its hinges.

The only statement which turned up was from Nigel Dodds expressing relief that the NIO had caved in to the POA.

He was worried about pipe bombs, he said, because there was a danger that they could spread 'to the wider community'. Now what did that mean?

Even more despicable than the invisible unionists was the silence from NIO ministers.

Maybe it was because the hoax bombs which paralysed Belfast were on Friday and therefore NIO ministers were either in England or on the way there.

Also, our proconsul was finalising his wildly expensive capitulation to the POA. So that's an excuse?

In fact of course you don't need an NIO minister here for a statement. Usually the press office sticks one out in the minister's name.

For example, there was a gripping statement from our laughable but UDA-silent security minister on Thursday welcoming the continuation of the Temporary Provisions of the Terrorism Act 2000 as applied here.

Do you think she wrote it? Was it important to issue that statement? Was it more important than the UDA trashing the jail?

Now here's another aspect. During the whole disgraceful week, top UDA men appeared on TV commenting on the issues. UDA leaders met to give the go ahead for the hoax bombs on Friday. Journalists knew. The BBC all but televised the meeting. Certainly the PSNI also knew the UDA leaders were meeting. Any arrests? Anyone taken in for questioning before, during or after the events of the week? Any searches? Nathin'. Is the UDA illegal?

Meanwhile, Tony Blur held his monthly press conference and like his proconsular staff here remained stumm about the UDA but demanded the IRA hand over their weaponry. So, as always in the last 30 years, UDA attacks on society are less reprehensible than IRA attacks on the state – even when there are none.