Fermanagh to get half of new PSNI Graduates Claims Baggott

Fermanagh to get half of police graduates


Chief Constable Matt Baggott has said the dissident republican threat remains "very real and severe" in Fermanagh and appealed to the community to "please help us" in the fight against dissident republican activity.

The PSNI chief made the comments after the first Northern Ireland Policing Board public meeting was held in Fermanagh on Tuesday night.

"We have hundreds of people gathering intelligence on these people and we are using our best efforts and resources to make sure they are brought to justice. We are not letting the situation build up to the same level as before, but ultimately we need the co-operation of the public to help us build on that," he said.

This coincided with his main theme of the evening of "personal policing" which he presented to the 200-strong audience at the Killyhevlin Hotel, Enniskillen.

"We have a real problem here and a few people are led to believe that I'm the head of a war machine. The officers I lead are on responding to calls tonight, they're at road traffic accidents saving lives and giving mouth-to-mouth to people in need without a second thought for who that person is and for anyone to interpret this as a war machine is utterly barking. I've made the commitment to this force and I will stand up now and say enough is enough. I don't want to have to cradle another colleague's wife in my arms with the emotion of the community behind her," he said.

After apologising on "getting too emotional", Constable Baggott asked the public to "please help us, please challenge us and please work alongside us" in bringing dissident republicans to justice.

In relation to PSNI officers, he admitted that out of all the places in the world he has served in, he has never been more "inspired" by the sheer "courage" of his colleagues who "are doing absolutely the right thing on working towards a better future for Northern Ireland."

He said he was "taken aback" by the "desire" of young police graduates who he said almost half of which will be coming to Fermanagh in the next six months.

He admitted that the police service needs to "radically change" and doing so, he is prepared to listen and to be held to account by the Policing Board when it is required.

He also discussed plans of how the community can work together in the fight against crime and said the PSNI will continue to crackdown on the mis-use of alcohol among teenagers that can lead to anti-social behaviour and other crime.

Constable Baggott admitted that the next six months were going to bring challenges, particularly in regards to finance, but reassured the public that back room staff are being put on patrol and that there are sufficient resources to carry out effective community policing in Fermanagh and the rest of Northern Ireland.

Taken from Fermanagh Impartial Reporter Newspaper

PSNI Officer Seriously injured in Bomb Blast

A member of the RUC/PSNI is undergoing surgery after he was seriously injured in a Republican car bomb attack in Randalstown, County Antrim.

The 33-year-old Catholic officer is in "a very serious condition" in hospital according to RUC/PSNI spokesman, Derek Williamson.

He said the British policeman, who was caught in the blast on the Milltown Road at 0630 GMT on friday last, was a "highly regarded" officer who had served for 10 years.

The RUC and British army are at the scene.


Williamson told the media that Republicans were responsible for the bombing but it was too early to say which group was behind the attack.

He is an active member of the GAA and an Irish speaker.

British Crown Minister Martin McGuinness
He described it as an "atrocious act of terrorism carried out by cowardly thugs".

He said the recently married officer was targeted while he made his way to Woodbourne police station in west Belfast.

It is believed the victim had driven about a mile from his home when the bomb exploded and was found breathing and conscious but bleeding heavily.

British Ministers in the occupied six counties issued a joint statement condemning the attack.

Peter Robinson said is was a "cowardly evil act against a man committed to defending the free society we all enjoy".

"I have said in the past that those who perpetrate such attacks will not succeed in returning Northern Ireland to the dark days of the past. I remain steadfastly committed to upholding that promise," he added.




RUC spokesperson Derek Williamson described the bomb as a 'cowardly terrorist attack'
Provo Crown Minister Martin McGuinness said the injured RUC man was an Irish language speaker and an "active member" of the Gaelic Athletic Association, an organisation which promotes Irish sports on both sides of the Irish border.


The chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and property tycoon Barry Gilligan, said the bombing was "an attempt to murder".

He added that those who carried it out "cannot be allowed to succeed in bringing any further terror" to the community.

Another English Crown Minister Paul Goggins described it as a "vile attack" which would "sicken people".


Republicans have been responsible for a spate of bomb attacks across the occupied six counties in the last year.

In October, the IRA planted a bomb under a policeman's car in east Belfast.

His partner suffered minor injuries in the attack.

32 County Sovereignty Movement New Year Statement 2010

32 County Sovereignty Movement
New Year Statement 2010


We commend our activists for their dedication and hard work in pursuit of the republican goal in 2009. We commend all other republican activists for being true to their beliefs and for being generous and inventive in listening to the beliefs of others. 2009 was a year which witnessed that inventiveness being translated into political action which was widely recognised throughout the republican base. It represented the most potent expression of solidarity with imprisoned comrades. It is solidarity in action with those who were bereaved in the struggle. It is also the way forward for Irish republicanism.

The 32 County Sovereignty Movement has a clear vision for the year ahead. The reclamation of our sovereignty must take real form. We must give leadership to our communities to help them achieve this. Throughout Ireland communities have been betrayed by the institutions of faith, finance and state which have long purported to speak and act on their behalf. The abundance of trust placed in the integrity of individual leaders has proved misplaced. They have been left leaderless.

They have not, however, been left powerless. It is in recognition of this reality that the 32CSM will now engage with our communities. In a disciplined approach the 32CSM will liase directly with local communities to explore ways of reclaiming their sovereignty, and under these auspices, help them pursue their political and social objectives. We will focus our efforts in ensuring that all community activity will by default be a pursuit toward national sovereignty. Such a process will be a challenge to both states. It is a first step in filling the vacuum left by those who are now wholly subsumed into the apparatus of partition.

Communities so organised can become the template for national freedom. The republican objective is twofold; to secure our sovereign independence and to organise a just society within that independence. Like our republican forebears we can now enact our aspirations, we can involve our people with our beliefs in real and tangible terms. Republicanism cannot be detached from the people and the people cannot be detached from the strategies deployed to secure their freedom. We can only lead through democratic involvement with our communities.

Because it is a first step it must be taken with due diligence. We have prepared our arguments and are refining our position as mandated at our Ard Fheis. It will be democratic. It will be a learning process which will require discipline, patience and pragmatic political judgement. Republicans cannot interact at a distance. We need to create a new interface between ourselves and our people which will allow us to seek their mandate for our struggle. This mandate will not be measured by a gerrymandered vote. Its value will be in its democratic integrity and its sovereign credentials. For us the ballot box means more than just numbers. Democracy can only be returned to the Irish people when their national sovereignty is recognised.

Because it is a challenge to the state the state will obviously respond. Mistakes will be made, but also learned from, and it is this disciplined approach which will allow for this engagement to spread successfully to other areas. In part the success of this project may be gauged from the state’s reaction to it. They will not be alone. Establishment Nationalists will also have a vested interest in seeing this project fail. They will seek to divide and conquer. But a clear understanding as to the implications of its sovereign distinction and clear democratic practices will thwart them. After all it was disdain for democracy within their own organisations which led them into the cul de sac they now find themselves.

The 32CSM will be active on other fronts. Two major international initiatives will be launched in the coming year. We have observed how issues at play on the international stage are geared toward political events in the occupied six counties. We have made our intentions known to the relevant governments that we are determined to follow a particular path challenging any move that would seek to de-legitimise the republican struggle. These initiatives are for the benefit of Irish republicanism, we will not claim sole ownership of them. But we will provide the leadership that will open up counter arguments for all republicans to employ against these nefarious measures.

Republican unity in 2009 resulted in impressive demonstrations on a range of issues. The continuing media and political demonising of republicans is proof of their effect as is their grudging admission of our growth. The media and political establishment’s objective is to ignore us but through mutual cooperation we have made this impossible. In the coming year this cooperation can be galvanised within our communities as these issues now become their issues in pursuit of our national objectives.

The British Government’s strategy of finally destroying any vestige of republicanism within the provisional movement will not be allowed to undermine the separatist ideal. A resurgent republicanism will demonstrate to both governments and the international community that the destruction of the provisional movement was the liberation of Irish republicanism. It is up to all of us to ensure that 2010 clearly demonstrates this reality.