News from ireland By Frank Shouldice Gov't Takes Pay Hike With widespread evidence of the

The 40-year-old solicitor was killed when a bomb was planted beneath her car in Lurgan, Co. Armagh in 1999. A loyalist group calling itself the Red Hand Defenders claimed responsibility for the killing.

Rosemary Nelson represented a number of high-profile cases and also acted on behalf of the Garvaghy Road Residents, a nationalist community opposed to the Orange Lodge parade walking through the Garvaghy neighborhood in Portadown, Co. Armagh. Her work attracted open hostility and even death threats from loyalist elements, but the ombudsman's investigation into her death found that the police "did not properly consider the particular nature of Mrs. Nelson's public profile or the level of concern about her safety."

Nelson's murder was reviewed by Canadian judge Peter Cory who recommended that an independent tribunal of inquiry be set up to examine the case. That inquiry is now scheduled to start, but the police ombudsman's report supports the suspicion that the RUC failed to provide protection for the lawyer.

Nuala O'Loan's report referred to some 20 incidents, including seven death threats, which preceded Mrs. Nelson's murder. The report also found "ill-disguised hostility" towards the lawyer by several senior RUC officers.

Responding to the ombudsman's report, Maggie Beirne, director of the Committee of the Administration of Justice (CAJ), welcomed a fuller examination when the tribunal of inquiry begins. "The ombudsman has confirmed that those threats were not treated with the gravity and urgency required," said Beirne.

Less Competitive Ireland Losing Jobs

Manufacturing in Ireland took another heavy blow with the announcement that Seagate is to close its high-tech plant at Limavady, Co. Derry. The closure will eliminate 900 jobs in the northwest with the company moving operations to a cheaper alternative in Indonesia. Meanwhile Waterford Glass said it would cut its thousand-strong workforce in half, adding to a worrying month on the employment front.

Exports from the famous glassware factory have been steadily hit by a weakened US dollar and strong competition from Eastern Europe. When the cuts are implemented it will leave about 500 employees at a company that employed 3,200 people just twenty years ago.

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Nster.com