February 2005 in Britain and Ireland

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Events in Britain and Ireland

This page deals with current events in Great Britain and Ireland, of interest to and/or involving the British or the Irish.

February 27, 2005

• English Premier League referee Mike Dean is suspended indefinitely after officials learn of his involvement in a betting website. (Daily Mail)
• The British Library reveals that 8000 items, worth at least £250,000, are confirmed as missing or stolen since 1997. These include maps of Britain from 1626 and the first appearances of Dan Dare and Dennis the Menace. (Sunday Times)

February 20, 2005

• Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell directly accuses Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams as well as Martin McGuinness (both elected MPs) and Martin Ferris TD of being on the Provisional IRA Army Council, the first such direct accusation from the Irish Government. (Ireland Online)

February 19, 2005

• Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirm that £50,000 in unused Northern Banknotes found at Newforge Country Club, a facility for off-duty and retired police officers, was from the Northern Bank robbery. Police still consider it a diversion. (BBC)

February 18, 2005

• The UK Food Standards Agency orders the withdrawal of over 350 food products from sale following the discovery that a batch of chili powder used to produce a batch of Worcester sauce subsequently used to produce processed foods was contaminated with the possibly-carcinogenetic dye Sudan I. (BBC)(FSA list of withdrawn products).
• Northern Bank robbery investigation:
  • Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recover a sum of money at a sports and social club in Belfast frequented by members of the PSNI. It is thought to perhaps be a diversion, but it is being investigated. (Sky News)
  • A top Irish businessman and associate of the Taoiseach, Phil Flynn, has stepped down from a number of positions pending the outcome of a Garda investigation into Chesterton Finance, of which he is a non-executive director. He stepped down as chairman of a government body overseeing decentralisation, as well as giving up a position on the board of Vhi Healthcare and as chairman of the Bank of Scotland (Ireland). (Ireland Online)
  • A man was arrested by Gardaí near Passage West in Cork, after he was discovered attempting to burn sterling banknotes. (Ireland Online)
  • Gardaí have released two men who were being questioned in Dublin, as well as a Sinn Féin member in Cork. A suspected Real IRA member arrested at Heuston Station has been remanded in custody, as have four people arrested in Farran in County Cork. (RTÉ)
  • Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has again denied any involvement on the part of his party with money laundering in the country. The Irish Government Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Michael McDowell has described the Irish Republican Army as a colossal crime machine laundering huge sums of money. (RTÉ)

February 17, 2005

• Irish police arrest four people in Cork and three in Dublin in raids concentrating on the financing of the Provisional IRA. Over 2.3 million pounds sterling were seized in Cork, and £60,000 in Northern Bank notes believed to be from the £26.5 million robbery in Belfast just before Christmas. Among the people arrested are reported to be a Sinn Féin councillor and someone working in the banking industry. (RTE) (BBC).

February 15, 2005

• Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, receives substantial damages from two British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, which alleged that the United States was correct to ban him from the country. The Sun has published, and the Sunday Times will publish, acknowledgments that he is not, and never has been, involved in or supported terrorism, and that he abhors all such activities. They also highlight that Islam was recently presented with the Man for Peace award by a group of Nobel Peace Laureates. (BBC)
• The European Court of Human Rights deciding about the so-called McLibel case rules in favour of environmental campaigners Helen Steel and David Morris and their claim that their trial was unfair. The pair said their human rights were violated when their criticism of McDonald's was ruled libel. The case has taken 15 years. (BBC) (Scotsman)(CNN)

14 February 2005

• Hare coursing: As the final Waterloo Cup event in England starts in Altcar, four anti-coursing protesters are arrested. The event is expected to attract up to 10,000 spectators over its 3 days. (BBC) (BBC)
• London's mayor Ken Livingstone is censured by the London Assembly for comparing a Jewish journalist for the Evening Standard to a concentration camp guard. Livingstone refuses to withdraw his comments. (BBC)

11 February 2005

• Prime Minister Tony Blair heralds what is described as the "officially unofficial" start to the General Election campaign with a whistlestop tour of marginal constituencies, unveiling six election pledges. (BBC)(The pledges)

10 February 2005

• The House of Commons passes the Identity Cards Bill at its third reading by 224 votes to 64, with a majority of 160. Most of the Conservative Party's MPs abstain. 19 Labour MPs and 11 Conservative MPs defy the whip and vote against the bill, which now moves on to the House of Lords. (BBC)
• Clarence House announces that Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is to marry Camilla Parker Bowles on Friday 8 April in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle. She will be styled "HRH The Duchess of Cornwall", and when Charles becomes king, "HRH The Princess Consort". (BBC)

9 February 2005

• Prime Minister Tony Blair issues a public apology to the 11 members of the Conlon and McGuire families who were wrongly convicted for the Guildford and Woolwich IRA pub bombings of 1974 when seven people were killed. the surviving members of the families were released in 1989 when the scientific evidence against them was discredited. (BBC)
• Ofcom issues a proposed timetable for ending analogue terrestrial television transmissions, as part of the switchover to digital television. By ITV region, these are: 2008:- Border, Westcountry, HTV Wales; 2009:- Granada, HTV West, Scottish TV, Grampian TV; 2010:- Central TV, Yorkshire TV, Anglia TV; 2011:- Meridian, Carlton/LWT, Tyne Tees, Ulster TV; 2012:- Channel TV. (Ofcom)

2 February 2005

• The Provisional IRA issue a statement to the Republican newspaper An Phoblacht withdrawing from its commitment to the decommissioning of weapons and other deals related to the Northern Ireland peace process.(BBC) (The Scotsman)
• Two firefighters and a member of the public die in a fire on the 14th and 15th floors of a 17-storey tower block in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Seven other people are hospitalised, one in serious condition, and 70 people are evacuated from the block. (BBC).
• Robert Kilroy-Silk officially launches the Veritas political party, on an anti-immigration platform, after quitting the eurosceptic UK Independence Party after a failed leadership bid. (BBC) (ThisIsLondon) (Guardian)

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