Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee
The Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (ULCCC) was set up in 1974 in the aftermath of the Ulster Workers Council Strike, in order to facilitate meetings and policy co-ordination between the Ulster Workers Council, the loyalist paramilitaries and the political representatives of loyalism.
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[edit] Original version
Seen as an important links between grassroots loyalism and more mainstream unionist politics, the ULCCC was chaired by Glenn Barr and met in the Belfast offices of the Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party on a weekly basis.[1] Replacing the earlier Ulster Army Council, it brought together representatives of the Ulster Defence Association (UDA), Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), Red Hand Commando, Vanguard Service Corps/Ulster Volunteer Service Corps, Down Orange Welfare (DOW), Loyalist Association of Workers and Orange Volunteers, although the UDA and DOW left in 1976 after it emerged that members of the groups were unilaterally holding meetings with members of the Provisional IRA and also discussing plans for an independent Northern Ireland with leading Catholic figures.[2]
[edit] Refounded version
The ULCCC was revived in 1991 under the leadership of Ray Smallwoods (the leader of the Ulster Democratic Party who was killed by the IRA in July 1994), although it did not gain much importance due to the existence by that time of the Combined Loyalist Military Command, which brought together the leaderships of the UDA and UVF.[2]
[edit] "The Committee"
The revived ULCCC was at the centre of controversy when Sean McPhilemy alleged that its members included Ulster Bank chief Billy Abernethy, Ulster Independence Movement leader Rev. Hugh Ross, Royal Ulster Constabulary member Trevor Forbes and other leading people in Northern Irish society who, he claimed, conspired with leading paramilitary figures such as Billy Wright and Robin Jackson to facilitate loyalist killings.[3]
The full list of alleged members as claimed by McPhilemy in his book[4] was as follows:
| Name | Position or job | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Abernethy | Ulster Bank executive | ULCCC Chairman |
| Hugh Ross | Ulster Independence Movement leader | |
| Trevor Forbes OBE | Royal Ulster Constabulary Assistant Chief Constable | |
| James Sands | Ulster Independence Movement member | McPhilemy's main source of information |
| John McCullagh | Ulster Resistance representative | |
| Isobel McCulloch | ULCCC secretary | |
| Graham Long | Loyalist Paramilitary | Previously British Army |
| Nelson McCausland | Member of Belfast City Council | Subsequently Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure |
| David Prentice | Co-owner of car business | |
| Albert Prentice | Co-owner of car business | |
| Cecil Kilpatrick | Ulster Independence Movement member | |
| Lewis Singleton | Ulster Independence Movement member and solicitor | |
| Sammy Abraham | Businessman | |
| Will Davidson | Inner Force representative | |
| Alec Jamison | Inner Force representative | |
| Robin Jackson | Ulster Volunteer Force member | |
| Billy Wright | Ulster Volunteer Force member | |
| Dean McCullough | Ulster Volunteer Force member | |
| Alec Benson | Loyalist Retaliation and Defence Group member | Lisburn-based arm of the UVF |
| Ken Kerr | Ulster Defence Association brigadier | Source of evidence for McPhilemy |
| Ian Whittle | Inner Force representative |
The make-up of the group was largely based on evidence provided to McPhilemy by James Sands. An alternative composition of the Committee was provided by Ken Kerr although McPhilemy later determined his evidence to be fraudulent and dismissed it.[5] Of those named by McPhilemy only Sands and Kerr acknowledged the existence of this version of the ULCCC.
The Inner Force referred to in the table was a supposed secret group within the Royal Ulster Constabulary that existed, under the command of Trevor Forbes, in order to deliver collusion in loyalist paramilitary killings.[6] The existence of the Inner Force has also been strenuously denied by those named as having been involved.
[edit] Bibliography
- H. McDonald & J. Cusack, UDA – Inside the Heart of Loyalist Terror, Dublin, Penguin Ireland, 2004
[edit] References
- ^ Abstracts on Organisations - 'U'
- ^ a b W.D. Flackes & Sydney Elliott, Northern Ireland: A Political Directory 1968-1993, Blackstaff Press, 1994, p. 334
- ^ Sean McPhilemy, The Committee - Political Assassination in Northern Ireland, Niwot, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart, 1998
- ^ McPhilemy, The Committee, pp. 387-388
- ^ McPhilemy, The Committee, pp. 327-331
- ^ McPhilemy, The Committee, pp. 3-4
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