| News From Ireland
By Frank Shouldice
270307.jpg) Sinn
Féin Endorses PSNI
Sinn Féin voted to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland
(PSNI) formerly the RUC at an extraordinary Ard Fheis (party congress)
attended by nearly 1,000 delegates in Dublin. The motion was carried by
over 90 percent of the vote.
Prior to the Ard Fheis Sinn Féin refused to participate on the
PSNI policing board. The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) cited this position
as grounds to block power-sharing with the republican party and the impasse
threatened to scupper the March 7 Assembly elections.
“The decision we have taken today is truly historic,” declared
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams. “This is one of the most
important debates in the history of republicanism and of this country.
Let’s not be upset by how others respond to today’s decision.
The higher they build their barriers the stronger we become,” he
added in a clear reference to anticipating a DUP response to Sinn Féin’s
policy change.
The vote came after six hours of debate and a series of public meetings
held in nationalist communities across Northern Ireland. Hardline republicans,
including the Continuity IRA, objected vehemently to the proposal but
the majority of ard fheis delegates endorsed the direction given by the
party leadership.
Days before the historic meeting Police Ombudsman Nuala O’Loan published
a report castigating the RUC special branch for colluding with UVF loyalist
paramilitaries through the 1980’s and 90’s in the murder of
Catholics and nationalists. Adams used O’Loan’s damning report
as evidence that collaboration between the police force and loyalist gangs
should never happen again. Supporting the PSNI and participating in the
policing board would enable republicans to prevent such a recurrence,
he said.
Meanwhile the peace dividend of IRA ceasefire was felt in the republican
heartland of Crossmaglen, South Armagh. The despised watchtower of a heavily
fortified British Army base was removed and the land which the British
Army seized from the adjacent GAA club is to be returned.
The tower was built in 1992 by the Royal Engineers to overlook the town
and act as a guiding point for army helicopters flying in and out of the
joint army/police base. Under a timetable of reducing troop numbers to
a complement of 5,000 in Northern Ireland the British army will withdraw
completely from the base by the end of March. From then on Crossmaglen
station will be used solely by the PSNI.
270307.jpg) David
Ervine Laid To Rest
Political tributes poured in to honor the late David Ervine, leader of
the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). The 53-year-old suffered a heart
attack and died soon afterwards in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.
A former member of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) he played
a key role in brokering the loyalist paramilitary ceasefire in 1994.
Ervine was a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 1998 but the
PUP found itself increasingly marginalized despite its leader’s
immense popularity outside the North as a moderate and calming influence
within loyalism.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams acknowledged Ervine’s role
in making the ceasefire hold. “He made a valuable and important
contribution to moving our society away from conflict,” said Adams
who attended the PUP leader’s funeral to offer condolences to Ervine’s
widow and two sons.
DUP deputy leader Peter Robinson, MP for East Belfast, agreed that Northern
Ireland had lost a significant voice. “Even those who saw politics
from a different angle of vision would openly acknowledge that he genuinely
wanted to see a new era of peace and stability in Northern Ireland,”
said Robinson.
Within days the PUP elected Dawn Purvis as Ervine’s successor. Purvis,
a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, is the first woman to
lead a unionist party. “I am deeply honored to have been made the
leader of the PUP,” she said on her appointment. “However,
this is also tinged with sadness given the huge loss of David. It is a
huge challenge to step into this role, especially after the good work
he did. But this gives us an opportunity to rebuild and continue to serve
working class loyalists and unionist communities.”
270307.jpg) Croke
Park Opens Its Doors
On a day that few predicted would ever happen, over 82,000 sports fans
thronged to Croke Park to see Ireland play France in a rugby international
match. The rugby game at headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association
(GAA) followed years of intense dispute within the GAA about whether ‘foreign’
sports should be allowed to use its facilities.
However, GAA delegates made the historic decision last year to overturn
Rule 42 which prohibited non-GAA sports from entry. As a result, the door
was opened to the presently homeless Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU)
and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to hire the magnificent
stadium at Croke Park for rugby and soccer internationals.
The IRFU and FAI used Lansdowne Road for international matches until
the end of 2006. However, Lansdowne Road, with just half the capacity
of Croke Park, gradually fell into a state of disrepair and now needs
a complete renovation. The IRFU, which owns the ground, plans to demolish
the existing structure and build a brand-new stadium. The immediate obstacle
is achieving planning permission for a high-rise venue in a residential
area, but while Lansdowne Road is closed, rugby and soccer fans can cross
to the city’s northside for Ireland’s home matches.
A week prior to the France match, the GAA held the first floodlit Gaelic
football match at Croke Park, drawing a capacity crowd to watch Tyrone
beat Dublin. Bringing over 82,000 fans through the turnstiles was a remarkable
attendance at a February fixture which would normally attract about one
tenththat number.
The GAA has earned many plaudits for the decision to open its doors to
other sporting bodies. Given the Association’s historical background
– the GAA was set up in 1884 to promote Irish sport and culture
in the face of British persecution – it is a sign of the Association’s
self-confidence to welcome rival sports in the modern era. Many rugby
fans who had never been to Croke Park before were struck by the magnificence
of the state-of-the-art stadium. For visiting fans unaware of the existence
of the GAA, it was remarkable that an amateur organization could present
facilities of a standard to rival any international venue.
France and Ireland produced a classic encounter but France dampened the
historic occasion by scoring a last-minute try to clinch the game.
Long Kesh Designer Named
The £50 million contract to redesign the former Long Kesh Prison
in Northern Ireland has been awarded to the Mott MacDonald HOK Sport Team,
the company behind the London Olympic Stadium. Although co-funding from
private partnership is yet to be found, it is increasingly likely that
the project will go ahead.
Built on the outskirts of Belfast, the 365-acre site held the Long Kesh
prison, scene of the tumultuous IRA ‘H-Blocks’ hunger-strike
in 1981 which led tothe death of Bobby Sands and ten of his comrades from
the IRA and INLA. It was also where LVF leader Billy Wright was shot dead
in 1997 while he was an inmate at the prison.
The prison once housed 1,700 republican and loyalist prisoners, but following
the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the facility was closed two years later.
Some 428 prisoners were released and four others were transferred to other
prisons in Northern Ireland.
Long Kesh, also known as The Maze, has fallen into disrepair and last
year demolition work began at the site. The
proposal from the Northern Ireland Office is to turn the area into a
35,000 capacity sports stadium to house soccer, Gaelic football and rugby
matches. “Subject to government successfully delivering a private
development partner, Northern Ireland can look forward to having a stadium
it can be proud of,” announced NIO minister David Hanson.
Ireland Faces EU Rap
The European Parliament has called on the Irish Government to investigate
the use of Irish airports for the rendition of prisoners by the CIA. In
a strong critique of Dublin’s passive role in the matter, the EU
draft report noted that Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern “failed
to answer all the questions in relation to the concerns that Irish airports
may have been used by CIA aircraft traveling to or from extraordinary
rendition.”
Members of the European Parliament approved the report by 28 votes to
17, adding that the Irish Government should not have simply accepted official
assurances that no prisoners were secretively held captive aboard planes
in transit through Shannon and Dublin. The report criticized 10 other
EU states – including Britain, Sweden and Poland – for allowing
CIA planes suspected of illegally transporting prisoners to operate without
scrutiny.
Irish authorities have declined to inspect CIA planes on Irish territory
despite strong suspicion that prisoners may have been aboard in contravention
of Ireland’s neutrality. The report confirms that a total of 147
stopovers were made by CIA-operated aircraft at Irish airports between
2001 and 2005.
The report’s findings were welcomed by the Irish Council for Civil
Liberties. “The Irish Government has attempted to muzzle the work
of this EU rendition committee and that has backfired,” said ICCL
director Mark Kelly.
News In Brief
It’s only ten years since the divorce referendum scraped through
in Ireland 50.3 percent voted in favor; 49.7 percent voted against –
but a poll carried out by the Irish Times/TNS shows that attitudes have
changed hugely on the issue. Were the referendum to be held in 2007, some
75 percent of voters would now vote in favor of divorce …
DRUGS multinational Pfizer announced it would cut 480 jobs at its factory
in Ringaskiddy, Co. Cork. The company said that it was letting staff go
because a new cholesterol drug had failed clinical tests and would not
go into production. Earlier in the week Motorola made a similar decision
that is likely to cost the county 350 jobs. “We must ask the hard
questions of government about whether Ireland is no longer being seen
as a
competitive destination for doing business for large multinationals,”
reacted local Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney …
A NEW visitors center was unveiled at the Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare.
Costing over €31 million, a low-level interpretative center was built
close to the site. The spectacular 700-foot cliffs attract more than a
million visitors every year and Clare Co. Council has applied to Unesco
to have the cliffs and the Burren heritage park included in the European
Geopark network …
FORMER Bishop of Galway Dr. Eamon Casey revealed that he resigned his
position because of media pressure and not because he was told to do so
by the Vatican. Speaking in an interview broadcast by RTE radio, Dr. Casey,
79, said he resigned as bishop following revelations that he had a son
with American Annie Murphy 17 years previously. “The holy father
didn’t want to
accept it,” he claims, adding that he took flight “to get
out before the media descended on me.” Following a spell at a contemplative
monastery in the U.S., he worked in Ecuador and England. Last year Dr.
Casey returned to Ireland. He now lives near Gort, Co. Galway but is precluded
from celebrating Mass pending a Church investigation into allegations
of child sex abuse. The woman who made abuse claims against Casey made
similar claims against other individuals in the past but none were proven.
A garda inquiry into the matter closed without prosecution but the Church
has yet to complete its own investigation . . .
AER Lingus is set to expand its long-haul service and set up a new base
in the UK. The company announced plans to recruit 300 new employees made
up of pilots and cabin crew. Depending on the outcome of talks between
the EU and U.S. the airline will either open up new transatlantic routes
or expand existing services from Ireland to New York, Boston, Los Angeles
and Dubai …
CHRISTIE’S auctioneers in London broke all records for work by an
Irish artist when it sold a painting by Francis Bacon for over €21
million. The painting, ‘Study for Portrait II’ was part of
Bacon’s ‘Pope series’ and was owned by actress Sophia
Loren. The sale exceeded Bacon’s last high profile sale in November
when one of his works sold in New York for €11.5 million. Nine years
ago Bacon’s London studio was donated to the Hugh Lane Gallery.
Director Barbara Dawson hopes the gallery will be able to loan-for-exhibit
Bacon’s works that have made such an impact on the international
art world.
|
