“Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Church in Ireland…”

Will Crawley provides some background on the “relationship between the Vatican and the international sex abuse crisis.”  Meanwhile, Damian Thompson, who thinks Seán Brady should resign, has the text of Benedict’s pastoral letter to the Catholic Church in Ireland. [Adds See also Brian’s post below]  From the pastoral letter

14. I now wish to propose to you some concrete initiatives to address the situation.

At the conclusion of my meeting with the Irish bishops, I asked that Lent this year be set aside as a time to pray for an outpouring of God’s mercy and the Holy Spirit’s gifts of holiness and strength upon the Church in your country. I now invite all of you to devote your Friday penances, for a period of one year, between now and Easter 2011, to this intention. I ask you to offer up your fasting, your prayer, your reading of Scripture and your works of mercy in order to obtain the grace of healing and renewal for the Church in Ireland. I encourage you to discover anew the sacrament of Reconciliation and to avail yourselves more frequently of the transforming power of its grace.

Pete Baker @ 11:38 AM | Comments (6)

Only one small step along the way by the Pope

 

On a first reading and leaving aside the inevitable and overdue apology, the striking message of the Pope’s pastoral letter is that a clean-up is needed to strengthen the authority of the clergy, not dilute it. At the heart of his response is a basic refusal to grasp the full extent of the problem. Conservative as ever and as unquestioning as ever of the traditions, structures and authority of the Church, the Pope blames the swingin’ sixties for creating a climate of abuse, a turning away from the values of Holy Ireland.  Vatican 2 wasn’t what we thought it was.

Brian Walker @ 11:05 AM | Comments (3)

Cleaning up the Augean stables with a feather-duster

In responding to the crimes of its clergy, the Vatican has chosen to operate at an almost unimaginable level of triviality.  First of all the Irish bishops fly over to Rome and MEET THE POPE.  Then the Pope announces that is going to WRITE A LETTER.

David Crookes @ 08:49 AM | Comments (24)

Huge coup for Wrightbus - from Ballymena to Battersea?

From the Evening Standard’s Londoner’s Diary

*LORD Foster’s architectural firm has been dropped from Boris Johnson’s project to design a new Routemaster bus, despite having won the design competition back in 2008. The Mayor’s Transport for London (TfL) has instead awarded an £8 million contract to design and build five of the new buses by 2012 to Northern Ireland-based Wrightbus.
Getting rid of the unloved bendy buses and the reintroduction of a modern version of the hop-on, hop-off Routemaster were among the central planks of Boris’s mayoral campaign in May 2008, some of which he famously conducted from the rear platform of one of the few remaining in service.
His predecessor, Ken Livingstone, was much derided for getting rid of the Routemasters in 2005, having previously said that “only a ghastly, dehumanised moron” would do such a thing. 
In December 2008, the mayor announced Foster + Partners and Aston Martin as joint winners alongside bus-design firm Capoco. Foster’s design featured cream leather seating, wooden floors and a glazed roof. But a TfL spokesman has now told the Architects’ Journal: “Neither the Foster nor the Capoco concepts will be used.”
Wrightbus’s working design, which will be unveiled next month, is understood to have a limited “open” platform to the rear and two staircases. 

Brian Walker @ 11:05 PM | Comments (27)

For the Catholic world, read Ireland

As the Washington Post observes, the world will be watching to see if the Pope in his letter to the Irish church tears away the veil of secrecy over the full extent of clerical cover-up and admits some blame of his own. Honesty demands that Joseph Ratzinger himself, the man who for decades has been principally responsible for the worldwide cover-up, at last pronounce his own mea culpa,” says Hans Kung, the world’s most famous Catholic theologian, harrassed by JP2 for his liberal thoughts.  It seems to me the Pope is between a rock and a hard place of his own making. Does the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. the old Holy Office he headed, hold all the details of the thousands of cases? If so, will he promise full disclosure? If he does, he exposes his own cover-up; if he doesn’t, he continues it. If neither as is likely, the pressure for full disclosure will be mightily boosted by anti-climax and his very authority put seriously at risk. The BBC’s Rome correspondent David Willey, no callow secularist and the veteran of six papacies “has never seen a graver crisis affecting the very credibility of the leadership of the world’s longest surviving international organisation, the Roman Catholic Church.” Willey believes the Irish letter was held up because of the emergence of the Munich case which points straight to Joseph Ratzinger himself. It’s the old Watergate question: what did he know and when did he know it?. .

Brian Walker @ 10:34 PM | Comments (11)

And the conspiracy to murder?

Of the seven people originally arrested in Ireland in connection with an international investigation into a conspiracy to murder Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, only two have been charged - one man with an immigration offence, another with making a menacing phone call to another Muslim man in the US.  RTÉ reports their appearance in court today.

Abdul-Salam Mansour Al-Jehani, who was arrested on 15 March in Waterford, pleaded guilty this morning. Detective Sergeant Donal Donohue told the court he had arrested Al-Jehani, who is originally from Libya, for not having proper identity documents and charged him under the 2004 Immigration Act. The court heard he previously applied for asylum in the Netherlands under his real name but had been refused and when he came to Ireland in 2001, he applied for asylum under a false name. In October 2008, he was granted leave to remain in Ireland until July 2011.

Pete Baker @ 09:15 PM | Comments (1)

Pissing about with parades

After noting the ways Stoneyford POVFB will go about getting around Parades Commission rulings by taking to the fields, I’ll also note how well behaved their colour party and speeches from the Orange Hall seemed to have been - despite the notable exception of current band leader, Paul Smith;

“the band will walk in the village of Stoneyford at a time and date of our own choosing.”

But the St Patricks parade in Killrea also suffered from those that seek loopholes as the clearly republican Sons of Ireland Flute Band, and not invited to the parade, applied to march the exact same route, at the exact same time as the return leg of AOH Division 387 Gortrighey’s day out.

Tacky, guys.

Mark McGregor @ 08:17 PM | Comments (4)

If at first you can’t convict him…try, try, try, beat, try, try, try again

Gary Donnelly has faced numerous failed charges of assualt on British police officers as a BBC report from September 2009 notes:

Irish News journalist Seamus McKinney gave evidence that Mr Donnelly had been bundled to the ground by police officers as he paused to acknowledge the crowd.

Judge Bates said he had been “impressed” by Mr McKinney’s evidence.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Donnelly said it was now the fourth occasion he had been charged with assaulting police and the charges had been dismissed.

In January even a British judge stated:

The District Judge said while there were a number of discrepancies in the evidence given by police officers during the trial, he believed the discrepancies proved that the officers had not colluded before giving their evidence.

“However, it surprises me somewhat that no-one took seriously enough Mr. Donnelly’s protestations that his arm was broken”, Mr. McElholm said.

Despite being only fined £450 at this stage, after appeal he was gaoled for seven months.

Then after being removed from the republican wing in Magheraberry Donnelly commenced a seven Hunger Strike. This appears to have stopped today with the ending of his segregatation from other republican prisoners.

Mark McGregor @ 06:28 PM

Winding Up? They’re having a laugh

David Burnside resigned from the Assembly on 1 June 2009, at that point he was switched over to claiming expenses via a Winding Up Allowance

Winding Up Allowance

Winding Up Allowance is paid to a former Member to allow him or her to bring their Assembly business to an orderly close. Office Costs Allowance is not payable from the date on which a former Member ceases to be a Member of the Assembly. Winding Up Allowance (like OCA) can only be claimed for actual receipted expenditure. During 2009-2010 Winding Up Allowance has been paid to one Member

Burnside’s most recent accounts for not being a member of the Assembly show a claim of £15,789.09 from June 09. Francie Brollie has also received £4,929.30 thus far for Winding Up.

Suggestions that Sammy Wilson is receiving this Allowance while still a member of the Assembly seem to be inaccurate. Claims for 14p whoopee cushions may also be fiction.

Mark McGregor @ 05:44 PM | Comments (4)

Security alerts in Londonderry and Belfast

As a BBC report notes, “Security alerts are continuing in Londonderry after the Real IRA said they left four devices in the city”.  Earlier The Guardian described the city’s centre as “paralysed”.  And there’s also a security alert in west Belfast after two masked men reportedly threatened a bus driver and left a suspicious object on board the vehicle.  They’re just keeping faith with the republican past… Adds “Belfast city centre traffic deadlock gridlock”. And

Three trains laid on for rugby fans travelling to Dublin on Saturday have been cancelled due to an alert at Newry.

Pete Baker @ 03:51 PM | Comments (57)

“I think that seems a very sensible proposition.”

The administrator of the troubled Presbyterian Mutual Society had applied for a five year extension to his firm’s contract.  But following arguments from lawyers representing some of the shareholders in the PMS - that “Some of them may die, some of them may not have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their savings” - the application was amended to a period of 12 months. Although whether the property market will have recovered sufficiently by then is another matter…  And the amendment was made “on the understanding that if within that 12-month period there was a need for an extension, and that may arise, we would come back to court and ask for an extension”.

Pete Baker @ 03:32 PM | Comments (1)

Northern Ireland politics in 4 YouTubes…

I met up with John Arovosis and his America Blog colleague Joe Sudbury whilst here in Washington a few nights ago, and we recorded an interview in the street... It was good fun, though I failed miserably to fulfill John’s demands that I briefly explain the history of the whole problem of politics and identity in Northern Ireland… Nonetheless, it was great fun and good to meet up with John on his home beat…

Mick Fealty @ 01:18 PM | Comments (7)

Archbishop Martin: Catholic Church must tell truth…

As Brian notes of the church abuse cases, the state has as many questions as the church to answer about the ‘strangeness’ of their behaviours towards the church. What’s disturbing about the piecemeal way in which the story has been emerging all week is it’s implications for what’s been going on in Archdioceses outside Dublin. Regardless of where this ends up, the Archbishop of Dublin looks like a moral colossus - not simply for his brave words, but for what he has done on his own patch, even as the Cardinal loses stature day by day… Given the problem of child abuse runs so wide and so deep in Irish society (north as well as south - and as Chris points out perhaps a lot further up than that), this piece meal disclosure of dirty back room deals is the opposite of moral leadership… It requires actions from church leaders to clean out their own stables, and follow Martin’s lead. And that’s not to mention something more than pious and given the recent past, rather insincere words from our political leaders... See Matt Cooper’s column on Martin McGuinness and the throwing of 1970s stones:

Mick Fealty @ 12:36 PM | Comments (28)

Six nations final Weekend

Fixtures, all on Saturday:

France v England, 19:45
Ireland v Scotland, 17:00
Wales v Italy, 14:30

Three home wins surely…..
O’Driscoll on the new tackle law interpretation
England an unpalatable mess
Wales need to stop treating players like adults
Gerald Davies on France
Update from Western Mail: The Worse Six Nations in History?

Dewi @ 09:05 AM | Comments (23)

New Brady case doesn’t look like cover up

The Guardian’s veteran political commentator Michael White takes world weariness to new heights by predicting that the Catholic Church has the stamina to sit out the media firestorm.  These things blow themselves out in time, as all Westminster watchers know. In Britain perhaps, where the abuse crisis hasn’t reached the same level but there’s no sign of a firebreak in Ireland and indeed worldwide, where the storm is gaining second wind and is now engulfing the Vatican.  But balance and fairness are essential and never more so than when the cause is just. I see that the Church’s sclerotic spokemen have taken care to spell out that the latest cases under the microscope were reported to the police. This applies to the Bishop Hegarty case . Not for thre first time, the issue here implicates the State which has to answer why a private civil settlement was deemed appropriate for a rape case.  Responsibility seems clearer in a 2001 rape case in Cardinal Brady’s Armagh archdiocese reported by UTV tonight. This came to trial, resulting in acquittal but also a follow up compensation settlement. According to a lengthy statement issued hastily to the Irish Times, the cardinal was not bound by the confidentiality agreement of the civil action and suspended the priest, named only as “Father X”. His identity was at first withheld to protect the victim. Then late tonight the suspended priest was named as Father Joseph Quinn.  While the priest seems to have been named under pressure, making his life difficult beyond the immediate circle of those in the know, the cardinal’s position appears not to have worsened. But the case again puts him under the closest scrutiny. What other cases will come out in the Irish wash? Interestingly the Economist declares that “ removing the Irish primate, who has said he will only go if the pope requests it, could signal that the era of cover-ups is finally over ” a view which I believe fails to rise to the level of events.

Brian Walker @ 08:33 PM | Comments (86)

“reduce the length of time for which the Secretary of State has to be in possession of the report”

According to a BBC report there’s been a slight change of plan in relation to the publication of the “pointless” Saville Inquiry’s report.  Rather than the lawyers checking “for issues of national security and right to life” after the report is handed to the UK government, they’ll do that before the official hand-over. From the BBC report

The report will now remain with Lord Saville until all the issues surrounding its publication have been resolved, which is expected to take about two weeks. It will then go to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Shaun Woodward, who will decide when it will be made public. This may be before the general election.

Or it may not…

A spokesperson for the Inquiry said the revised arrangements would “reduce the length of time for which the Secretary of State has to be in possession of the report before publication”.

Indeed.

Pete Baker @ 04:17 PM | Comments (26)

The perils of polls

I doubt if Bel Tel’s latest snapshot poll will stimulate much more than ritual pressure for a referendum on Unity. The parties have got enough to do just hanging in there for a long time to come. Naturally people will take what they like out of it. What stands out for David McKittrick is the finding that 69% of all Catholics would still vote for Unity, despite the developments of equality and powersharing. I find that less surprising. These are achievements of direct rule the parties have yet to live up to on their own.  By contrast, the supporter of the Conservative fraction Owen Polley sneers at Gerry Adams for daring to talk up Unity at the Paddyfest, because 85% of Prods and 26% of Taigs would split in favour of the Union. However the overall figure of 55% for remaining in the UK is a far from permanently decisive margin, so hopes of Unity remain very much alive.  On the question of political will to hold a referendum however, there’s a paradox.  Unless public opinion or the demographics shift dramatically, the more strident the politics and the wider the gap, the less likely the two governments are to call a border poll.  Althiugh they are derided by partisans, the wide tolerances in political attitudes consistently recorded in the Life and Times surveys make a referendum scenario even cloudier. 

 

Brian Walker @ 03:18 PM | Comments (28)

“On both sides of the Atlantic we are seeing stabilisation of the economy…”

As the Irish Times report points out, and RTÉ also notes, US President Barack Obama made particular mention of the Shannon airport stop-over provided to the US military, and the odd US politician, when pledging to “continue to co-ordinate in international fora as well as bilaterally to see how we can spur investment and private sector growth on both sides of the Atlantic.”  He also received another “lovely” bowl. And the pre-clearance facilities at Shannon Airport are now available for all general aircraft, including private jets.  Irish Eagle identifies the link between those facilities and US tax reforms.

That’s the insurance policy against being tagged as a tax haven. Avoiding tax haven designation is one of the keys to economic recovery.

Pete Baker @ 11:34 AM | Comments (12)

For the Catholic Church. the answer lies in neither bigotry nor public inquries

It has to be a good thing that the Northern political parties aren’t tearing into each other over the paedophile crisis in the Catholic church, as Fionnuala says in her Irish Times column in which she identifies a mood of isolation among northern Catholics. Was Paisley right about the Catholic Church all those years ago?  Well of course he was in part, but was he offering instead a better vision of freedom and fulfilment?  A way through the crisis won’t be found in the old traditions of Catholic anti-clericalism and Protestant bigotry, locked in their hoary old quarrel with the institutions of the Church.  In every European country barring Ireland, there have been numerous clashes between Church and State in the past. The paedophile crisis may be gearing up for another, taking on the worldwide character of a new kulturkampf or struggle between States and the Vatican. This time not even the sacrificial resignation of Cardinal Brady, by all accounts a good man who made a bad mistake, would achieve much. Public inquiries are all very well but as the Church has already changed its procedures over child abuse, more radical reform is needed.

Brian Walker @ 10:15 AM | Comments (80)

Pennies for the guys

The expenses saga at Westminster seems to have lead to ridiculous officiousness at Stormont. The most recent returns from MLAs show some strange claims alongside their claims for tens of thousands (I got bored after the Cs but it does continue)

£1.33 Cathal Boylan
£0.56 Allan Bresland
£0.56 Thomas Buchanan
£0.14 Fred Cobain

Mark McGregor @ 10:41 PM | Comments (27)

“Tendrils of the coldest stuff in our galaxy”

ESA’s cool infrared Herschel observatory sent its first images back in October last year, just after its launch companion, the even cooler Planck observatory achieved first light.  Both are twittering away - Planck and Herschel.  But as the BBC notes Planck scientists have now released “a snapshot of the colossal swathes of cold dust that spread through the Milky Way galaxy.”

Wednesday’s pictures come from Planck’s highest frequency channels and cover about 10% of the sky. They show the great filaments of dust within about 500 light-years of Earth. In the wavelengths it is working, Planck is well tuned to see cold matter. Some of the dust it detects is about minus 261C (12K). “We have the ability to look at very cold emission, essentially dust. We can do unbiased searches over the whole sky for these regions that are very important because they are where stars are forming,” Dr Tauber explained.

Pete Baker @ 08:54 PM | Comments (5)

Va t’e****r e****e?

Saint Patrick n’est pas à l’honneur à Stoneyford

Wow. The village goes French

Mark McGregor @ 08:51 PM | Comments (13)

If you don’t ask you don’t get…

Margaret Ritchie caused a bit if a stir this morning in Washington when shecomplained that only Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness were to meet President Obama, excluding her and Reg Empey. Her pressure paid off and got some time with him on her own. The reaction ismixed here.

Mick Fealty @ 08:10 PM | Comments (21)

Students disappointing journos (so far)

No riot ‘yet’ but from the Gown’s photos you can see plenty of media types hanging around with hope. Maybe later guys, you are building expectations.

Mark McGregor @ 08:00 PM | Comments (37)

Out of the Bog into the Meadows

While the BBC spent St Patrick’s Day afternoon covering a children’s rugby match, TG4 provided coverage of West Belfast’s St Gall’s bringing the Andy Merrigan Cup to Antrim for the first time and during their centenary year no less.

The match finished St Gall’s 0-13 1-5 Kilmurray-Ibrickane.

And for the first time in a long time I find myself 100% agreeing with a Sinn Féin press release from Gerry Adams

Mark McGregor @ 06:06 PM | Comments (42)