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 (23)

“I was only doing my duty”

According to an Irish Times report, the Irish Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, “will propose to the Cabinet a constitutional amendment deleting the constitutional prohibition on blasphemy when the children’s rights amendment comes up”.  Game over, then? [Hopefully… - Ed] Although there’s still the other jurisdiction to worry about…  ANYhoo… Atheist Ireland welcomes the commitment and notes an earlier Sunday Times report.

Ahern, who was criticised for increasing the fine for blasphemy to €25,000 last year, said he never regarded the provision in the new Defamation Bill as anything more than a short-term solution. “There was a lot of nonsense about that blasphemy issue and people making me out to be a complete right-winger at the time,” he said. “There was an incredibly sophisticated campaign [against me], mainly on the internet. I was only doing my duty in relation to it, because clearly it is in the constitution. The attorney general said ‘there is this absolute, mandatory thing… it is an offence, punishable by law.” A final decision on a blasphemy referendum rests with the cabinet, but if Ahern remains justice minister after this month’s reshuffle, he is likely to propose that it be added to the autumn list. The government is already committed to referendums on children’s rights and establishing a permanent court of civil appeal.

Once more then, just for fun. [We’ll never shift those beards now… - Ed]

Pete Baker @ 11:06 AM | Comments (5)

“It was very nice to get the call.”

To celebrate the week we’re in, I think, the Irish Times have commissioned those delightful Duckworth Lewis chaps to compose a new national anthem… You can listen to it here [mp3 file]

Walsh doesn’t yet know whether Ireland, Ireland! will be embraced as an alternative anthem, but he’s hopeful. “We’re completely at the whim of The Irish Times and the nation. We’re not getting ahead of ourselves, but we’d like them to sing it before the Scottish game this weekend.”

Indeed.

Pete Baker @ 10:32 AM | Comments (4)

On the folly of ‘separate, but equal..’

Kevin Cullen has a great piece on the slowly corrosive character of the ‘separate but equal’ principle in yesterday’s Boston Globe.

Mick Fealty @ 08:36 AM | Comments (6)

“My God, who thought that up?”

The Sunday Times reports on a new decommissioning process in Dublin.

The council said that, before the decommissioning policy, there were no formal procedures for the removal of works in Dublin. Ruairí Ó Cuív, the council’s public-art manager, said he had proposed the policy last year to stop the “willy-nilly” removal of art. Eamonn O’Doherty, the sculptor of the Anna Livia fountain (the “Floozie in the Jacuzzi”), which was on O’Connell Street from 1988 to 2000 and is arguably the most famous public artwork to be removed from the streets of Dublin, questioned why there was a need to remove public artworks when the city had so few. “I was unable to get a definitive answer as to who made the decision to remove the Anna Livia. Whenever I brought the question up with officials, they said they supposed it was the city manager, which was just an excuse,” said O’Doherty, who also designed the Galway Hookers in Eyre Square and the famine memorial in New York.

Pete Baker @ 04:19 PM | Comments (4)

“Nothing shows more clearly the scientific illiteracy that prevails in the House of Commons”

As David Colquhoun’s Improbable Science blog notes, 55 MPs [and counting - Ed] have signed Early Day Motion 908, expressing “concern at the conclusions of the Science and Technology Committee’s Report, Evidence Check on Homeopathy” - previously mentioned here.  Among the signatories of the EDM are the DUP MPs, Peter Robinson, Nigel Dodds, Gregory Campbell, William McCrea, Ian Paisley Snr, and David Simpson…  and the UUP’s the independently minded Lady Hermon. [What?! No Peter Hain? - Ed] Not yet…  As the Guardian’s Ian Sample says

We don’t have the most scientifically literate bunch of MPs in the House today and what a desperately depressing thing that is.

Pete Baker @ 09:52 PM | Comments (38)

“While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK.”

Londonderry may have been shortlisted to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013, but the Sinn Féin party leader on the council, Maeve McLaughlin, is not happy.

Ms McLaughlin said she believed the bid was “very heavily weighted in terms of cementing our relationship with London”. “While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK.

“We are not opposing the bid, but we are putting down a marker at this stage and saying we should be exploring, rather than cementing, this relationship. “There is a huge onus on the team that’s been put together to lead this bid to put in writing how they will address the issue of the tens of thousands of nationalists and republicans in this city and region who do not recognise themselves as part of the UK,” she said.

She’s wrong on both counts…

Pete Baker @ 09:24 AM | Comments (77)

“gazing wistfully in the rear-view mirror and shaking a fist at passing traffic.”

In the Sunday Times Liam Fay takes issue with a recent speech by Emily O’Reilly, Ireland’s Ombudsman and Information Commissioner, when addressing journalism students at the University of Limerick.  From the Sunday Times

O’Reilly’s speech was simultaneously over-pessimistic about the future and over-sentimental about the past. Literally and figuratively, journalism has always been a race against time, so penning the profession’s obituary is premature in an age when the opportunities generated by technology change by the week.

New media create new problems, but the general trend is positive. Apart from anything else, increased diversification of the means through which knowledge and opinion are circulated provides a needed counterweight to the writing or rewriting of history by anointed grandees.

The beauty of the information superhighway is that it can accommodate everybody, even those who are parked in a lay-by, gazing wistfully in the rear-view mirror and shaking a fist at passing traffic.

Pete Baker @ 08:55 PM | Comments (19)

“the thoughtfulness became glibness; the intelligence, duplicity.”

A late entry in the occasional TV review of the week competition comes via Will Crawley.  Here’s AA Gill in today’s Sunday Times

Stepping through the story of the cruci­fixion, Adams plainly saw the IRA and his activism cast in the figure of Christ — a freedom fighter sentenced by a cynical occupying power — when, in truth, he was far more obviously and damningly suited to the role of Caiaphas, the expedient political operator willing to sacrifice his own people to maintain an orthodoxy and a grip on worldly power. Inevitably, what it reminded me of was Life of Brian and the squabbling of the People’s Front of Judea: “What have the ­British ever done for us?” It was Adams 0, Christ 1 (own goal).

Pete Baker @ 03:26 PM | Comments (12)

“As the slogan says: Citius, altius, slidius, positive discriminatius.”

I’d been looking for an excuse to link to Dara O’Briain’s Guardian Sports Blog.  And this is as good an excuse as any.  This week he’s cheering the Irish bobsleigh team’s kicking Antipodean arse at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver after the Australians’ bid for inclusion threatened the Irish duo’s place in the competition.  Over to you, Dara.

This isn’t the big story of these Games – Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn and what may be an incredible men’s hockey final between Canada and the USA tomorrow are – but beneath the hoopla and hype, it was a nice little victory. Gods make their own importance.

Pete Baker @ 11:46 AM | Comments (3)

“OFMDFM is committed to transparency in all its dealings…”

Northern Ireland’s First and deputy First Ministers deployed an departmental “spokesperson” yesterday to defend their less than transparent approach to their “agreed [] programme for Cohesion, Sharing and Integration” - “The outstanding issues around Cohesion, Sharing and Integration have been resolved and the final draft of the document is being prepared.”  And the same “spokesperson” had this to say on the report from the DUP/Sinn Féin “working group” on parading

“The process on parading was laid out in the Hillsborough Castle Agreement, and we are fully committed to it. “The working group on parading issues have concluded their report and presented it to the First Minister and deputy First Minister. Ministers will consider the proposals on an improved framework for dealing with parading issues. This will inform the public consultation in late March/ early April. “That process includes full consultation on the draft Parades Bill. The Bill that goes to the Assembly will require Executive agreement, and will be subject to further consultation through the Assembly Committee in September.

Except that the “Hillsborough Castle Agreement” had this to say on the “agreed outcomes” of that working group

6. The First Minister and deputy First Minister will promote and support the agreed outcomes of the working group.

And from that document’s timetable

Commencement of the drafting of Bill to implement working group agreed outcomes (working group to assist during drafting process to confirm Bill delivers agreed outcomes) End w/c 22 Feb [added emphasis]

Pete Baker @ 08:23 PM | Comments (0)

Some Royal Society Stamps

The BBC hosts a neat, but unembeddable, audio slideshow on a new series of commemorative Royal Mail stamps marking The Royal Society’s 350th anniversary year.  Ten eminent scientists are featured starting with the Honourable Robert Boyle - who was born at Lismore Castle, Co. Waterford, on 25 January 1627.  Missing from the list is the Ingenious Mr Robert Hooke.  Possibly because his only known portrait, held by the Royal Society, was allegedly, destroyed by his long-term rival Sir Isaac Newton when Newton became the Society’s President in November 1703 - 8 months after Hooke’s death.

Pete Baker @ 12:52 PM | Comments (16)

Londonderry makes shortlist for UK City of Culture 2013

The BBC notes that Londonderry has made the shortlist in its bid to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013.  Also in the running are Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield. [Brian will be pleased - Ed]  Perhaps… According to the BBC report

It is expected that the successful city would see economic and social benefits which could leave a lasting legacy. The winner could host events such as the Turner Prize, BBC Sports Personality of the Year and the Brits.

Now there’s culture for you…

Pete Baker @ 02:20 PM | Comments (46)

“These Holy Warriors, reportedly operating in the name of Jesus…”

Who says Muslims don’t do irony? A rather pithy post from MPAC on the bomb left by ‘Catholic terrorists’ in Newry... It’s a slightly round peg jammed in a square hole, but the line “...representative of the beliefs of many millions of Catholics around the world” gives a sense of some frustration about the reporting of “Islamist terrorism” as though it and the whole religion was coterminous.

Mick Fealty @ 09:41 AM | Comments (24)

“even to an atheist it was clear this was third-rate religious programming”

BBC NI’s “What the papers say” quotes from some of the reviews of last night’s The Bible: A History as presented by Gerry Adams [£10,000 appearance fee duly registered with the House of Commons].  The Times’ short review notes that “Adams was equally unflinchingly cosy with himself and his faith, responding to challenges with “my own lights”-style vagaries and evango- jargon on “the Jesus message”, coming across more as a smiling member of a Songs of Praise congregation than a man squaring faith with such a bloody history.”  And the Independent’s Tom Sutcliff

Like the presenters who have preceded him in this series, Adams discovered that the moment the Gospels touch the historical record they tend to be exposed as all too human, twisted by political considerations or local pragmatism. Wouldn’t it prove awkward to have the Romans as the killers of Christ at the very moment when you were seeking Roman converts? Never mind, you can shift the blame to the Jews instead with the story of Pilate and Barabbas. Unlike all the presenters who have preceded him, Adams had to submit to some cross-questioning from off screen, an acknowledgement that he was always going to be a controversial choice. “Surely you can’t pick and choose?” someone asked, referring back to Christ’s commandments. “Well, you can,” replied Adams. “You mightn’t be right to do it… but we all do it.” Then he sat down with Alan McBride, the husband of a woman killed by an IRA bomb. “I think we need to be more like Jesus and a bit less religious,” McBride said, a penetratingly simple injunction that contrasted pointedly with Adams’s easy self-absolution.

Pete Baker @ 11:49 AM | Comments (50)

Gerry on the Holy Land, Jesus, Roman Imperialism and…

Interesting programme by Gerry Adams on Channel 4 just now. So far as I can see it’s less about forgiveness, the Bible and religion and more about what the Sinn Fein President clearly sees as parallel political situations both now and in historic Palestine. He doesn’t have any shortage of witnesses to underwrite the parallels in the context of the Middle East. The parallels with Northern Ireland are mostly drawn from his own input. It’s peppered with some really interesting conversational snippets… not least where Gerry notes that elites never offer anything that’s not dressed up (I possibly paraphrase here) as ‘the common good’...

Mick Fealty @ 06:22 PM | Comments (30)

The deeper malaise in politics that the O’Dea crisis points to…

Now, here’s a thing. There’s an awful lot of hand wringing over the forced resignation of Willie O’Dea (I missed most of the blow by blow stuff since I was on mid term holidays some where in South Wales). NOw there is an interesting side question to all of this, and it relates to the way the media generally handle Sinn Fein in ways that are substantially different to they way they treat other parties. That is a fair point. But unfortunately for those critics it is not the point here.

Mick Fealty @ 04:08 PM | Comments (20)

“But they did not commit to publishing that report..”

The DUP/Sinn Féin “working group” on parades is due to report back to the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers “By [Tuesday] 23 February”.  But, as BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport noted on Thursday, there is every indication that the working group’s report will not be made public.

The FM and DFM expressed optimism that their parades working group would hit the Tuesday deadline for a report on new structures to deal with contentious marches. But they did not commit to publishing that report, indicating only that it would be forwarded to the legal draftsmen and that the public would see any legislation they might produce.

Pete Baker @ 01:14 PM | Comments (6)

Colin Ward - 1924-2010

Colin Ward, the anarchist writer has died. There’s a good obit over at the Fabian blog, but I’d like to add a few comments of my own.

He was a fascinating - and sadly underrated - social commentator that I would urge everyone to have a look at. Colin wrote about the little ways in which anarchist approaches were being quietly implemented in everyday life. His articles on informal mutuality, squatting and the ingenuity of ordinary people in adapting to difficult circumstances were really positive, optimistic and original. They made up the best bits of New Society (and later New Statesman and Society) during the time he wrote there in the 1980s and 1990s. Don’t get me wrong - there was lots to disagree with in his work, put his perspective was pretty unique and challenging.

Paul Evans @ 09:11 AM | Comments (4)

“In advance of any Ofcom decision on this advertisement…”

The BBC reports a potential wrinkle in the Northern Ireland Executive’s Office of the First and deputy First Minister’s planned propaganda campaign on what emerged from Hillsborough - which doesn’t mention any suggested side-deals.  From the BBC report

Ofcom said broadcasters should not transmit the advert without clearance.  A spokesperson for the regulatory body explained that under the Radio Advertising Standards Code, “special categories” of advertisements “must be cleared centrally” by the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre before they can be broadcast. He added that special categories include “political, industrial and public controversy matters” and government campaigns. “In advance of any Ofcom decision on this advertisement, we have reminded the relevant broadcasters that, unless they have obtained central clearance for the advertisement before its transmission, they should not continue to broadcast the advertisement,” he said.

Pete Baker @ 09:28 PM | Comments (1)

“It is hard not to feel a certain sense of pity for Sinn Fein over this issue..”

Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, MP, MLA, has reprised his role as spokesman for the UK government by announcing a further four year funding of the Irish Language Broadcast Fund ahead of any official statement.  Just as he did in 2008.  It’s still a reserved matter.  ‘The Blog’ had the ‘scoop’ this time.  The level of funding, £3million per year, is the same as the previous announcement in 2008 - which means it’s a decrease in real terms - and lower than the initially announced funding of £12million over three years.  Apparently, there is also £8million for unspecified capital projects in west Belfast.  Which is nice for the International Representative of that region.  ANYhoo…  This time the “fig-leave” to cover the absence of an Irish Language Act is accompanied by £5million [over the same 4 years? - Ed] for a new Ulster-Scots Language Broadcast Fund - with Northern Ireland Culture Minister, Nelson McCausland, promising “further announcements in the coming weeks about the fund”.  Not that you’ll find those additional details in some of the media coverage…

Pete Baker @ 10:47 PM | Comments (78)

“In the event of the failure of mediation, recourse to independent adjudications and procedures”

With Sinn Féin and the DUP now trading statements and counter-statements on the future of parades ahead of any “agreed outcomes” of that working group there are couple of pieces of information worth bringing ‘above the fold’.  From a BBC report we learn

Meanwhile, it has emerged that two advisers have been appointed to the group. They are Presbyterian minister Mervyn Gibson, a prominent Orangeman, and Sean ‘Spike’ Murray a prominent republican. Both men sat on the Ashdown Review team on parades, whose final report has yet to be published.

And, according to a Guardian report

Leading Sinn Féin members encountered hostility to any concessions to unionists on Orange and loyalist parades at a meeting of Catholic residents groups in County Derry last week. The depth of anger has forced Sinn Féin to harden its position on contentious parades.

Pete Baker @ 07:40 PM | Comments (15)

“Don’t forget that we are talking about the Eurovision”

I mostly managed to avoid last year’s Eurovision, when Graham Norton took over Sir Terry Wogan’s duties with the mic and Ireland’s RTÉ‘s entry

failed to progress to the finals. Not that the BBC entry did much better.  Still, at least they weren’t actual turkeys.  Or even stuffed ones.  But since it’s a quiet news day, so far… RTÉ have announced the five Eurosong 2010 finalists, as selected by the RTÉ panel.  From the list the official Eurovision site leads with previous winner Niamh Kavanagh (1993), while the BBC picks out Boyzone member Mikey Graham (and gets the date of Niamh Kavanagh’s win wrong Now corrected).  The Irish Times, on the other hand, notes the return to the fray of their columnist John Waters - despite having his flowers crushed in 2007.  Is he still not taking it “all that seriously”?  From the Irish Times report

Waters’s first foray into the field of Eurovision songwriting occurred in 2007, when he co-wrote Ireland’s entry, They Can’t Stop the Spring , with Moran. It finished last, with five points. Waters said it was always his intention to return to song- writing. While he had previously described his Eurovision experience in negative terms, he added: “One can’t be imprisoned by one’s fast emotions.” He described the song, which he and Moran have been working on since September, as “a dance number”.

Hmm…

Pete Baker @ 03:36 PM | Comments (1)

“It will be made up by 3 MLAs from the DUP and 3 from Sinn Fein.”

According to BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport’s blog

Tonight we are expecting the announcement of the 6 strong parades working group. It will be made up by 3 MLAs from the DUP and 3 from Sinn Fein. I haven’t yet got all the names but I wouldn’t be surprised if Gerry Kelly and Nelson McCausland are members.

Which would make that “co-chaired working group” more obviously a continuation in negotiations after the fact… They have until the end of February to report back on their “agreed outcomes”. [Or the bunny gets it? - Ed] The 9 March vote on devolving justice powers, probably. Adds The BBC confirms, “The office of the first and deputy first minister have confirmed who will be on a working group to examine the issue of parading. Junior Ministers Gerry Kelly and Jeffrey Donaldson will be joined by Stephen Moutray, Nelson McCausland, Michelle Gildernew and John O’Dowd.” No doubt they all have the required “experience of dealing with parading issues..”?

Pete Baker @ 07:55 PM | Comments (55)

“Irish society is no longer a homogenous, one-coloured, one-cultured nation.”

The Sunday Times has a report detailing the background to the abandonment of George’s Dock as the preferred site for a new Abbey Theatre.  Apparently conditions imposed by the Dublin Docklands Development Authority (DDDA) to the free site they offered proved too restrictive for the planned development.  The report also states that “The Office of Public Works says the Department of Communications and An Post have now become involved in the process of assessing the GPO” on O’Connell Street as a potential site.  Which would please Senator David Norris.  The attempted renaissance of “the most important theatre company in the English-speaking world” has been ongoing since 2005, when the newly appointed and still-director Fiach MacConghail had this to say

Mac Conghail says his “vision” revolves around new writing and new ways of making theatre, including physical and non-verbal work. Running Dublin’s Project Arts centre in the 1990s taught him to respect an audience, he says, that “liked the shock of the new”. He also promises to reach audiences beyond the traditional Irish middle class by investing in new writing and diverse programming in the style of the National Theatre in London, and by touring in Ireland.

He says he wants the Abbey to re-engage politically. “Irish society is no longer a homogenous, one-coloured, one-cultured nation. It is the fastest-changing society in the world. We have to look at different ways of making theatre, as a lot of theatres in Britain have done.”

Hmm…

Pete Baker @ 10:29 PM | Comments (20)