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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
November 11, 2004
News 11/11/04 - McAleese Marks 2nd Term in Office
News about Ireland & the Irish
GU 11/11/04 President Issues Call To Tame Celtic Tiger –3 V
IO 11/11/04 Orde Backs Off In Forms Battle With Masons
BT 11/11/04 DUP Chief Guarded Over Troubles 'Deal'
IO 11/11/04 NI 'Soon A Two-Party State'
SF 11/11/04 Orange Order & UUP Exposed In Anti-Catholic Land Grab
UT 11/11/04 Fisherman Tells Of Survival Fight –V
BT 11/11/04 SF Mayor Is Given Warrior Status
VI 11/11/04 Irish Studies Celebrates Ancient Holiday
DL 11/11/04 Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship In Dublin.
RT 11/11/04 New Guidelines For Roman Catholic Funerals
New Guidelines For Roman Catholic Funerals - Eileen Whelan reports
that under the new rules non-religious songs can no longer be used
******************************************
President McAleese marks second term in office
David McCullagh, Political Correspondent, reports on the
inauguration at Dublin Castle
David Davin Power, Political Correspondent, has further details of
the celebrations from Dublin Castle
Jennifer O'Connell talks to volunteers who where guests at today's
ceremony
----
President Issues Call To Tame Celtic Tiger – 3 V
McAleese uses second term inauguration to warn of dangers of
growing wealth, consumerism, intolerance and the stalled peace
process
Angelique Chrisafis, Ireland correspondent
Friday November 12, 2004
The Guardian
Mary McAleese began a second term as Irish president yesterday by
warning the country's prosperous Celtic Tiger generation to turn
away from consumerism and back to the "community values" of the
past.
Ms McAleese, a Belfast nationalist and former journalist, was under
pressure to give a weighty inauguration speech at Dublin castle.
She was reportedly hurt by media claims that she liked to talk in
hyperbole about Ireland's "rags to riches" story while forgetting
to mention the marginalised, despite working with community groups
at grassroots.
The 53-year-old former pro-vice chancellor of Queen's University
Belfast was elected president in 1997, and was described by one
pundit as "both head of state and national mammy". When nominated
recently for a second seven-year term without an election some in
the Irish media bemoaned a disregard for democracy.
With overwhelming public support, Irish parties did not put up a
challenge. Other pretenders, notably Dana Scallon (former MEP and
Ireland's first Eurovision song contest winner) did not gain the
requisite number of nominations from local councils or signatures
from members of parliament.
The slogan of Ms McAleese's first seven years in office was
"building bridges". She took communion in a Protestant cathedral
against the wishes of Catholic church leaders. She was praised for
her reflections on national mourning after the Omagh bomb in 1998.
She opened dialogue with loyalist paramilitaries in Northern
Ireland after the Good Friday agreement. Her husband, Martin, is
known to play golf with senior loyalists. Jackie McDonald, a
leading Ulster Defence Association figure, was a guest at
yesterday's ceremony.
The taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, called her the "people's president"
and a "healing" leader.
She said of Ireland's dynamic economy: "We wrestle with prosperity
almost as much as we relish it." She warned that "the cushion of
consumerism" was "no substitute for the comfort of community".
She spoke of the dangers of racism, suicide, binge-drinking and
corruption in Irish society. She called for "global solidarity" at
a time when "the multicultural ethos of the United Nations had come
under strain".
Ms McAleese said in September she burst into tears of joy at the
historic sight of Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland's Democratic
Unionist leader, arriving in Dublin for his first talks in the
capital. Mr Ahern warned the Northern Ireland parties this week to
bury their differences and restore devolution in the next fortnight
or risk shelving the process until 2006.
Ms McAleese said when she first became president that "the bridge
of peace in Northern Ireland was a structure in the making. Today
more and more people than ever are committed to its construction.
The once massive gulf of mistrust has been reduced to one last
step. I ... ask the hesitant to muster the courage to complete the
journey across".
Before her speech, the historian Diarmaid Ferriter warned that Ms
McAleese must look at "the victims of the Celtic Tiger".
He also criticised the lack of an election, saying: "If opinion
polls during a general election indicated one party could easily
triumph, we wouldn't say let's not have an election."
The writer Fintan O'Toole earlier warned in the Irish Times against
the "dreamy optimism of President Pangloss in which all seems to be
for the best in the best of all possible worlds".
******************************************
Orde Backs Off In Forms Battle With Masons
online.ie
2004-11-11 18:50:02+00
PSNI Chief Constable Hugh Orde has halted a move to force all
officers in Northern Ireland to declare membership of outside
organisations, it emerged tonight.
With up to 4,500 completed forms now set to be torn-up, union
representatives claimed a victory in their fight against plans to
reveal associations with a list of bodies, including the Masons and
the Orange Order.
Despite the climbdown following a legal challenge, Mr Orde has
vowed to press ahead with his attempts to compile some form of
register.
He is to consult lawyers and senior commanders over how to operate
what he believes is a key part of the Patten blueprint for
reforming the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
A PSNI statement said tonight: "The Chief Constable has written to
the Secretary of State making representations on the urgent need to
find a way forward on this issue."
The development followed a challenge by the Masonic Order and two
members of the police service to the instruction asking officers to
declare membership of certain specified organisations.
Mr Orde had drawn up a list in a special Notes for Guidance section
which also included the loyalist Apprentice Boys, the Knights of St
Columbanus and the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The Police Federation was fiercely opposed to the Registration of
Notifiable Membership, however, claiming it could be held against
officers.
A Judicial Review of the case was due to he heard at the High Court
in Belfast.
But it was cancelled when PSNI chiefs were advised that their
attempts to provide clarity fell outside what was legally
permissible.
"The current process of Registration of Notifiable Membership has
been terminated and the Notes for Guidance have been withdrawn," a
PSNI statement said.
The Police Service believes that the Registration of Notifiable
Membership is an important and positive process.
But the Federation stressed that the 4,500 notification forms will
remain sealed and will be destroyed, unread, on request from
individual members.
Members can specifically request that the Chief Constable opens a
notification form and takes account of it.
But all disciplinary proceedings arising out of a failure to comply
with the requirements of the Force Order will be withdrawn,
Federation secretary Terry Spence said.
He added: "The Chief Constable cannot remove the requirement to
notify him of relevant membership as this arises from Westminster
Legislation.
"However, the Federation remains of the view that the requirement
of notification involves only an individual officer forming an
honest belief as to whether he is a member of an organisation that
might reasonably be regarded as affecting his ability to discharge
his duties effectively and impartially.
"Accordingly the Chief Constable may not require anything further
of officers.
"The Federation is pleased at the positive outcome of these
important proceedings."
******************************************
DUP Chief Guarded Over Troubles 'Deal'
By Chris Thornton
11 November 2004
The true end of the Troubles is within reach if a deal to restore
Stormont is completed, the DUP's chairman has told pupils at a
Catholic school.
But as nationalism united in blaming the his party for the current
talks deadlock, Maurice Morrow warned that his party will not be
pressured into "signing up to the wrong deal".
Mr Morrow, an Assembly member for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, told
sixth formers at St Patrick's College in Dungannon that his party
is looking for the right deal.
"I believe that a deal done in 2004 or 2005 could truly represent
the end of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. There is undoubtedly a
huge prize to be negotiated for and a tremendous obligation to get
an agreement" he said.
"But the agreement must be right. There is no point in another
short term fix which will collapse under pressure. What we need is
a comprehensive agreement which will once and for all put an end to
the conflict."
And in what appeared to be a direct response to criticism from the
Irish government, Sinn Fein and the SDLP, Mr Morrow added: "Those
who would seek to pressurise us into signing up to the wrong deal
will not succeed."
And he warned the Irish government that they "have a responsibility
to ensure that they are not part of the problem".
The SDLP was the latest to weigh in after Taoiseach Bertie Ahern
questioned whether the DUP were genuine about sharing power and
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams described Ian Paisley's party as
the "largest obstacle" to progress.
With two weeks left on London and Dublin's timetable for a deal,
SDLP MLA Dominic Bradley accused the DUP of talking positive in
public while refusing to budge in private.
******************************************
NI 'Soon A Two-Party State'
11/11/2004 - 14:45:13
Northern Ireland is moving towards a two- party system with the
Ulster Unionists and SDLP increasingly marginalised, a Stormont
Assembly member has claimed.
In an address to sixth formers at a Catholic grammar school in
Dungannon on Wednesday night, the text of which has only now been
released, Democratic Unionist chairman Maurice Morrow said the next
local government and Westminster elections would confirm his party
and Sinn Féin as the main parties in their communities.
The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA said republicans must, in this
new political context, face up to reality and fully disarm and
abandon paramilitarism in return for a place in a power-sharing
government.
Mr Morrow told pupils at St Patrick's College: "None of the SDLP
seats would appear to be safe from challenge by Sinn Féin and
equally no Ulster Unionist MP can afford to relax with the
continued rise of the DUP.
"It is clear that we are moving from a four- party system, with the
UUP and SDLP in the lead, to increasingly a two-party system with
the SDLP and UUP marginalised.
"I believe that last November's election has brought considerable
clarity to the political situation in Northern Ireland.
"It must be clear to republicans now that only a total end to
paramilitarism and decommissioning will allow them into an
administration in Northern Ireland and it is clear to unionists
that without nationalists there is unlikely to be any restoration
of devolution.
"Those are the two inescapable realities of the political process
here."
After talks at Leeds Castle, Kent in September, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair believed the IRA was poised to make
groundbreaking moves on disarmament and paramilitary activity.
In recent days it has been claimed that the IRA was prepared to
disarm fully by the end of this year, as part of a deal to revive
the Northern Ireland Assembly.
But the IRA's move has been put on hold because unionists and
nationalists cannot agree on a future model for power-sharing.
The DUP has been arguing for greater ministerial accountability to
cabinet colleagues and to the Assembly.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP have said what the DUP is really trying to
secure is a veto over the work of other parties' ministers.
Nationalists have opposed DUP efforts to secure a separate election
in the Assembly for First and Deputy First Ministers.
They have also accused the party of trying to water down and limit
the amount of cross-border co-operation with the Irish Government.
Irish and British officials are expected to put proposals soon to
the parties aimed at bridging the gap between them.
However, optimism is in short supply, with Sinn Féin leader Gerry
Adams in recent days accusing the DUP of acting as a barrier to
political progress.
Mr Morrow told sixth formers last night his party was committed to
honouring any deal it signed up to.
However, the DUP chairman said all parties in a devolved executive
had to be on equal terms on the basis of their own mandates and
with no private armies.
"Let me make it clear that what we demand of republicans, we also
demand of loyalist paramilitaries," he insisted.
"There cannot be one rule for one and one for another.
"The Independent Monitoring Commission's report last week made it
clear that paramilitary activity was continuing by all the major
paramilitary groups.
"This is totally unacceptable in a democratic society and is a
vindication of the stance that we have taken." Mr Morrow said
nationalists needed to face up to the reality that the majority of
people in Northern Ireland, one million unionists, wanted to remain
in the United Kingdom.
The DUP chairman stressed his party wanted devolution because it
stood to take five of the 12 ministries and wanted to retain
grammar schools, limit taxation and cut down bureaucracy.
He also said: "The DUP indicated before the last Assembly election
that we would be unbending on matters of principle but flexible in
how those principles would be implemented.
"I believe that we have demonstrated that in the talks this year.
"Obstacles do still lie ahead, indeed some formidable obstacles,
but the last 12 months have moved Northern Ireland closer to a
lasting peace than we have known in the last 35 years.
"I believe that with more work and effort on all sides we can make
the progress we need to see devolution restored and an entirely
peaceful future.
"I am sure that, whatever our differences, that is what we all
desire."
******************************************
Orange Order And UUP Exposed In Anti-Catholic Land Grab
Published: 11 November, 2004
Commenting after the exposure of the involvement of the Orange
Order in a property company aimed at preventing Catholics and
nationalists purchasing homes or land across the six counties, Sinn
Féin MP for Fermanagh & South Tyrone Michelle Gildernew said:
" The Orange Order like to portray themselves as a religious and
cultural organisation. This property scam is based on raw sectarian
hatred. Its motivation is to prevent Catholics and nationalists
purchasing homes or land. It gives a lie to the repeated claims
that the Orange Order is a cultural marching organisation.
" The Orange Order is a sinister, anti- Catholic grouping with long
standing links to the Ulster Unionist Party. Indeed UUP elected
representatives have been proven to be involved in this operation.
Property across the six counties and indeed into Donegal have been
targeted by this company.
" Next summer when we hear the familiar lie from the unionists and
the Orange Order about their cultural and religious objectives as
they coat trail through Catholic areas, nationalists will remember
well this very sinister Orange Order operation.
" I look forward to hearing comments on this operation from UUP
leader David Trimble and the Orange Order Chief Robert Saulters."
ENDS
s
******************************************
See video at:
----
Fisherman Tells Of Survival Fight -V
A fisherman tonight described his desperate fight for survival
after his boat sank in the Irish Sea, leaving his best friend
missing.
By:Press Association
Shane Murnaghan, 28, said he was thrown into the water as he
checked lobster pots off the County Down coast.
From his hospital bed in the Isle of Man, he described seeing his
stricken friend Colin Donnelly seconds before he himself climbed to
safety.
He said: "I don`t know what happened. The boat just went and when
the life raft went off I swam to it. I saw Colin and he had a life
jacket on.
"When I got into the life raft I turned around and Colin was gone."
Mr Murnaghan was speaking to his mother Rita from the Norbles
Hospital in Douglas.
He was picked up nine miles south-east of the Isle of Man by a
merchant vessel the Moondance after his life raft drifted for about
20 hours from close to his home port of Kilkeel.
Rita Murnaghan said her son`s only thoughts were for his best
friend Mr Donnelly, 31, who is still missing, and for Mr Donnelly`s
nine-year-old son Jordan.
As air sea rescue teams searched the Co Down coast, the distraught
Donnelly family maintained an anxious vigil throughout the day at
Kilkeel harbour.
The group included Colin`s ex-partner Sharon Rooney and his father
Bernard. His son Jordan, whose 10th birthday is next week, stood
forlornly at the quayside peering out to sea.
As light faded, the official search was called off but dozens of
Kilkeel fishing boats continued to look for the missing fisherman.
The two men were on their boat the Emerald Dawn which sank six
miles from Kilkeel as they fished for crab on Wednesday afternoon.
Police divers found the boat in 14 metres of water after locating a
lobster pot which had lodged at the bottom of the sea bed.
Sargent Elvin Leech, head of the PSNI underwater search unit, said
there was no sign of major damage to the boat.
He added: "It only took one diver to establish it was the Emerald
Dawn."
The Marine Accident Investigation Board are expected to launch an
inquiry into why the boat sank.
Mr Murnaghan`s tearful father, Henry, said hopes of finding Mr
Donnelly were fading fast.
He said: "He was like a son to me. He was never out of the house.
He was full of life.
"We thought last night there was no hope for Shane. Although we`re
hanging on, it`s fading all the time."
Mr Murnaghan, a marine engineer, had just returned home after
working for two years in Nigeria and Ghana. Both he and Mr Donnelly
began fishing on the Emerald Dawn two months ago.
Gabriel Greene, who lost three generations of his own family when
their boat the Tullagh Nurry Lass sank in February 2002, said he
knew the depths of despair the Donnelly family was suffering.
"It`s very hard to put into words the anxiety they are
experiencing. They want to hear something quickly and it`s just not
happening. All we can do is give them our support."
Mr Greene described Mr Donnelly as a very capable seaman. "He has a
skipper ticket and is very, very confident. He has completed a sea
survival course so I urge them not to give up hope."
He praised the fishing community of Kilkeel for their support for
the two families. "These boys have given up a day`s work to look
for them. What other job or trade would do the same thing?" he
added.
The Rev William Bingham, minister of Mourne Presbyterian Church in
Kilkeel, said there were mixed emotions at the discovery of one of
their loved ones.
He said: "There`s a feeling of deep anxiety, everybody`s feeling
the heartache, but also a sense of deep gratitude to the guys who
have been out all night searching around the coast."
Mr Bingham said there was a real cross- community feeling for the
two men, who are members of the local Roman Catholic parish.
He added: "Everybody is out on the boats looking ... the whole
community is waiting with bated breath.
He said: "At the moment, the one family feels relief but is also
sharing in the burden of the other family. They are in this
together right the way through. The pain will be there until both
boys are found."
SDLP South Down Assembly member Margaret Ritchie said the news
about Mr Murnaghan was "wonderful", adding: "We can only hope and
pray that the outcome will be equally happy for the other
fisherman.
"The fishing communities of the South Down coast have known too
much tragedy over the years. Fishing remains one of the most
dangerous occupations of all and we must all do the best to improve
safety standards."
******************************************
SF Mayor Is Given Warrior Status
By Brendan McDaid
11 November 2004
A delegation of American Indians have conferred warrior status on
Londonderry's Sinn Fein Mayor Gearoid O'hEara.
A team of 20 Americans, hailing from Tennessee, Oklahoma and
Georgia, honoured the Mayor and the city with a blessing during
their visit yesterday.
The Mayor said he was honoured at being conferred with warrior
status by Creek Indian peace chief Negel Big Pond.
Chief Big Pond said: "We have presented him with the sign of the
most honourable bird, the Eagle.
"For Native American Indians, that is like being presented with a
gold medal in the Olympics. I gave it to him because he is a
warrior and a warrior in our world is one who goes to look for
peace and I believe that is what the Mayor is doing now."
Chief Big Pond also said the Indian people were extending the hand
of friendship following almost two centuries of hurt over the Trial
of Tears, when over 4,000 Cherokee Indians lost their lives on the
trail of 1838-1839.
******************************************
Holiday-801646.shtml
Irish Studies Celebrates Ancient Holiday
Week-long series featured concert, poetry reading, lectures and
performances
By Erica Dolson
Published: Friday, November 12, 2004
This year University students were given the chance to participate
in a variety of festivities honoring a Celtic tradition.
Samhain, pronounced sow-in, is a Celtic holiday commemorating the
end of the year in the early Celtic calendar. In Celtic tradition,
spring begins on Feb. 1, summer on May 1, autumn on Aug. 1 and
winter on Nov. 1. The end of the harvest marked the end of the
calendar year.
"[The festival of Samhain] is an end-of-the- year harvest festival,"
Dr. James Murphy, head of the Irish Studies program at Villanova,
said. "[It is] a very, very ancient tradition which became
Christianized with the coming of Christianity."
The origins of Halloween have their roots in the ancient festival
of Samhain. The Irish celebrate Halloween much in the same way as
Americans, with costumes, mischief-making and legends of ghosts and
fairies.
"Halloween is one of the biggest celebrations we have around the
world today which goes back to Celtic origins," Murphy said.
The University has always had some sort of commemoration of
Samhain, but this is the first year there has been a consolidated
series of events.
The celebration was put together by the Irish Studies Program and
the Irish Cultural Society to bring activities to campus that would
focus on Irish-American life from different perspectives.
The events offered this year included "a little bit of everything,"
according to Murphy, including drama, music, a poetry reading and
an academic talk.
Mick Moloney and Friends, a popular Irish music group, performed
"An Evening of Irish Traditional Music and Dance" last Saturday
evening in the St. Mary's Chapel.
Also, earlier this week Irish poet Moya Cannon from Galway read her
poetry in the Connelly Center.
The Irish Studies program also welcomed Professor Nicholas Greene
who gave a lecture entitled "Pigs and Pastoral: The Butcher Boy."
The Samhain festivities will conclude this evening with a one-man
performance of "Peacefire: No Freedom without Justice" in the St.
Mary's Chapel.
"Peacefire," written by and starring Macdara Mac Uibh Aille, tells
the story of a young man in Northern Ireland. The play explores the
consequences of the ceasefire in place in Northern Ireland and
discusses young working class people and the politics that directly
affect them. This off-Broadway play received excellent reviews in
the New York Press.
The performance will be held tonight in Saint Mary's Chapel at 7:30
p.m. Tickets will be available at the door for $10.
******************************************
C/pt/0.htm
Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship In Dublin.
11-Nov-2004 to: 11-Nov-2004
The Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship returns to Dublin Docklands for an
extended visit till the end of December.
The Jeanie Johnston is a replica of the famous 19th century sailing
barque built in Quebec in 1847. The Jeanie was a cargo/passenger
vessel used to transport timber and grain from North America to
Ireland and Irish immigrants fleeing the Great Famine for the
return trip to America.
A unique feature of the Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship is that it
becomes a Famine Ship Museum when in port. The traditional timber
ship, with life-size 'emigrants', lighting and sound effects,
recreates what it was like for the impoverished, hungry and
frightened emigrants to embark on a voyage into the unknown in the
immediate aftermath of the Great Famine.
The ship's crew and volunteer helpers are on hand to answer any
question about the original Jeanie, the construction of the replica
Jeanie over 150 years later in Kerry and the epic Transatlantic,
North American and Spanish voyages of 2003 and 2004.
The Jeanie Johnston Tall Ship is berthed on the North Wall Quay
(opposite the Clarion Hotel) and is ready for inspection.
For school tours and corporate events/functions, email
info@jeaniejohnston.ie or call (+ 353 (0) 66 712 9999)
For more information check out http://www.jeaniejohnston.ie
Time: 11am to 5pm (7days a week)
Tickets: Â5 per person, Â12 per family and Â3 (concession students
and seniors)
Jeanie Johnston
North Wall Quay,
Dublin 1.
Tel: + 353 (0) 66 712 9999
