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November 22, 2004

News 11/22/04 - Gerry Adams In The Irish Times

News about Ireland & the Irish

SF 11/22/04 Gerry Adams Article In The Irish Times
BB 11/22/04 DUP Move Over Battalions
UT 11/22/04 Orangemen 'Frightened' Over Parades
BB 11/22/04 Raid In Hunt For Afghan Hostages
BB 11/22/04 Car Attack 'Was Racist'
NL 11/22/04 IRA Spy Ring Convictions Destroy Trust
NL 11/22/04 NIO 'Put My Life At Risk' Says Fighter For IRA Victims
IO 11/22/04 Bloody Sunday QC To Give Closing Speech
BB 11/22/04 Key Questions For Saville Inquiry Judges
GU 11/22/04 Book: 'Just Call Me Nell'

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/7475

Gerry Adams Article In The Irish Times

Published: 22 November, 2004

Eyes on the Prize

Writing in the Irish Times this morning Sinn Féin President Gerry
Adams outlines the current state of play in the ongoing peace
talks. Below is both a summary of the article and the full text.

Summary of article

Will there or will there not be a comprehensive agreement arising
out of the current negotiations? That question cannot be answered
at this time. But it surely will be answered in the next few weeks.
The outline for a comprehensive agreement presented by the two
governments to Sinn Féin and the DUP is a work in progress.

There cannot be a compromise between rejectionist unionism and the
Good Friday Agreement. Nor about the principles of equality,
partnership, the all Ireland structures and the institutionalised
power sharing. Does the outline provide for a comprehensive
agreement? It could. But only if it is about the delivery of the
Good Friday Agreement.

No one should argue about the need to find better ways to implement
the Agreement or to iron out some of the technical or procedural
flaws which have emerged and which were exploited by both the UUP
and the DUP. Indeed Sinn Féin has put forward a series of proposals
to correct these. Of course, there can be compromises on delivery.
But even on these issues compromise is a two way street.
Negotiations aren't just about taking it's also about giving. Thus
far the DUP have given nothing.

We are also trying to ensure that the governments' proposals do not
weaken any aspect of the principles of the AgreementBut because of
the sensitivity and the importance of these negotiations we have
refused to disclose any of the details. Unfortunately others have
not been so restrained.

The SDLP in particular have been attacking Sinn Féin on the dubious
premise that we have signed up for a deal which is a good deal for
the DUP. The truth of course is that there is no deal. That's why
the work continues.

Referring to an article in the Irish Times (Monday, 15 November) by
Labour Leader Pat Rabbitte, Mr. Adams says: "is one of the few
senior Irish politicians to have made no positive contribution to
the Irish peace process. Indeed he is so fixated with the electoral
challenge to his party from Sinn Féin that he ignores entirely the
real obstacles to the full implementation of the Good Friday
Agreement - the rejectionist position at this time of Ian Paisley
and the role of the British government."

Sinn Féin has a proven record of working the institutions. We want
a comprehensive agreement with both governments and with unionism.

If the DUP is not prepared to join with the rest of us, it is both
necessary and legitimate to identify other options for securing the
principles of the Agreement. In other words, the two governments
need to compensate for this with new, imaginative and dynamic
alternatives. This includes joint responsibility for the areas of
government which would otherwise have been administered on a power-
sharing basis.

The Irish government is a co-equal partner in the Good Friday
Agreement and it has a responsibility to give immediate and
tangible expression to this. That is why Sinn Féin has put forward
proposals on this issue.

Sinn Féin, as the largest pro-Agreement party in the north, has a
special responsibility to defend and promote the Agreement.

Unionists have expressed other concerns about republican intentions
and that is a different matter. Within reason there is a duty on us
to try, if we can, to remove those fears without undermining our
electoral rights or our mandate. But there is also a duty on
political unionism to face up to its responsibilities. The next
week or so will clarify whether their leaders are prepared to do
that at this time.

Full text of article

Will there or will there not be a comprehensive agreement arising
out of the current negotiations? That question cannot be answered
at this time. But it surely will be answered in the next few weeks.
The outline for a comprehensive agreement presented by the two
governments to Sinn Féin and the DUP is a work in progress. The
governments may deny that, but that is the reality. If the current
effort fails the governments may also, particularly the Irish
government, say that the outline is not their position but their
best guess at a compromise between the parties involved. The
problem with this is that there cannot be a compromise between
rejectionist unionism and the Good Friday Agreement. Nor about the
principles of equality, partnership, the all-Ireland structures and
institutionalised power sharing. Does the outline provide for a
comprehensive agreement? It could. But only if it is about the
delivery of the Good Friday Agreement.

No one should argue about the need to find better ways to implement
the Agreement or to iron out some of the technical or procedural
flaws which have emerged and which were exploited by both the UUP
and the DUP. Indeed Sinn Féin has put forward a series of proposals
to correct these. Of course, there can be compromises on delivery.
But even on these issues compromise is a two way street.
Negotiations aren't just about putting forward a shopping list of
demands. It's not just a matter of taking. It's also about giving.
Thus far the DUP have given nothing.

It may be in the week or so ahead that this will change. They may
come to a position where they declare that they will share power
with Sinn Féin. And work the institutions which were voted for by
the majority of people in both states on this island. The focus of
Sinn Féin 's efforts at this time is to get the DUP to do just
that.

We are also trying to ensure that the governments' proposals do not
weaken any aspect of the principles of the Agreement and that they
help and not hinder its delivery. Obviously the fact that we spent
so much time with the Taoiseach and later with the British Prime
Minister last week is an indicator that we have concerns. But
because of the sensitivity and the importance of these negotiations
we have refused to disclose any of the details. Unfortunately
others have not been so restrained.

The SDLP in particular have been attacking Sinn Féin on the dubious
premise that we have signed up for a deal which is a good deal for
the DUP. The truth of course is that there is no deal. That's why
the work continues.

It is no accident that the Labour Party is making similar noises.
Pat Rabbitte's article in the Irish Times (Monday, 15 November) -
typical of his rare comments on the Irish peace process - is a
negative attack on Sinn Féin. This is not surprising given that the
Labour leader - whether in the Workers Party, Democratic Left, or
the Labour Party - is one of the few senior Irish politicians to
have made no positive contribution to the Irish peace process.
Indeed he is so fixated with the electoral challenge to his party
from Sinn Féin that he ignores entirely the real obstacles to the
full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement - the rejectionist
position at this time of Ian Paisley and the role of the British
government.

He also accuses Sinn Féin of being unenthusiastic about the
political institutions and cites our rejection of the absurd
proposal that the north should be governed by a British government
appointed quango. Let me be absolutely clear. Sinn Féin has a
proven record of working the institutions. We want a comprehensive
agreement with both governments and with unionism; we want the
political institutions which were democratically endorsed by the
Irish people restored. That is why we are making such an enormous
effort this week and why our talks with the governments are so
intensive.

When the two governments told us before Leeds Castle that the DUP
were up for a deal based on the fundamentals of the Agreement,
despite the absence of any real evidence of this, we suspended our
scepticism and asked the two governments to come forward with
proposals, bedded in the Good Friday Agreement, to move the process
on. We also made the point that if the DUP is not prepared to join
with the rest of us, it is both necessary and legitimate to
identify other options for securing the principles of the
Agreement.

In other words, if the parties, or to be more precise, if one party
in the north adopts a rejectionist position, and if, as a result,
vetoes the institutions, then the two governments need to
compensate for this with new, imaginative and dynamic alternatives.
This includes joint responsibility for the areas of government
which would otherwise have been administered on a power- sharing
basis. In the absence of power sharing in the north, power sharing
between the two governments is the only way that this fundamental
of the Agreement, and equality in the north can, be expressed.
Irish nationalists living in the north can never again be abandoned
to the mercy of the pro-Unionist mandarins in the British
Government's 'Northern Ireland Office'.

The Labour leader may not relish an increased role for the Irish
government in the north. But the Irish government is a co-equal
partner in the Good Friday Agreement and it has a responsibility to
give immediate and tangible expression to this. That is why Sinn
Féin has put forward proposals on this issue.

There has been enormous progress over the past 10 years; progress
that many imagined would not be possible. Sinn Féin wants that
progress to continue. That means political unionism joining us in
this historic enterprise. Does that mean diluting the Good Friday
Agreement? It does not. The Agreement is not the property of Sinn
Féin in any case. It belongs to the people of the island. Sinn
Féin, as the largest pro-Agreement party in the north, has a
special responsibility to defend and promote the Agreement.
Unionists have expressed other concerns about republican intentions
and that is a different matter. Within reason there is a duty on us
to try, if we can, to remove those fears without undermining our
electoral rights or our mandate. But there is also a duty on
political unionism to face up to its responsibilities. The next
week or so will clarify whether their leaders are prepared to do
that at this time.

As this phase of the process draws to a close no doubt the clamour
from the hurlers on the ditch will intensify. That's politics for
you. For our part Sinn Fein will not be distracted. Our eyes are
firmly fixed on the prize.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/- /2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4030717.stm

DUP Move Over Battalions

The Democratic Unionist Party is launching a new drive to save the
home battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment.

The move comes in tandem with talks on the latest British-Irish
proposals aimed at restoring devolution.

Meanwhile, both DUP and Sinn Fein sources have confirmed that a
proposed £1bn peace fund is being discussed as part of the
negotiations.

The parties are under pressure from the governments to accept their
proposals which are also aimed at ending IRA activity for good.

DUP politicians have previously raised concerns about plans to
disband the three home battalions of the RIR.

DUP sources have told the BBC they are concerned about what they
believe could be an "imminent move" to remove more security
installations along the Irish border.

The party wants to make the case that retaining the home battalions
of the RIR makes both military and economic sense.

BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said: "The
timing of this initiative is especially interesting, as the DUP
leader, Ian Paisley, will meet Defence Minister, Geoff Hoon, on
Wednesday, the same day he is due to be talking to Tony Blair about
an overall political deal."

The SDLP's Alex Attwood said if the British Government "undoes the
decision to end the RIR" it would "send out the wrong signal".

"This is not what our politics needs, what the security situation
requires or what the future should look like," he said.

He said if the future of the RIR was secured, it would be another
example of the DUP "getting more and giving less".

Meanwhile, the British and Irish prime ministers are to meet for
talks in Downing Street on Wednesday to assess the prospects of the
DUP and Sinn Fein endorsing their proposals.

The plans, given to the parties last week, followed two months of
continuing negotiations aimed at exploring a way around the
stumbling blocks faced at September's talks at Leeds Castle in
Kent.

Both the DUP and Sinn Fein are backing the creation of a £1bn peace
fund as the price tag for any deal - about one ninth of Northern
Ireland's annual budget.

The SDLP leader, Mark Durkan, will raise his concerns about the
latest British and Irish proposals with Irish Prime Minister Bertie
Ahern on Monday.

Both Mr Durkan and Ulster Unionist leader Mr Trimble are expected
to see Tony Blair this week.

As the negotiations on a deal continue, all the parties remain
mindful of the Westminster election due next year.

The BBC has been told senior Ulster Unionists recently approached
the Alliance Party asking them to stand aside in constituencies
such as East Antrim and East Belfast but the approach was rebuffed.

The British and Irish Governments want an answer from Ian Paisley
and Gerry Adams by the end of the month.

Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy has said he is hopeful the
parties will accept the governments' blueprint.

Bertie Ahern said on Saturday he believed there was a very real
prospect of the whole island of Ireland having an historic and
peaceful Christmas.

Earlier on Saturday, both Sinn Fein and the DUP held meetings with
party members.

The DUP assembly team are drawing up their own detailed analysis of
the outstanding issues. The DUP's executive will meet next Friday
night.

The DUP wants to know the IRA is committed to the proposals
outlined by the government. Sinn Fein is demanding the proposals
reflect more fully the Good Friday Agreement.

After two years of stalemate, Stormont remains suspended, but signs
are emerging that it could be back in business within months.

At the conclusion of intensive political talks at Leeds Castle in
Kent in September, Mr Blair and Mr Ahern said the thorny issues of
IRA disarmament and future paramilitary activity appeared to be
resolved.

But, the two governments were unable to get the Northern Ireland
Assembly parties to sign up to a deal over power-sharing after
unionists and nationalists clashed over future devolved
institutions.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Published: 2004/11/22 11:41:38 GMT

© BBC MMIV

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=53194&pt=n

Orangemen 'Frightened' Over Parades

Police chiefs in east Belfast are trying to frighten Orangemen out
of making new parade applications, it was claimed today.

As top officers were braced for a meeting with angry marchers in
the city, a Policing Board representative accused them of running a
vendetta.

The DUP`s Sammy Wilson said: "There are a couple of senior officers
who are intent on persecuting the Orangemen.

"It`s almost become Gestapo-like tactics."

The loyal order`s fury has risen since their leaders in east
Belfast were interviewed by police last month over a Twelfth of
July demonstration.

District Master Raymond Spiers and two other senior officers were
questioned under caution about flags being carried with their
procession and one of the accompanying band`s uniforms.

The men were also quizzed about why `The Sash` was played during
part of the parade, an Order spokeswoman said.

A file has since been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Orangemen are expected to express their opposition at a District
Policing Partnership meeting on Wednesday.

With East Belfast District Commander Henry Irvine unable to attend,
their fury will be directed at his Operations Manager,
Superintendent Nigel Ritchie.

The Orange Order confirmed it would be challenging senior officers
to explain their actions when nationalists in north Belfast`s
Ardoyne rioted on the same night.

"Nobody is saying if we have broken the law we shouldn`t face some
form of prosecution," the spokeswoman said.

"But there was a huge amount of violence in the Ardoyne that night
where they (nationalists) were beating the hell out of the Army.

"Is it fair that we are being questioned about playing The Sash?

"How many others are being questioned about their conduct on the
Twelfth?"

A book of Irish folk songs, produced in Dublin and including The
Sash, has been sent to Chief Constable Hugh Orde to prove it is
non-sectarian, she added.

Mr Wilson was equally outraged by the police`s actions.

"I suspect the way they are dealing with this is to stop them
putting their names on parade applications.

"It`s all about ordinary working men who don`t want this hassle
because they are afraid of ending up in court."

The PSNI refused to respond to Mr Wilson`s claims, although it is
understood officers are ready to defend their tactics during
Wednesday`s meeting.

A PSNI spokesman added: "An alleged breach of a Parades Commission
determination at east Belfast on July 12, 2004 is being
investigated by police.

"A report has been submitted to the DPP."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/- /2/hi/south_asia/4031695.stm

Raid In Hunt For Afghan Hostages

US and Afghan forces have raided houses in Kabul as part of a hunt
for three UN workers kidnapped last month.

US helicopters circled the area as ground forces smashed into two
houses in the north of the city.

Ten people have been detained in the operation which took place in
the early hours of Monday.

Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Kosovan Shqipe Habibi and
Filipino diplomat Angelito Nayan were abducted at gunpoint from
Kabul on 28 October.

They had been helping to conduct the recent presidential elections
in the country.

Questioned

American and Afghan soldiers used explosives to smash their way
into the houses in the pre-dawn raid, damaging doors and windows.

A doctor working for the UN, Munir Mosamem, and his teenage son
were among those taken away for questioning.

"This morning there was an operation related to releasing the
hostages," a US military spokesperson, Lt Col Pamela Keeton said
but declined to give details.

But eyewitnesses told the BBC that the soldiers showed pictures of
the hostages to the neighbours and asked them if they had seen any
of them.

It is the first raid since the hostages were abducted.

A group calling itself the Army of Muslims say they carried out the
kidnapping and have demanded the release of prisoners held in
Afghan jails and in Guantanamo Bay.

But officials have questioned the group's claim, suggesting the
kidnapping may have been carried out by a criminal gang.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/11/22 10:33:46 GMT
© BBC MMIV

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/- /2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4028621.stm

Car Attack 'Was Racist'

An incident in which a car was badly damaged is being treated as a
racially motivated attack, the police have said.

Windows and wing mirrors were smashed on the vehicle in
Londonderry.

It took place in the Strabane Old Road area of Gobnascale just
after 0200 GMT on Saturday.

The car belongs to a member of the Chinese community.

Police have appealed for anyone with information concerning the
incident to contact them.

Local Sinn Fein councillor Lynn Fleming condemned those responsible
and said her party would not tolerate racist attacks.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/11/20 14:58:38 GMT
© BBC MMIV

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http://www.newsletter.co.uk/story/16645

IRA Spy Ring Convictions Destroy Trust

Monday 22nd November 2004

Revelations that the Provisional IRA has been spying on senior
politicians in the Republic will hardly come as a big surprise to
those familiar with the nefarious activities of the republican
movement north of the border for much of the last century.

Two leading republicans were convicted at a Dublin Court on Friday
of spying on leading government figures, including former justice
minister John O'Donoghue and former sports minister Dr Jim McDaid,
and of criminal activity in the southern capital.

The arrests and convictions come at a highly-sensitive time in the
Northern Ireland political process where the Westminster and Irish
governments are feverishly trying to persuade both the DUP and Sinn
Fein to enter a power-sharing devolved administration at Stormont.

It seems whatever promises are made by some in Sinn Fein's
leadership about an end to IRA activity and ultimate disbandment of
the terrorist organisation, there remains a fatalist attraction
within the republican movement to subversive activity.

The violent history of Irish republicanism, dating back to the
Fenian risings of the mid-19th century, has shaped the mindset of
those who would subscribe to the IRA's "armed struggle" strategy,
and even Sinn Fein's political ideology.

The latest court convictions demonstrate how far there is to go
before unionists, moderate nationalists and the wider law-abiding
community in Northern Ireland can have the confidence to trust
republicans.

The devolved Assembly at Stormont collapsed just over two years ago
because of a republican "spy ring" at Parliament buildings, and the
grim reality is that the trust needed to restore the administration
is still not there.

The situation was well summed up yesterday by SDLP deputy leader Dr
Alasdair McDonnell, who said this kind of activity North and South
destroys community trust and it has got to stop.

Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern and their government aides must also
have a view on this unacceptable impediment to permanent peace and
political movement and, instead of prevaricating in almost denial
mode, they should say so in direct, unapologetic terms to the Sinn
Fein leadership.

Unionists, the DUP and UUP, will not agree to a deal with Sinn Fein
until the "acts of completion" demanded by Tony Blair are seen in
clear and unequivocal conditions. This must be recognised by all
sides!

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http://www.newsletter.co.uk/story/16651

NIO 'Have Put My Life At Risk' Says Fighter For IRA Victims

Monday 22nd November 2004

The Northern Ireland Office has been accused of deliberately
endangering the lives of a south Armagh victims' group spokesperson
and his family.

William Frazer, of Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR)
said the NIO had put the lives of his immediate family on the line
by stalling on the installation of security measures at his Co
Armagh home.

Last month, the Belfast High Court overturned a NIO decision
refusing Mr Frazer admission to the Key Persons Protection Scheme.

The court ruled the NIO had failed to give relevant consideration
to a PSNI assessment which indicated Mr Frazer was likely to be a
priority target and was at significant level of threat. However, it
is understood NIO officials are now considering appealing the
decision to admit the outspoken victim's worker to the Key Persons
Protection Scheme.

In the meantime, the NIO will not authorise the installation of any
security measures at Mr Frazer's home.

"This is a blatant political decision by the NIO. They now put my
life and the lives of my family at risk." said Mr Frazer.

Five members of William Frazer's family have already been murdered
by the IRA.

The Northern Ireland Office refused to discuss the installation of
security measures at William Frazer's home.

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=124939408&p=yz494xyy4&n=124940168

Bloody Sunday QC To Give Closing Speech

22/11/2004 - 07:19:08

The Bloody Sunday tribunal will resume in Derry today to hear the
closing speech by counsel to the inquiry Christopher Clarke QC.

Mr Clarke's closing statement, which is expected to last two days,
will be an overview of the issues the tribunal of three judges have
to decide.

The speech is a brief summary of eight to 10 large volumes of
written material collated after more than four years of evidence-
gathering.

Mr Clarke will present an indication of the conclusions he feels
can be made from the supporting evidence.

The leader of the Official IRA on Bloody Sunday had been due to
give evidence today but pulled out through illness.

John White had been expected to say that the only shot fired by the
Official IRA in the Bogside on Bloody Sunday was 15 minutes before
the Army moved in.

He would have said that the shot was fired after one of the victims
Jackie Duddy was shot dead at Rossville Flats.

The inquiry, which is expected to produce its final report next
summer, is examining the events of January 30, 1972, when 13
unarmed civilians were shot dead by members of the Parachute
Regiment.

The inquiry panel, chaired by Lord Saville, will then sit down to
reach their own conclusions and write the final report.

The tribunal began taking evidence in March 2000, hearing oral
evidence from 921 witnesses.

By February 2004, it had cost an estimated £130m (€185.2m).

It is expected to cost a total of £155m (€220.9m) by the time the
final report is published.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/- /2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4031241.stm

Key Questions For Saville Inquiry Judges

It is still unclear which soldiers shot 27 civilians on Bloody
Sunday, the Saville Inquiry has heard.

Counsel to the inquiry Christopher Clarke QC said the central
question was why and how civilians were killed or wounded in
Londonderry in 1972.

Lord Saville is investigating the deaths of 14 civilians shot by
soldiers during a civil rights march in the city in January that
year.

The inquiry is now in its final phase - six years after it began.

Mr Clarke is giving a brief summary of the evidence in a closing
speech expected to last two days.

He told the tribunal on Monday: "It has to be said that, even after
many days of evidence, the answer to even the first question - who
shot them? - is not, on the soldiers' evidence, in any way clear."

Mr Clarke said the tribunal could take one of two views on this.

"One view that the tribunal might take is that this is something
that is not surprising if, as they say to be the case, soldiers
came under fire from unexpected quarters and had swiftly to
retaliate."

'Uncomfortable facts'

The second was that the soldiers, while claiming they hit gunmen
and nail bombers, seemed unable to explain why they killed or
wounded 27 people who were not involved.

"These considerations may have a cumulative effect. The tribunal
may attach some significance to the fact that so much is
unexplained," he said.

"It might conclude, taking that fact with all the other evidence,
that so much is unexplained because no justifiable explanation
could be given.

"On the other hand, it might take the view that uncomfortable facts
have been airbrushed out of history and that the situation the
soldiers faced was radically different to that of which the
civilian evidence speaks."

Mr Clarke's speech is a brief summary of eight to 10 volumes of
written material collated after more than four years of evidence-
gathering.

It is intended to constitute an overview of the issues for the
tribunal to decide and an indication of a range of conclusions the
tribunal might reach.

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was established in 1998 by Prime Minister
Tony Blair after a campaign by families of those killed and
injured.

The inquiry has so far cost £130m and the final bill will be around
£150m.

Hundreds of witnesses

BBC Ireland correspondent Mark Simpson said the Bloody Sunday
inquiry has been "the longest inquiry in UK legal history".

He said the final report and its conclusions will not be made
public until the summer of next year.

More than 900 witnesses have given evidence to the tribunal since
Lord Saville of Newdigate and the Commonwealth judges accompanying
him on the inquiry began their work in March 2000.

Only when Mr Clarke has finished the closing speech stage of the
tribunal will the three inquiry judges sit down to write their
report.

The inquiry has heard evidence from leading politicians, including
the prime minister at the time, Sir Edward Heath, civilians,
policemen, soldiers and IRA members.

The leader of the Official IRA on Bloody Sunday had been due to
give evidence on Friday but pulled out through illness.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2004/11/22 11:34:25 GMT
© BBC MMIV

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http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/biography/story/0,6000,1356920,00.html

'Just Call Me Nell'

After a lifetime fighting for women's rights, Nell McCafferty's
memoirs have revealed a Sapphic soap opera that has transfixed
Ireland. Angelique Chrisafis meets her

Monday November 22, 2004
The Guardian

Like the greatest love stories, it is a tale of passion, torment,
denial and ruthless rivalry. Not since Virginia Woolf and Vita
Sackville-West tumbled in and out of bed together while their
families stood back in horror and embarrassment has the literary
world been gripped by such a Sapphic soap opera.

Nell McCafferty, a foul-mouthed and fearless social commentator, is
one of the great feminist heroes of the liberalisation of Ireland.
Part Germaine Greer and part Mae West, she is not a woman you
should spurn. But, in a controversy that has gripped Ireland, that
is exactly what her former long-term lover, the acclaimed novelist
Nuala O'Faolain, has done, brushing over their long relationship in
her memoirs. She compounded the injury in a recent interview in
which she said she never thought of McCafferty as a woman, and
"would still walk across 59 women to get to one man if I was
attracted to him".

Now McCafferty, 60, has hit back, releasing her own tell-all
memoir, Nell. She followed it with an appearance on The Late, Late
Show - an Irish TV institution - where she damned the Pope for his
homophobia and Irish society for accepting it. Being gay, she
declared to camera with tears in her eyes, was the last great taboo
in Ireland. She challenged all parents sitting watching beside
their secretly gay children to tell them they loved them. She was
sick of being viewed by all religions as an intrinsically
disordered freak. She hoped her 94-year-old mother, in a nursing
home in Derry, had been given a sleeping pill or taken away from
the TV, to save her from worrying about what the neighbours would
say.

Readying herself for the fallout from her appearance, McCafferty
sits smoking at the kitchen table of the redbrick Dublin terrace
she once shared with O'Faolain.

Part of Northern Ireland's civil rights movement for equal votes,
homes and jobs for Catholics, McCafferty was on the fateful march
on Bloody Sunday in 1972, when British paratroopers opened fire on
marchers in Derry, killing 14. She later wrote a book on the dirty
protest by republican women in Armagh jail. But it was south of the
border that her voice was loudest. In 1970, she opened Ireland's
eyes to Dublin's children's courts, where the age of criminal
responsibility was seven and children were sent to brutal reform
schools for playing truant or stealing sweets. Later she campaigned
on equality, abortion and divorce.

Now her study is covered in pictures of Derry and one of Elvis. The
front door is ajar for visitors, an anachronism in the increasingly
suspicious and materialistic neighbourhoods of south Dublin.

Was there a dilemma about airing the dirty linen from her
relationship? "It's a love story, a love story that failed. I
couldn't write about my life without writing about that," she says.

McCafferty fell in love with O'Faolain in 1980, on the basis of a
brilliant speech she gave to a political meeting of women in
Dublin. O'Faolain, an academic, TV producer and one of Ireland's
best-known columnists, was a "fragile enough person" battling her
own demons and McCafferty doesn't spare her. "Her idea of a meal
was a bag of fish and chips and a six-pack of beer. She would get
slightly woozy on the beer, then take a sleeping pill and seek
oblivion. I wondered what I was letting myself in for," she writes.

But McCafferty also calls O'Faolain "my central intelligence
agency" and admits she was hurt when O'Faolain never read her
books.

Their relationship lasted 15 years, and while they lived and slept
together, they didn't have sex for almost a decade. McCafferty
feels that in painting their relationship as sexless and
passionless, as if they were just lodgers, O'Faolain misrepresented
it. She recalls how O'Faolain appeared one Christmas eve with the
present of a fox-fur coat and a pair of designer knickers. "It was
one of the great erotic moments of my life," she says.

McCafferty feels O'Faolain couldn't deal with anyone thinking of
her as a lesbian. When O'Faolain was writing her own memoir, she
was going to call McCafferty a lesbian but not herself.

McCafferty once joked that she was the only woman in Ireland
allowed to say "fuck" apart from the characters in Roddy Doyle
novels. Yet her life is a response to that old Irish way of doing
things: "Whatever you say, say nothing." Nowhere is the hushed
keeping of secrets more apparent than her native Northern Ireland.

"There was a girl in our group who became increasingly nervy and
high-pitched," McCafferty writes. "She gradually drifted away. When
she ended up a wino and street prostitute, I learned that her
father used to send men over to the house to her, if they put up a
drink for him in the bar. This began when she was 15. It was widely
known but was not the sort of thing you would report to a holy
priest."

McCafferty's own mother was driven almost insane by the secret of
her brother Brian who had emigrated to the US where he was locked
up for murdering a prostitute. McCafferty, who has now seen papers
on the case, is working on the possibility of miscarriage of
justice and may launch a battle to clear his name.

She hasn't yet finished with the feminist struggle, either.

The days of Dublin sexism in the 1960s and 70s are recalled with an
exasperated sigh. Married women having to give up jobs, Spare Rib
magazine banned because it advertised contraception, women couldn't
order pints because it was "unladylike". She and a group of women
once went into a Dublin pub and ordered 31 brandies. When their
drinks were lined up on the bar, they ordered a pint of Guinness.
"He refused to serve, we refused to pay," she says. They drank the
brandies and walked out.

On another occasion she defied the Irish security services by
taking a train full of feminists over the border from Northern
Ireland brandishing hundreds of banned contraceptive pills (never
mind that the pills were in fact aspirin - the group had arrived at
the chemist in Belfast not knowing they needed a prescription).

"Irish feminism was fun," she says. "In England, you didn't have
the fun, you can change everything by legislation. In Ireland, we
were bound to the constitution. We had to run rings round people."

With all her public bravado, it is strange to see McCafferty in her
kitchen suddenly feeling vulnerable over her book and what the
nation will think of her "officially" coming out. "I give them a
week to call me a lesbian, then I'll say it's getting boring, just
call me Nell," she says.

As for O'Faolain, they "communicate" twice a year. One day,
McCafferty says, when they reach 80 and are on Zimmer frames,
they'll bump into each other on the streets of Dublin and talk it
all out.

· Nell is published by Penguin


Jay Dooling (rdooling@swbell.net)
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