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December 29, 2004

12/29/04 – 2004: Photographic Negatives

Monthly Table of Contents 12/04

IT 12/29/04 Year in Review: Photographic Negatives
IT 12/29/04 100 People A Day Still Exchanging Old Irish Money
IT 12/29/04 Irish Actors Chosen For Gaelic Version Of Ford Movie
WP 12/29/04 Renowned Claremorris Artist Exhibits In Dublin
IT 12/29/04 Year in Review: My Odyssey, By Leopold Bloom

RT 12/28/04 Row Over Access To Hills And Farmland -VO
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Row Over Access To Hills And Farmland - Eileen Magnier, North West
Correspondent, reports on the difficulties faced by hill-walkers
http://www.rte.ie/news/2004/1228/6news/6news56_4.smil

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1229/3747310834NRNORTH.html

Photographic Negatives

The North: There must be a great tendency for Northern Ireland
politicians, for Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair, and for their officials to
see out this year with a "bah humbug" and a "bad cess to 2004", bawled
out with a heartfelt Edvard Munch-like scream of exasperation and
disappointment.

In the middle of this season of bad will and Big Mouth politics, British
and Irish leaders and their ministers and mandarins were frantically
seeking out a "creative" Solomon figure who could reconcile the
irreconcilable, who could transform a row over photographic negatives
into a political positive.

Were there any fresh ideas out there, they pleaded? People tried to help.
Some rang phone-in radio programmes. The Rev Ian Paisley wandering around
an IRA bunker to see the guns decommissioned for himself was a popular
suggestion.

Paisley wasn't interested. He just wanted photographs and Gerry Adams
parading along main street, Ballymena, in sack cloth and ashes. But the
photographs were "dead and gone and buried in Ballymena", said Adams.

There were other soluble issues but everything hinged on the pictures.
This is the cul de sac to where politics through all of 2004, before
Leeds Castle and after, was heading. And right now nobody has a clue how
to reverse out of this dead end.

Of course, other things happened this year in the North. For instance,
this was the most peaceful year since the conflict erupted in 1969.
Possible large-scale slaughter was avoided in Ardoyne on the night of
July 12th by senior IRA figures assisting British paratroopers under
attack from local nationalists. Otherwise, the 2004 marching season was a
relative doddle.

Sinn Féin and the DUP continued their electoral advances. Jim Allister
topped the poll for the DUP in the European elections in June, his
transfers carrying Ulster Unionist Jim Nicholson over the line for the
third seat, further reflecting who is unionist supremo. Bairbre de Brúwon
Sinn Féin's first Northern Euro-seat, casting aside the SDLP, whose
candidate Martin Morgan lost the seat John Hume held for 25 years.

Ahern and Blair will maintain pressure for a deal early in the new year.
If that fails, the expected British general election in May means that it
could be September at the earliest before the governments and parties
venture forth bravely again.

It seems all rather depressing, but at least people can take consolation
in the fact that this time last year there were four major issues -
policing, decommissioning, ending IRA activity and stabilising the
institutions - while at the end of this one these are effectively sorted,
or are capable of being sorted.

It's just the pictures. Beyond all the disagreement, the streets were
comparatively quiet and there was real political progress but that can't
mask the disappointment and frustration.

Gerry Moriarty
© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1229/3004442016HM5OLDMONEY.html

100 People A Day Still Exchanging Old Irish Money

Alison Healy

Up to 100 people a day are still calling to the Central Bank to
exchange old Irish notes and coins three years after the euro was
introduced.

The Central Bank estimates that £310 million still has not been returned
to the Central Bank, but that figure is gradually falling. In the past
year £10 million was returned for exchange.

The Central Bank will take old notes and coins indefinitely, according to
its spokeswoman, Ms Elaine Mannix.

"We've noticed a bit of an increase in the past couple of weeks. People
are coming from the country to Dublin to do their shopping so they say:
'let's bring the old money with us'.

"We always notice an increase at Christmas or when children are off
school. Sometimes it's just a £5 note. Sometimes it's much more. During
the summer foreigners visiting Ireland bring their old notes and coins
too."

She said people were bringing in the money in all sorts of bags.

"They are finding money everywhere, in old handbags, in old coats, at the
back of a wardrobe, or sadly, when an old member of the family dies and
they are going through their things. The money is being found in books,
in garden sheds and even in the garden as people are turning over flower
beds."

She heard of one case where a bulb blew in a table lamp, and when the
woman was changing it she found a bundle of notes that her late husband
had stuffed into the neck of the lamp.

While it might be surprising to hear that people still have punts, it's
baffling to hear that they are still bringing in old 10 shilling notes
for exchange. "We still get some of those. They would be worth about 65
cent now," Ms Mannix said.

There is no lower limit on the amount you can exchange with the Central
Bank. Up to £500 (€635) in coins will be exchanged immediately, while
larger amounts will be forwarded by cheque through the post. Coins must
be separated by denomination and bagged.

Up to £3,000 (€3,800) in notes will be accepted over the counter, while
larger amounts will be forwarded by cheque.

Alternatively, bank notes can be sent by registered post to the Tellers
Section, Central Bank of Ireland, PO Box 559, Dame Street, Dublin 2, and
a cheque will be issued by post.

The Central Bank cannot exchange old foreign bank notes, but these can be
posted to the central banks in those countries.

However, while Ireland has agreed to take the money indefinitely, other
countries have set limits. The Belgian Central Bank and the Luxembourg
Central Bank will stop taking coins on December 31st this year but will
continue to take notes indefinitely.

"We have no plans to stop accepting old money," said Ms Mannix. "I think
we'll be doing it for years."

The Central Bank accepts money for exchange from 10 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
and 1.30 p.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and until 4 p.m. on Thursdays.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1229/2125790584HM4QUIETMAN.html

Irish Actors Chosen For Gaelic Version Of Ford Movie

Fans of The Quiet Man, filmed in Ireland in 1951, plan to dub the John
Ford classic into Irish.

The Quiet Man Movie Club, which has 200 members worldwide, has lined up
Irish actors to speak the lines of John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.

Foras na Gaeilge and Údarás na Gaeltachta are ready to fund the project
in conjunction with TG4 and an independent production company, Telegael.
However, permission must be sought from Paramount Pictures, which owns
the rights to the Oscar-winning movie. The classic has already been
translated into 12 languages including French, German, Russian and and
Japanese.

A spokesman for the Quiet Man Movie Club, Mr Des McHale, said: "If John
Wayne can speak in German and Japanese, then why not Irish also?

"The film was mostly shot in Gaeltacht areas in Cos Mayo and Galway and
it still has a huge following in the west of Ireland. It was the first
Technicolor film to be shown in Ireland, the first that showcased the
country abroad. It attracted thousands of tourists to the country.

"It's only fitting that the dialogue should be dubbed by the voices of
native Gaelic speakers to help it win an new audience and add it to our
rich Gaelic folklore."

Mr McHale, a mathematics professor at University College Cork, said the
club had e-mailed executives in Paramount to see if they would give the
green light.

The author of 50 books, Mr McHale recently published Picture The Quiet
Man - An Illustrated Celebration.

The book contains rare photographs from the set of the film while it was
shot here in the summer of 1951. It was launched in The Quiet Man snug in
The Rathmines Inn in Dublin.

Among the attendance was the family of a Meath garda, Richard Farrelly,
who wrote the film's theme song, Isle of Inisfree, while travelling on a
bus from his home in Kells to Dublin.

The Quiet Man tells the story of retired prize-fighter Seán Thornton who
returns to his Irish roots and falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate
Danaher. - PA

© The Irish Times

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http://www.westernpeople.ie/news/story.asp?j=23009

Renowned Claremorris Artist Exhibits In Dublin

By: Majella Loftus

The works of a world renowned Claremorris sculptor have gone on exhibit
in Dublin. Born in the Mayo town in 1930, Edward Delaney is best known
for his public commissions for the Irish Government which include the
Wolfe Tone Memorial in St Stephen's Green, Dublin, the Thomas Davis
Memorial and a significant famine memorial.

The Royal Hibernian Academy in 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 have decided to
acknowledge the extraordinary work of Mr Delaney and have opened a
sculptural exhibition of his works which will be on display until January
9.

Mr Delaney studied in NCAD in Dublin after being educated in Claremorris
and then travelled to Munich, Bonn and Rome after being awarded
scholarships by the West German and Italian governments. He represented
Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1959 and 1961.

His sculptures are held in important public collections all over Ireland
and further afield. He was awarded the Arts council prize for sculpture
(1962) and its scolarship for sculpture and bronze casting in 1964 and
the RHA Award for a sculpture of distiction in bronze (1991).

This will be the first chance in over a decade to view a representative
selection of his work. Edward Delaney is one of the most celebrated Irish
sculptures of the second half of the twentieth century. Trained in
Germany in the 1950's, his brand of European modernism was without
context in 1960's Dublin.

Imbued with that aesthetic tradition and the experience of living and
studying in post war Germany, Delaney's work seized on vital and
fundamental imagery. Working in bronze in the lost wax method Delaney's
figures attempt a seamless union of form, material and content.

Delaney is best known today for the two major monuments in Dublin, the
Wolf Tone Memorial, 1967, on the North East corner of St. Stephens Green
and the Thomas Davis Memorial 1966, on the median opposite Trinity
College. Both monuments show a marked departure for their time. Their
abstraction and expressionism, the naturism and their egalitarianism
reflect the new sense of confidence in the nation.

Delaney brought much of these qualities into his studio work and this
exhibition uses a concentrated selection of his bronzes from the sixties
to aid a review of his oeuvre. There will be five large scale works
including the Figure of Cuchulain and the Great Hunger and Forms (Private
Collection). Smaller works include Bather, The Piper and Bird Alighting.

Two programmes will also be shown as part of the exhibition: Aisling
Gheal Edward Delaney featuring Delaney and his daughter Catriona
sculpting and a piece from 1963 showing Delaney casting a bronze piece.

An illustrated catalogue accompanies this exhibition with an essay by art
historian Roisîn Kennedy.

The exhibition has been aided throughout its organising stages by the
enthusiasm, knowledge and archive of the sculptor's son, Eamon Delaney.
The exhibition will be closed from December 22 to January 2 for the
festive season.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2004/1229/35757872NRBLOOM.html

My Odyssey, By Leopold Bloom

Bloomsday Centenary: Well, Mrs Bloom finally read the book. Mind you,
it did take her 100 years - but then she loves her bed - but sleep or no
sleep, herself did read the entire volume, with no prompting from me.

She stopped betimes for a bit of a song, and lost her patience with the
fancy words. I was pleased to oblige, with the words, I mean, although I
can't claim to have known them all. Fierce clever chap that Joyce,
probably too clever. Great man all the same.

Not that Madam Marion was alone in her reading, others also gave it a go.
And what do you know, Molly's reading left that blackguard Blazes Boylan
with some spare hours on his hands and he laced into a few pages, as did
the Citizen. Good job too, he'd less time for spouting his racist abuse.

They've long since called each June 16th "Bloomsday". I'm flattered
having all those wonderful Balloonatic actors, other performers and
ordinary people dressing up and following my footsteps about the city.
But this time, it was more than the Day of the Book; 2004 was the Year of
the Book, for the people as much as the scholars.

I'd never regarded myself as a hero, just a God-fearing man, a husband, a
father, a bit of a dreamer. Yet it seemed that the people back me for the
heroics. Mr Joyce was tricky, lots of notions about himself, always
looking for a loan, and uppity with it.

To top it all, didn't he leave Dublin as quick as a rat deserting a
sinking ship? Me, I stayed behind, cooking for Molly and trying to make
sense of life. Still, Mr Joyce made me famous, immortal even.

As for moping Stephen, I love him like a son, but he's hard work, forever
whingeing. Aside from the Mother's death - he handled that badly - he's
not yet tested by either life or love. Sad case, too many books, lives
inside his head, doesn't wash enough either. Small wonder with my lemon
soap I'm the people's choice.

The critics descended on the city in June for the 19th International
James Joyce Symposium, which began back here in 1967. I was prepared to
say a few words, but wasn't asked. Gerry O'Flaherty and Fritz Senn,
decent men, spent six months on the wireless, talking their way through
the book.

All the old songs were sung throughout the year. All the old walks
walked. All the old theories aired, again. Poor old Paddy waked
endlessly. The National Library, a place close to my heart, exhibited
those expensively acquired Joyce manuscripts. Then there was the feeding
of the masses. It seemed all the tribes of Israel congregated in what
used to be Sackville Street to honour my breakfast rituals. Thought they
might run short of kidneys. Terrible shame about Bewley's closing.

Eileen Battersby

© The Irish Times

Monthly Table of Contents 12/04
Posted by: Unknown / 6:29 AM
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