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August 21, 2005

Police Criticised After Belfast Riot

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News about Ireland & the Irish

UT 08/20/05 Police Criticised After Belfast Riot
IT 08/20/05 McDowell: Handling Of Colombia Case Defended
IT 08/20/05 Donlon Spells Out What Is Expected Of IRA
IP 08/18/05 Sectarian Campaign Continues Unabated
IP 08/18/05 Bloody Sunday Rifles — New Revelations
IP 08/18/05 Moving Ceremony Remembers O'Donovan Rossa
IT 08/20/05 Council Seeks Advice Over 1916 House
IP 08/18/05 Remembering The Past - 44 Parnell Square
IP 08/18/05 Opin: Unionist Silence Will Not Do
SL 08/18/05 How Mo's Slip Blew MI5 Wiretap On Provo Leaders
IT 08/20/05 Donegal Garda Scandal Would Disgust Collins
IT 08/20/05 Fishermen Pay Tribute To Haughey
IH 08/20/05 A New Day For Belfast, City Of Fewer Troubles
NY 08/20/05 Trav: Belfast Is Ready For The Party To Begin
IT 08/20/05 Killarney Cathedral Marks 150th Anniversary
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(On August 22, 1922 – Irish politician and Sinn Fein leader
Michael Collins, largely responsible for the 1921 Anglo-
Irish treaty, is killed in an ambush. See the "Donegal
Garda scandal" Story.)

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=64063&pt=n

Police Criticised After Riot

The police were tonight accused of not doing enough to stop
sectarian rioting in Belfast which involved up to 400
people and raged for eight hours.

By:Press Association

One person was injured during the clashes between
Nationalists and Loyalists, which erupted in Cluan Place
and Clandeboye Gardens in the east of the city around 6pm
yesterday.

The Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein said the trouble
should have been dealt with more effectively.

But the Police Service of Northern Ireland defended its
response and said it could not resolve community tensions
on its own.

Police sources described the riot as spontaneous but it is
thought it may have been triggered by the Rangers v Celtic
match in Glasgow yesterday afternoon.

East Belfast MLA Michael Copeland said he had raised
concerns about trouble flaring in the area but claimed no
action was taken.

"I had warned police that attacks against the residents
have been on-going, at a low level, for a number of weeks
and asked for additional resources to be directed towards
the area," he said.

"Last week I expressed my concern three times to the police
that there was the potential for disorder given the Old
Firm game. "Over the weekend, missiles rained on residents,
many of which involved some degree of preparation, pointing
to a planned and orchestrated attack.

"As Saturday evening progressed the situation deteriorated
culminating in some of the worst violence against the
residents of Cluan Place that I have seen since the dark
days of a few years ago."

Mr Copeland said residents should be able to live without
fear of attack.

He added: "Apparent police unwillingness to heed my
warnings and pre-empt this situation raises serious
questions as to how they are handling this very real
problem.

"Residents are reporting complete negligence on the part of
the PSNI.

"One lady said that at the peak of the attack two policemen
in a land rover was the best the PSNI could muster. This is
outrageous."

Sinn Fein East Belfast representative Deborah Devenny said
the police failed to swiftly crackdown on the rioters.

Ms Devenny said: "The PSNI have once again demonstrated
their unwillingness to deal with loyalist thugs intent upon
intimidating the people of this area.

"The PSNI have absolutely no control over this situation
and when challenged responded that they did not have the
resources to deal with it.

"This community is sickened and disgusted by a week long
siege on this district.

"A barrage of ball-bearings, golf balls, bricks and bottles
have rained down upon people and property."

Ms Devenny called on unionist leaders to "face down" those
behind the violence.

But Mr Copeland dismissed her claims and said the
Protestant community retaliated only after "prolonged and
intense provocation".

Despite the UUP MLA`s claims, the PSNI said it had not
received any correspondence from any elected officials in
advance of the riots.

A spokeswoman said: "We will be investigating the matter
and will be assessing the evidence gathered including CCTV
to identify offenders.

"We will continue to work with all sections of the
community to help resolve any differences.

"However police cannot resolve these issues alone.

"We would appeal for the support and backing of both
communities and their representatives in an effort to
prevent a recurrence of last night`s disturbances."

SDLP Deputy Leader Alasdair McDonnell condemned those
responsible for the trouble and appealed for calm on the
streets.

The South Belfast MLA said: "Once again mindless sectarian
violence has blackened the name of Belfast and damaged
fragile community relations across the city.

"It is incredibly fortunate that many people were not
seriously injured or worse during what was hours of
concentrated and hate filled rioting.

"It is clear that all those with political and community
influence on both sides need to redouble their efforts to
ensure that calm is restored and maintained."

At its height bottles, bricks and bolts were thrown and up
to five high velocity rounds were heard.

One person was taken to hospital with a head injury but no
gunshot wounds were reported.

Around 1.30am the Army were called to deal with a suspected
blast bomb in Clandeboye Gardens.

Experts made safe the device and removed it for
examination.

As they left the scene police vehicles were attacked with
bricks and one man was arrested for disorderly behaviour.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland spokeswoman said
around 200 members from each side were involved in the
rioting.

Calm was restored to the area around 2.30am with the help
of community representatives.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/3817087303HM4COLOMBIA.html

Handling Of Colombia Case Defended

Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent

The Minister for Justice has insisted he is fully
entitled to seek and receive reports from the Garda
Commissioner on the "Colombia Three" case, in the face of
sharp criticism from a Fianna Fáil backbencher and civil
libertarians.

Mr McDowell has received an interim report from the Garda
Síochána on the case of Niall Connolly, Martin McAuley and
James Monaghan, who went to Garda stations to be
interviewed.

He demanded the report as PD members publicly stated their
anger at the manner in which the men were allowed to
maximise the publicity surrounding their visits to Garda
stations.

Gardaí are now preparing a file for the DPP in relation to
the three men who fled Colombia after being sentenced to up
to 17 years for training Farc guerrillas.

Mr McDowell demanded a report from the Garda after the men
attended pre-arranged meetings with detectives without the
Government having any significant prior notice.

His spokesman yesterday robustly defended the Minister's
action, after Fianna Fáil backbencher Jim Glennon and the
Irish Council for Civil Liberties questioned the extent of
the Minister's involvement in the matter.

While disclosing that Mr McDowell has now received an
interim report from the Garda Síochána on "all issues
involved" in the case, the spokesman would not give details
of what these "issues" were. He said that contrary to
criticisms voiced by the ICCL, "it is not true to suggest
that briefings to the Minister on matters of national
importance by an Garda Síochána impinge in any way on the
constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers.

"It is the statutory duty of An Garda Síochána to keep the
Minister fully informed of such matters."

He denied a claim by Fianna Fáil TD Jim Glennon that he had
sought daily briefings from the Garda on the investigation.
He had merely sought one report. He would not say whether
Mr McDowell had sought a report on the progress of the
investigation, the manner in which the three men had gone
to speak to gardaí last week, or some broader policy issue.

Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties Aisling
Reidy yesterday acknowledged that the recent Garda Síochána
Act gave the Minister extensive powers to require that the
Garda commissioner keep him "fully informed" of significant
developments.

However, writing in the Sunday Business Post she said that
the Minister's apparent "anger and frustration" in his
reaction to developments in this case, coupled with his
"orders" to the commissioner to produce a report, "gives
rise to the perception that McDowell may be using his power
to interfere with an investigation under the guise of
holding gardaí to account".

© The Irish Times

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/850985758HM6MERRIMAN.html

Former Ambassador Spells Out What Is Expected Of
Provisionals

Arthur Quinlan, in Lisdoonvarna

Merriman Summer School: The former Irish ambassador to
Washington and chancellor of the University of Limerick,
Seán Donlon, officially opening the Merriman Summer School
in Lisdoonvarna at the weekend, sent out a "reminder" to
the Provisional IRA of what was expected of it.

"If the Provisionals are, as their statement of last month
says, committed to political and democratic programmes, it
is incumbent on them to accept the Constitution fully and
unconditionally," he said.

"They should disband the Provisional IRA. They should
recognise the right of the people of Northern Ireland to
choose its status and they should join with the main
political parties here in seeking to win the consent of the
majority in Northern Ireland to change its status.

"All of us accept that Provisional Sinn Féin have an
electoral mandate in this jurisdiction. But it is not an
unconditional mandate. It is a mandate derived from the
Constitution, and no political party or individual has any
right to be an a la carte constitutionalist".

In the opening lecture, Alan Titley, head of the Irish
Department at St Patrick's College, Dublin City University,
said that Merriman was what could be described as "just
bawdy, or Rabelaisian, or ribald, or racy, or roguish". He
added: "He is not smutty, sexy, not dirty nor sly, and
definitely not erotic, and not impure, indecent, immodest
or salacious."

Bawdiness was one of the traits of the "courts of poetry"
and bawdiness was "more prevalent in the literature of
Clare, Limerick and north Tipperary than in any other
area".

The greatest bawdy poet contemporary of Merriman was
Aindrias Mac Craith, who lived only a few miles away in
Limerick: "It is entirely possible that Cuirt an Mhean
Oíche (The Midnight Court) is one big elaborate and jokey
commentary on the courts of poetry themselves."

Merriman, Mr Titley said, was a £5 or £10 a year
schoolteacher in Feakle, Co Clare, at the end of the 18th
century as well as being a small farmer and a poet.

"This is not an occupation conducive to sow your wild oats
on every side. When he moved into Limerick it was probably
a more respectable city than described by Frank McCourt".

Merriman, he added, was widely read and was familiar with
French literature and, in particular, the writings of
Rousseau.

Last night's lecture was by Dr Una Nic Éinrí, lecturer in
Irish at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick.

Tonight, the lecture on "Merriman's Teaching Milieu and the
Irish Teaching Tradition" will be given by John Coolahan,
emeritus professor of education at NUI Maynooth.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.inac.org/irishpeople/story/2005-08-18/980

Sectarian Campaign Continues Unabated

Sadly, while the murder of Thomas Devlin in Belfast may
have been the most serious, it is not the only incident in
recent days in which the PSNI have failed to take decisive
action in relation to sectarian intimidation and attacks.

Last week the PSNI handed out smoke alarms and fire
blankets to 14 nationalist families in the tiny North
Antrim village of Ahoghill living under the threat of
incineration in their own homes at the hands of unionist
mobs.

A number of nationalist families have already fled
following a sustained sectarian campaign of intimidation in
the village. Residents were advised by the PSNI which
upstairs window to jump from in the event of a fire bomb.
One woman has already been forced to climb onto a roof to
escape.

Oonagh Donaghy and her son Mark were forced to flee their
burning home in Ahogill after they was targeted. Oonagh's
aunt, Kathleen McCaughey, who had lived in the village all
of her life, and her family were forced to flee from her
home last month after repeated attacks and threats.

Kathleen, who lived with her daughter and two grandsons
aged eleven and eight, left after Orange band members
occupied her garden, banged drums and played sectarian
tunes for hours. The PSNI were unable to make any arrests
because the bandsmen temporarily left the garden each time
they drove past. Local UDA paramilitaries had orchestrated
paint and petrol-bomb attacks on a handful of nationalist
homes, but the PSNI only offered a DIY solution to
terrified residents.

Earlier in the week two nationalist families in Cloughmills
were targeted by unionist pipe bombers. In the past month
two nationalist-owned bars were targeted in unionist
paramilitary attacks.

DUP leader Ian Paisley, the local MP, was unable to comment
on the plight of nationalist families living within his
constituency. Party colleague and local DUP Councillor
Martin Clarke claimed he was "too busy" to comment or
condemn recent sectarian attacks on the Catholic church in
Harryville.

There has been repeated attacks on Catholic churches in the
greater Ballymena area since the end of June. Churches
targeted include the Church of Our Lady in Harryville, All
Saints, Crebilly and Ahoghill. Another Catholic church was
targeted for sectarian attack in Lisburn. Sectarian
slogans, "Taigs Out" and "UDA" were daubed on St Patrick's
Church in the town centre.

Father Paul Symonds described the continuing attacks on the
church in Harryville as "very frustrating". The latest
incident followed restoration work on damage from a number
of previous attacks.

Members of several Protestant churches in County Antrim
took part in a clean-up operation in support of their
Catholic counterparts. A joint prayer service was held on
the steps of the Church of Our Lady before the work began.

Presbyterian Pastor Jeremy Gardiner said that people had
"stood back for too long and let this happen". In an
earlier gesture of solidarity members of High Kirk
Presbyterian congregation had handed out red roses to
Catholics attending Mass in Harryville.

Meanwhile, nationalist families living in a mixed housing
estate on the outskirts of West Belfast have been told they
will be burned out of their homes unless they leave the
area. The threats are believed to come from the UDA.

Local Sinn Féin Councillor Paul Butler believes unionist
paramilitaries from the nearby Seymour Hill area are trying
to drive Catholics out of the area before a new housing
development is completed. "When the first stage of
development was completed at Redwood last year the UDA
sprayed graffiti around the estate warning nationalists not
to buy houses in the estate. I have no doubt the UDA is
behind these threats."

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http://www.inac.org/irishpeople/story/2005-08-18/981

Bloody Sunday Rifles — New Revelations

By Fern Lane

Families want Tim Collins brought before Saville

The long-smouldering row about the guns used by the
Parachute Regiment to kill 14 people in Derry on Bloody
Sunday has re-ignited once again with new claims in the
Sunday Times about the fate of the weapons.

The latest revelations centre on the activities of
employees at a British Army storage facility at Donnington,
Shropshire; the disappearance of all but five of 29 Bloody
Sunday guns originally held in Building 54 of the facility;
and the claims by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) that the
other 24 were destroyed.

The disappearance of the guns and the destruction of two of
the five remaining rifles held at Donnington has been known
about for some time, but the latest article also recounts
the police inquiry, codenamed "Operation Apollo" which
followed.

The investigation uncovered an audit trail revealing that
some of the weapons, including some which the MoD told the
Saville Inquiry had been destroyed, were actually sold off,
travelling through Beirut, Belgium, Canada with at least
one ending up in the possession of the rebel group, the
West Side Boys, in Sierra Leone. Of a list of 60 possible
rifles which Apollo detectives wanted to trace, 14 have now
been recovered.

The article points the finger of responsibility at
employees at Donnington. It relates how officers from the
West Mercia Constabulary encountered "a degree of contempt
and resistance" during their investigations and how they
found one message which said that "on Tuesday, the Battle
of Hastings inquiry will want to find the longbow which put
Harold's eye out".

However, while the Apollo report commented that it was
"almost beyond belief" that the five remaining guns at
Donnington were not protected once they had been identified
and Saville had requested they be handed over, and that "No
member of staff has been able to provide a convincing
explanation" for the subsequent destruction of two of them,
officers decided that there had been no conspiracy to
conceal evidence from Saville. "What occurred was a
combination of mistakes, human errors and negligence," it
says.

John Kelly, whose brother Michael was killed on Bloody
Sunday, disagrees with this conclusion. Speaking to An
Phoblacht he said that it is now "beyond any doubt
whatsoever that there was a conspiracy by the MoD to cover
up".

"I certainly do not accept that it is just the
responsibility of one or two obstructive individuals at
Donnington as the article seems to suggest. They were told
to do a job – to hide or destroy the evidence – and they
did it. Don't forget, the article mentions that one of them
received a £100 bonus for the work he did in disposing of
evidence.

"I believe this goes all the way up the chain of command at
the MoD. I would be very surprised if Geoff Hoon [the then
British Government Secretary of Defence] knew nothing about
this, or did not have a hand in it somewhere".

Kelly also argues that it is no coincidence that the two
rifles destroyed after having been requested by the Inquiry
were those used by Soldiers F and G. "Soldier F murdered my
brother Michael," he said, "and Soldier G killed Gerard
Donaghy. Those rifles contained vital evidence in both of
those cases and they were deliberately destroyed by the
MoD. Now that evidence has been lost."

He is also deeply concerned about the possible loss of one
or more weapons which may have been modified in accordance
with recommendations made by the British Army commander
Major General Robert Ford shortly before Bloody Sunday. In
a secret memo, Ford had suggested that the army modify some
of its SLRs to fire .22 rounds, rather than the standard
7.62 ammunition, as the latter often caused additional
injury or death to others than the intended target. With
.22 rounds, Ford said, "known troublemakers" and rioters
could be killed without incurring collateral damage. It is
known that 30 of these modified rifles were sent to the Six
Counties.

Throughout the inquiry, the MoD and British Army denied
that this recommendation had been put into practice, but
there is strong forensic evidence that Kevin McElhinny was
killed with such a round. There is, fortuitously for the
MoD, no trace of the gun.

John Kelly said that it was clear that the MoD never had
any intention of co-operating with the Inquiry. "They have
stuck two fingers up at Saville, who I believe has tried to
do a decent job in recovering the rifles."

The issue of a Bloody Sunday gun recovered by the Parachute
Regiment in a gun battle with the West Side Boys in 2000
has also arisen before. Earlier this year former Irish
Guards Colonel, Tim Collins, who was involved in the
British Army operation in Sierra Leone, wrote in his book
of the captured gun: "It was only when they were back to
the UK that it was discovered from the serial numbers that
one of the rifles was actually an old 1 Para rifle. It was
used on Bloody Sunday in Londonderry in 1972 when 13
protestors had been shot — and it had been declared
destroyed when the Saville Inquiry into the shootings had
asked for it."

Kelly says the Bloody Sunday families want to see Collins
brought before the Saville Inquiry. "There are a lot of
questions to be asked of Collins," he says. "For example,
we want to know why, if he had this information, did he not
come forward with it and make a statement. If he knew all
along that the Paras had one of the guns, he should have
volunteered that information to the Inquiry. Also, where is
that rifle now? Why hasn't it been handed over to the
Inquiry? These questions have to be answered".

"Remember that a Derry man was jailed for not appearing
before the Inquiry, even though he had no information.
Collins must be made to give evidence."

And, says Kelly: "It begs the question about all of the
guns used on Bloody Sunday. Was the MoD telling the truth
about any of them? How many of them were actually sold off
abroad to be used in other killings? Are some of them still
hidden away?"

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http://www.inac.org/irishpeople/story/2005-08-18/988

Moving Ceremony Remembers O'Donovan Rossa

"I propose to you then that, here, by the grave of this
unrepentant Fenian, we renew our baptismal vows; that, here
by the grave of this unconquered and unconquerable man, we
ask of God, each one for himself, such unshakeable purpose,
such high and gallant courage, such unbreakable strength of
soul as belonged to O'Donovan Rossa."

The words were those of Pádarig Mac Piarais, but the voice
was that of Dublin actor Jack Moylett, standing in Irish
Volunteer uniform before a large crowd of people at the
graveside of O'Donovan Rossa on Saturday afternoon 13
August.

Organised by the Dublin Republican Commemoration Committee
as part of Sinn Féin's Ceád Bliain celebrations, the
gathering marked the 90th anniversary of the funeral of the
man who perhaps best represented the unbroken spirit of
Fenianism.

Despite the undoubted attractions of Dublin and Tyrone at
Croke Park several hundred people assembled at the Garden
of Remembrance for the march to Glasnevin Cemetery.

At the graveside, Dublin Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh
chaired the proceedings, which commenced with the laying of
a wreath and a minute's silence in memory of Rossa and all
those who have died in the cause of Irish freedom. Mary
Mullen was then introduced to sing O'Donovan Rossa's
Farewell to Dublin.

This was followed by a selection of readings from Rossa's
book, Irish Rebels in English Prisons by former POW Eamonn
Nolan and Stephanie Rosseau of Ógra Shinn Féin. Aisling Ó
Dalaigh read a passage from James Connolly's Why the
Citizen Army Honours Rossa, first published in a booklet to
commemorate the funeral. Renowned Irish traditional
musician Tony McMahon provided music throughout this
celebration of Rossa's life and struggle.

Perhaps the high-point of the day was the remarkable
performance of Jack Moylett in the role of Pádraig Mac
Piarais, declaiming without notes what is arguably most
famous oration of the 1916 leader. There can have been few
people in the audience who could have failed to be moved as
Moylet concluded... "The defenders of this realm have
worked well in secret and in the open. They think that they
have pacified half of us and intimidated the other half.

"They think that they have foreseen everything, think that
they have provided against everything; but the fools, the
fools, the fools! — they have left us our Fenian dead, and
while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall
never be at peace."

Fittingly, the ceremony's main address honouring Rossa was
given by another ex-prisoner and unrepentant Fenian. Sinn
Féin Ard Chomhairle member Martina Anderson spent 14 years
in English and Irish prisons, often in extremely oppressive
conditions. Referring to the conclusion of the famous
oration by Pádraig Mac Piarais she said: "The revolutionary
cannot be at peace with injustice and inequality — without
the sovereignty of the people. O'Donovan Rossa, and so many
who came before and after him, have set an example based on
selfless determination and persistent dedication to achieve
that end, no matter the cost.

"Their example is not for us to bask in the pride of their
amazing lives and sacrifices. But to get on with the job of
achieving the sovereignty of the people, no matter the
adversity, no matter the compromises and sell outs which
would challenge or tempt people of less dedication,
determination, or understanding.

"This is our opportunity. Seize the time — make it ours —
to achieve the sovereignty of the people — a 32-County
democratic socialist republic."

The commemoration concluded with a rendition of The Bold
Fenian Men by Mary Mullen and a tune by Tony McMahon.

Achieving the sovereignty of the people

Below is carried an edited version of the address by
Martina Anderson in Glasnevin

Most people who think of O'Donovan Rossa, think first of
Pearse's historic words over the graveside in 1915:
"...While Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall
never be at peace..." Maybe some of us think of the
unimaginable hardship O'Donovan Rossa endured in the worst
of English jails, with his hands chained behind his back,
eating his dinner off the floor. Maybe we also think of
Cork, where he came from and the role of Cork people in the
republican struggle down the years — but we think as well
of what inspired O'Donovan Rossa to survive the appalling
conditions he suffered in jail.

Why have Pearse's words, "Ireland unfree shall never be at
peace..." become prophetic? Above all it has been the
sacrifice, the courage, determination, selflessness, and
steadfast resilience, in the face of all adversity, untold
hardship, repression, persecution, even murder, that these
great men and women have shown — many of whose graves are
around us here.

We have basked in the glory of being a part of their
struggle — wedded to the pride in these men and women whom
we would wish to emulate, not just in terms of their
sacrifice but also in terms of their extraordinary exploits
of resistance which have inspired revolutionary movements
around the world.

But in basking in this reflected glory, proudly aspiring
and even confident in the belief that we might do the same,
did we confuse the means with the end? Have we confused
their determination, their dedication, with what it was
that inspired these republicans, not just the heroes of
1916, the soldiers who fought their way through the Tan War
and the Civil War, but those in our generation who gave
their lives. Did we confuse the suffering, the willingness
to give our all, with the objectives for which people
struggled down the ages?

Is their sacrifice enough to lead us in our struggle today?
When you look at the state of the world today that any
liberation struggle must face, is our just pride in being a
part of the struggle which such men and women have led,
enough to ensure that in this 21st Century, we will achieve
our objective of a 32-County democratic socialist republic?

Whatever it was that enabled O' Donovan Rossa to face the
cruelty of his enemy with such fortitude, or the torture in
the H-Blocks, it was not just the glory of the blood
sacrifice. We would be fooling ourselves if we believed it
so.

It isn't the making of war which determines the
revolutionary character of a struggle. In whatever
circumstances — war is a terrible thing, forced upon a
subject race or class, as Connolly said, by tyranny which
knows no other methods but the suppression of opposition by
military means. No one would look to make war if it could
be avoided.

What differentiates a revolutionary movement is not the
desire to engage in armed struggle. It is the very
opposite. A revolutionary is fighting for the right of
people to live their lives free of oppression. A
revolutionary is characterised by a determination to drive
forward, at all costs, the demand of the people for
justice, equality, to establish the human rights of all the
people. It is an act not just of self-sacrifice, but of
utter determined, resilient, relentless, unselfishness.
What is the inspiration which enables people to live such
lives as O'Donovan Rossa?

The Democratic Programme of the First Dáil proclaimed that
the Nation's sovereignty extends:

• Not only to all men and women of the Nation, but to
all its material possessions,

• The Nation's soil and all its resources,

• All the wealth and all the wealth-producing processes
within the Nation,

• That all right to private property must be
subordinated to the public right and welfare.

Does the nation's sovereignty extend to all the men and
women of the Nation? What sovereignty have the people of
the Six Counties when Britain still claims jurisdiction
over our affairs? Do all the men and women of the 26
Counties have sovereignty over all its material
possessions, and resources? If so, then why are five men
from Rossport in jail today for struggling to claim the
rights of all of the Irish people to our national
resources? Resources which have been given away by
backslapping, self-serving Irish Ministers to a consortium
led by a British-based multinational.

Is the right to private property, or profit, subordinate to
the public right and welfare, when the Dublin Government
facilitates a multiplication of private hospitals — to
provide health treatment for those who may afford it,
whilst those reliant on public service wait — or go
without.

Article 45 of the 1937 Constitution states that "the
ownership and control of the material resources of the
community may be so distributed amongst private individuals
and the various classes as best to subserve the common
good, and that, the operation of free competition shall not
be allowed so to develop as to result in the concentration
of the ownership or control of essential commodities in a
few individuals to the common detriment." Yet today has
not that principle of social policy been stood on its head
by the so-called Soldiers of Destiny?

These are the two facets of our struggle, national
sovereignty and social sovereignty — the sovereignty of the
people — they are two sides of the same coin and they
cannot be severed.

What does that mean? It means that the struggle for one is
the same as the struggle for the other. Connolly said the
national struggle is not about painting the letter boxes
green, or all-Ireland government departments having the
harp at the top of the page instead of the crown. If the
material possessions, the nation's soil and all its
resources and all the wealth and the wealth producing
processes remain in the hands of those who have abrogated
the sovereignty of the people for their own selfish
interests — to preserve their privilege and power — then
what sovereignty has been won?

The Good Friday Agreement didn't give us sovereignty. But,
did anyone believe that the British were going to hand us a
sovereign nation, to empower the people of this land to
take what is theirs? Of course not.

That is our task — to bring the nationalism and socialism
of our struggle together around the vision of the
Proclamation. It is the selflessness and determination of
such people as O'Donovan Rossa that has perhaps inspired
us, and the words of the Proclamation which have told us
the way, the sea in which we must swim, the sea of the
people who would be sovereign.

This is the struggle of those who went before us, who we
would seek to emulate. That is what I believe we should
understand from Pearse's words — Ireland unfree will never
be at peace.

The revolutionary cannot be at peace with injustice and
inequality — without the sovereignty of the people.
O'Donovan Rossa and so many who came before and after him,
have set an example based on selfless determination and
persistent dedication to achieve that end, no matter the
cost.

Their example is not for us to bask in the pride of their
amazing lives and sacrifices. But to get on with the job of
achieving the sovereignty of the people, no matter the
adversity, no matter the compromises and sell outs which
would challenge or tempt people of less dedication,
determination, or understanding.

This is our opportunity. Seize the time — make it ours —
to achieve the sovereignty of the people — a 32-County
democratic socialist republic.

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/2987355666HM6MOORESTREET.html

Council Seeks Advice Over 1916 House

James Fitzgerald

Dublin City Council is calling in an architect and urban
historian with a view to protecting 16 Moore Street, the
last headquarters of the leaders of the Easter Rising in
1916.

Representatives of a group set up to ensure the
preservation of the building talked about the property with
deputy city manager Eoin Keegan on Friday in a meeting they
described as "very helpful".

"The council has engaged a firm of architects and designers
to do a survey of the property and to make recommendations
to the council about the possible foundation of a museum
there," according to conservationist Damian Cassidy.

"The building is of enormous historic significance as it
was the last refuge of the 1916 leaders and is where the
surrender document was drawn up. It is in a terrible state
and in danger of further decline and vandalism," said Mr
Cassidy.

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council said that architect
Grainne Shaffrey of Shaffrey Associates and urban historian
John Montague had been commissioned to conduct a survey of
the building. However, there is an issue over access to the
property and its ownership is the subject of an ongoing
dispute.

"There is an issue for us of how much of this building is
actually original. A lot of that area in Dublin was pretty
much demolished after 1916," said the council spokeswoman.

"We have to find out where exactly number 16 Moore Street
actually was, for a start," she said, adding that bringing
in Ms Shaffrey and Mr Montague was the first step towards
possibly getting the building listed and thus protected.
"We need to evaluate it to see if it's warranted."

Last week a campaign was launched by a group wanting to
save the building, which has fallen into disrepair. The
campaign has the support of An Taisce, as well as several
politicians, relatives of those who fought in the Rising
and conservationists.

The gathering was told of the significance of the building,
as well as its dilapidated state. Although it is scheduled
to be preserved in the city draft development plan, much of
the roof has been lost over the last two years.

© The Irish Times

******************************************

http://www.inac.org/irishpeople/story/2005-08-18/989

Remembering The Past - 44 Parnell Square

By Shane Mac Thomais

Dublin's Parnell Square is one of the country's most
historic squares. It was here, in the Round Room of the
Rotunda, site of the present Ambassador Theatre that
Volunteers met in armed convention in 1783.

At the beginning of the 20th Century both Sinn Féin in 1905
and the Irish Volunteers in 1913 were founded in the same
room.

On one side of the square Tom Clarke, first signatory of
the Proclamation, had his tobacco shop while on the other
side Pádraig Mac Piarais, First President of the Irish
Republic presented his sword to Britain's General Lowe,
with the surrender of the Easter Rising.

The Square contains many notable houses. Number 29 was
Vaughan's Hotel from where Michael Collins directed the '12
disciples' who eliminated 14 British intelligence officers
during the Tan War. Number 31 was the headquarters of the
Ancient Order of Hibernians, whose 'Hibernian Rifles'
fought in 1916 armed with blunderbusses and dressed in
bright green uniforms with large pheasant feathers
protruding from their hats. Number 25 was the headquarters
of Conradh na Gaeilge and the place where the Military
Council of the Irish Republican Brotherhood planned the
Rising.

Number 44 Parnell Square was the headquarters of the Irish
Volunteers after their foundation. The room on the ground
floor, currently occupied by the Sinn Féin Bookshop and
other rooms, was where they held their executive meetings
and it was in this room in 1914 that Pádraig Mac Piarais,
frustrated with the Redmondite line-up within the
organisation, decided to resign from the Volunteers. After
walking from 44 to his residence at the Hermitage in
Rathfarnham, he wrote a letter to JJ McGarrity in America
informing him of his intention to resign, but later decided
not to do so.

Following the split in the Volunteers, the National
Volunteers under Redmond retained the house. In 1915 civil
war nearly broke out on its doorstep when both sets of
Volunteers and the Citizen Army had decided to march to
Parnell's grave in Glasnevin to honour his memory. After
visiting the graveyard, Larkin led the Citizen Army
contingent back to

Parnell Square where the Irish Volunteers had organised a
public meeting outside 44. While this meeting was taking
place a large detachment of the National Volunteers, on
their way back from Glasnevin, tried to force their way to
their headquarters. Outnumbered by over four to one, a line
of Citizen Army and Irish Volunteers confronted the
Redmondites. A clash seemed inevitable. The Citizen Army
were all armed but had no ammunition. Captain Monteith of
the Irish Volunteers gave each of the Citizen Army men a
round of ammunition in full view of the Redmonites.

Monteith and another officer of the Irish Volunteers then
went and negotiated with two officers of the National
Volunteers. For a very tense period of time there was a
stand-off situation but eventually the National Volunteers
were persuaded to take an alternative route. Having
prevented bloodshed Captain Monteith attempted to retrieve
his 'loaned' ammunition, but found that none of the Citizen
Army men could remember receiving any! On Easter Monday
morning 1916 the order was given that the house be raided.
Every stick of furniture and file was brought down to the
GPO where Mac Piarais had it burned.

In 1925 the house came into the hands of the Republican
Movement when it was purchased. Margaret Casey (nee
O'Brien) and Rose O'Brien recall that their family were
installed as caretakers at that time. Their father had
fought in the Customs House and his wife had been shot dead
by the Black and Tans in Bolton Street in 1921.

Renamed the Kevin Barry Memorial Hall, 44 Parnell Square
became the nucleus for revolutionaries from the 1920s to
the present day. Many groups operated from its rooms
including Saor Eire, formed by Peadar O'Donnell and Dave
Fitzgerald, prisoners groups led by Maude Gonne and Mary
MacSwiney, the National Graves Association led by veterans
such as Seán Fitzpatrick and IRA fronts such as the Anti-
Imperialist League and the Boycott Bass Campaign. The back
yard was used by the IRA in the 1930s as a rifle range and
Kit Conway, who died fighting fascism in Spain, taught
Frank Ryan pistol practice in the basement.

Once, in 1934 the Special Branch in Number Five, Parnell
Square, headquarters of O'Duffy's Army Comrades Association
or Blueshirts, reported: "With the use of field glasses, we
kept Number 44 under observation. The meeting that was held
there was for the purpose of giving instruction in the use
and construction of a landmine which was to be exploded on
the following day. That might be assumed to be in the
County Dublin, but the only explosion which took place in
this country on the following day was in Dundalk."

In 1931 Sinn Féin made its headquarters in 16 Parnell
Square, sharing the building with a number of businesses
including Robinsons Tea Rooms and a number of tenants. In
1935 a fire broke out and Mrs Higgins and her daughter
Anne, both members of the party, died. Due to the fire the
annual Ard Fheis was held in 44 with only 40 delegates
representing the party.

In the late 1930s Seán Russell was a constant visitor to
'44', the shorthand title becoming well known to
republicans all over Ireland. Harry White, who worked with
the National Graves Association from 44 in the late '40s,
was known to throw bottles from the windows at unsuspecting
Branchmen below. During the '50s and '60s, 44 was a hive of
activity for those involved in the '50s campaign and for
the housing committees and prisoners support groups which
sprung up.

Following the split Sinn Féin Ard Fheis of 1970, what was
known as the Caretaker Executive of Sinn Féin convened in
Kevin Barry Hall, 44 Parnell Square. On the 17 August 1972,
An Phoblacht moved from Kevin Street to 44 Parnell Square.
The building is currently home to Sinn Féin's National
Head Office.

Over the last 80 years the walls of 44 Parnell Square
have echoed to the voices of poets, teachers, writers,
soldiers, trade unionists, activists and various oddballs
singing the song of Irish independence.

******************************************

http://www.inac.org/irishpeople/story/2005-08-18/987

Opin: Unionist Silence Will Not Do

Unionist silence will not do

Recent weeks have seen an intensification of a vicious,
sectarian campaign aimed at the nationalist community in
various parts of the Six Counties.

This campaign, waged by unionist paramilitaries operating
under various titles, has targeted children, women and men
for intimidation, assault and attempted murder.

In Antrim and elsewhere it has witnessed the systematic
burning out of nationalist families from predominantly
unionist areas. In the past week alone the small
nationalist population in Aghohill has once again been
subjected to unionist paramilitary attack. The sustained
campaign against nationalists in Aghohill is motivated by a
desire to 'ethnically cleanse' Catholics and nationalists
from the village.

The silence of unionist politicians on this issue has been
deafening.

There is a backdrop in North Antrim generally and in the
Ballymena area in particular of unremitting DUP hostility
to the nationalist community.

The MP for the area Ian Paisley has been silent as
nationalist homes and businesses as well as Catholic
churches and schools are systematically destroyed in his
constituency. Where else in Europe would such a situation
and such silence pertain without a public outcry?

In Belfast the UVF continues, with impunity, to mow down
its rivals in the LVF. There have been four murders in the
latest round of feuding so far. The myth that unionist
paramilitary violence is purely a reaction to the IRA
stands exposed as never before.

Meanwhile PSNI officers do not even try to disguise their
indifference towards the nationalist victims of unionist
paramilitaries. In one incident this week they did not even
bother to collect vital evidence at the scene of a
potentially lethal pipe bomb attack.

Against the backdrop of recent developments such as the IRA
announcement of an end to its armed campaign and with the
need to maintain forward momentum in the Peace Process,
there is now an urgent need for a focus on the dependent
relationship between political and paramilitary unionism.
How long are the leaders of unionism to be allowed shirk
their responsibility towards exorcising the paramilitary
spectre in their midst?

Furthermore how can nationalists be asked to have faith in
a police force who have demonstrated impotence and
indifference to ongoing loyalist violence?

Enda Kenny's rant

Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny opened the Parnell Summer
School last Sunday and used the occasion to utter yet
another tirade against Sinn Féin. Kenny is quite entitled
to criticise Sinn Féin as strongly as he wishes. That's
democracy. But Kenny's blatantly false allegations must be
refuted in the strongest terms. To suggest as he did that
Sinn Féin has in any way, shape or form benefited from
drug-dealing in Ireland, in Colombia or anywhere else is
totally false and Enda Kenny should withdraw the
allegation. It demeans him, his party and Irish democracy.
It is an insult to the decent people who are members,
supporters and voters of Sinn Féin throughout this country.

Enda Kenny clearly feels it is politically advantageous to
make such allegations and to join with the O'Reilly media
in their chorus of hate against Irish republicans. No doubt
he has calculated that this may win over some Progressive
Democrat voters to Fine Gael in the next general election.
But democratic debate and the Irish Peace Process are ill-
served by Kenny's approach. In his remarks he had little to
say about Parnell, that campaigner for Irish independence.
He had even less to say about Fine Gael's vision for Irish
unity and independence – if there is such a thing. We hope
he uses the next opportunity — perhaps the Griffith/Collins
commemoration next Sunday – to tell us about it and to say
something positive about peace and unity.

******************************************

http://www.sundaylife.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=657950

Oh bugger!

How Mo's Slip-Up Blew MI5 Wiretap On Provo Leaders

By Alan Murray
21 August 2005

MO Mowlam was blamed for sabotaging one of the most
successful bugging operations ever mounted by the security
services against the IRA leadership.

Intelligence chiefs suspected Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly
twigged key IRA meetings were being bugged after Mo let
slip an exact phrase used at one of the Provo meetings. MI5
spooks feared the then Secretary of State had been trying
to be "too clever" by showing-off to republicans her
knowledge of IRA strategy.

The IRA uncovered a sophisticated under-floor listening
device in a house in west Belfast, in 1998, just days after
senior republicans met with Mo at Stormont.

Army intelligence chiefs were furious that the bugging
device had been found, and analysts spent weeks trying to
pinpoint how the IRA had been alerted to its presence.

But, weeks after the discovery was first revealed in Sunday
Life in April 1998, senior MI5 and RUC Special Branch
officials suspected that Dr Mowlam had inadvertently
alerted the Provos to the bug.

They concluded that it was probable that she had directly
used a quote from an intelligence briefing sent to
Stormont, which was then recognised by north Belfast
republican Kelly.

"It could never be ascertained how they tumbled to the
presence of the bug, which had been operating successfully
for months in a house in west Belfast being used to hold
meetings to discuss IRA business," said a source.

"When the intelligence brief sent to Mo was reviewed, it
was concluded that she might have incautiously used a
direct quote from it, which triggered Kelly's suspicions.

"They said nothing, but when they left the meeting with
her, they began to probe how she would have heard or
learned the phrase or their strategy outline, which she was
clearly aware of.

"As a result, from then on, the weekly and any special
intelligence briefings sent to Stormont were sanitised.

"Generalities were presented, but phraseology was expunged
and specifics were fudged."

At the time, East Belfast MP Peter Robinson alluded to
Mowlam being responsible, when he claimed in Sunday Life
that a "senior NIO official had deliberately sabotaged the
bugging".

But intelligence analysts discounted the allegation. They
concluded that it was more a case of Mowlam attempting to
be "too clever" and showing off to republicans the extent
of her knowledge of IRA strategy.

When the story broke in Sunday Life it caused panic at
Stormont and within the top echelons of Sinn Fein, because
it came just two weeks after the Good Friday Agreement had
been signed.

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/3642078978HM4BEAL.html

Donegal Garda Scandal Would Disgust Collins, Says MEP

Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent

Michael Collins would be disgusted at how the reputation
of the Garda Síochána has been "sullied by the criminal
behaviour of certain gardaí in Donegal", the Fine Gael MEP
Jim Higgins claimed yesterday.

Giving the oration at the annual Michael Collins
commemoration at Béal na mBláth, Mr Higgins said he would
be proud that his grandniece Nora Owen had been minister
for justice, and that the Garda remained one of the few
unarmed police forces in the world.


But in relation to the Donegal scandal, he said: "Under
Collins, the perpetrators certainly would not have been
allowed to retire with gratuities and full pension rights
or be transferred on active duty with full pay. He would
have booted them unceremoniously from the force."

He also maintained Collins would frown at the fact that
"the natural gas find off the Mayo coast, is being given
away . . . to a foreign company for literally nothing - no
royalties, a derisory tax rate and massive write-offs".
Collins "would turn in his Glasnevin grave that some of the
inheritors of his unselfish legacy as Yeats called it
'fumbled in the greasy till' and took hundreds of thousands
in bribes for political favours".

He said Collins would be proud the Ireland he liberated and
founded is now "a full and equal partner in the most
successful political experiment in history and which sees
de Gaulle's dream of a united Europe from the Atlantic to
the Urals on the brink of realisation".

© The Irish Times

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/3103313851HM4HAUGHEY.html

'Free-Thinking' Fishermen Pay Tribute To Haughey

Michael O'Regan in Dingle

Charles Haughey, confined to his Kinsealy mansion by
illness, sent a message to the people of Dingle yesterday,
as a commemorative stone in his honour was unveiled.

He said he sincerely appreciated the decision of Dingle
fishermen to erect it in recognition of his efforts to help
promote their valuable and important industry.

"I also appreciate the support and goodwill of the people
of Dingle, not just on this occasion but also for the
gracious manner in which they have received and welcomed
our family into their midst over such a long period of
years," he added.

The message was read by the former taoiseach's son, Fianna
Fáil TD Seán Haughey, who attended the event with his
sister Éimear, brothers Ciarán and Conor, uncle Fr Eoin
Haughey, cousins and friends.

Maureen Haughey remained in Kinsealy with her husband.

Former Fianna Fáil senator Tom Fitzgerald, from Dingle, a
friend for more than four decades, and Nichola Kyle, who
sculpted the oval-shaped bronze image of Mr Haughey,
visited Kinsealy recently to show him a replica of the
work. A photograph of the visit shows a visibly frail Mr
Haughey. "It was clear he would have loved to have been
here for the event," said Mr Fitzgerald yesterday. "There
was a tear in his eye."

Éimear Mulhern told The Irish Times that her father's
health was "not great", adding, however, that he was "up
and about".

The Haugheys were visibly emotional as several tributes
were paid to him for his work in providing a new marina in
Dingle and his friendship over decades with locals.

Dingle bay was shrouded in rain and mist as some 500 people
attended the unveiling.

Chief executive of the Irish Fish Producers' Organisation
Lorcan Ó Cinnéide said Mr Haughey's frequent presence in
Dingle had provided a unique perspective on him . . . "the
Charlie who always made the time in a hectic life to visit,
to phone, to sympathise and give a quiet word of
encouragement . . ."

He added: "And for these reasons, among others, this is a
man for whom our affection has not been dimmed by his very
public tribulations in recent years. This is our day for a
man whose vision, intelligence, resilience, determination
and courage in a long and distinguished public life is of
immense and enduring benefit to this nation, benefits it
would be superfluous to enumerate here."

Mr Ó Cinnéide said that as "a free and independent-thinking
people" they publicly honoured a taoiseach in the truest
sense of that title. Dingle fishermen raised an estimated
€10,000 for the limestone block with a bronze inset of Mr
Haughey's image. Some locals had strongly opposed the
project, and one man briefly heckled proceedings yesterday.

GAA personality and publican Paidí Ó Sé, a close friend of
the Haughey family, remarked that there would always be
people to criticise such a venture.

© The Irish Times

******************************************

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/08/21/travel/trbelfast.php

A New Day For Belfast, City Of Fewer Troubles

By Stuart Emmrich The New York Times

Monday, August 22, 2005

BELFAST Belfast in the late 1980s was not what you would
call an inviting spot. When I arrived there by train on a
hot summer afternoon in 1989, I wandered Central Station
for almost half an hour, hunting for a place to store my
overstuffed backpack until I could find a hotel. Finally, I
approached a police officer and asked where I could find
the lockers.

"Mate," he said, looking at me as though I were an idiot.
"This is Belfast. There are no lockers anywhere in this
town."

Indeed, on the streets were signs of a city still reeling
from years of stealth attacks by the Irish Republican Army,
a place in which an unoccupied locker could too easily be
the resting place for yet another explosive. Clusters of
armed policemen patrolled the city center, machine guns at
the ready. A long line of cars stretched out from an
underground parking garage, as security personnel
methodically searched each car trunk for possible weapons.
At one point I even saw an armored tank pass by.

Back then, the main tourism activity was to hire a cab to
take you on a quick tour of the war zones that were the
Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods - and you typically
had to get separate cabs to take you to each place, as no
one driver would venture into both. In addition, you could
experience the slightly uncomfortable thrill of staying in
the Europa Hotel, often cited as "the most bombed hotel in
Europe."

I spent one night and caught the morning train to Dublin.

Sixteen years later, Belfast is almost unrecognizable. The
city center is now a thriving social hub - with young,
well-dressed couples whiling away their weekend afternoons
at a series of fashionable cafés. A clutch of boutique
hotels and first-class restaurants has opened in recent
years, and there have been sightings of visiting
celebrities like Bono, Colin Farrell and Brad Pitt
regularly reported by The Belfast Telegraph. Parts of the
formerly neglected center of town are now vast construction
sites, as developers have moved in to convert decaying mid-
19th-century buildings into luxury condos and retail
spaces. Striking new public buildings dot the waterfront,
itself the recipient of a handsome promenade that rings the
city's perimeter.

Most surprising, during a three-day visit in late June, I
saw almost no policemen on the streets, I experienced no
searches by armed guards as I entered public buildings and
I witnessed none of the fear and paranoia that seemed so
common in 1989. And all this was still weeks before the
announcement by the IRA that it was renouncing all use of
violence, the most significant step in the peace process
since the 1994 cease-fire - giving even more hope to the
locals that the violence of the city's past might one day
be a distant memory. (One thing hadn't changed, however:
There were still no lockers at the train station.)

I had come to Belfast this summer because I had read about
the city's renaissance and its somewhat unlikely emergence
as a "cool" tourist destination. Friends in Britain had
mentioned that it had just started to become a popular
weekend break for Londoners, and it had garnered some
positive coverage in the European papers. Could it be true?
Had the Belfast of my memories really become "the new
Dublin," as it was often referred to in the press?

Early signs were promising. On a busy Saturday afternoon,
the lobby bar of the Malmaison Hotel, the latest British
outpost of this trendy boutique hotel chain, was filled
with a buzzing crowd in their 20s and 30s, sipping glasses
of white wine while a huge television set hanging from the
ceiling played a nonstop loop of runway shows from the
Fashion Channel. Across town, at yet another fashionably
hip hotel, Ten Square, a dozen or so outdoor tables were
filled with young patrons enjoying a leisurely brunch.

On the inviting green lawn that surrounds the city's
architectural centerpiece - the imposing City Hall, built
in the late 1890s in the Classical Renaissance style -
practically every patch of green and all of the surrounding
benches were filled with people grabbing a quick picnic
lunch or a restorative nap or just hanging out and
gossiping with friends. Off to the side, a group of teenage
goths clustered in a sea of black.

As I sat in one of the crowded cafés that surround Donegall
Square sipping a cappuccino, or walked through the lush
grounds of the Botanic Gardens, it was difficult to
remember just how shocking it had been to read about the
violence of Belfast in the 1970s and '80s, when the notion
of neighbors wantonly killing one another in the name of
faith still seemed all but incomprehensible, and the term
"suicide bomber" was not yet a part of the vernacular.

The most visible sign of Belfast's ambitions can be found
in the city's Cathedral Quarter, an area slightly northeast
of the city center that the locals commonly refer to as
"our Temple Bar" - a reference to the once-crime-ridden,
run-down neighborhood in Dublin that in the last decade has
been transformed by the addition of trendy bars and
restaurants into a vibrant gathering spot for both locals
and tourists.

Hints of an urban revival abound in this neighborhood
(anchored by its namesake, St. Anne's Cathedral), with
renovated storefronts pasted with "for rent" signs and
scaffolding surrounding the hollowed remains of decaying
but gorgeous Victorian buildings - with billboards
announcing them as the future homes of luxury apartments.
An annual arts festival is now held here, and among the
early tenants are local artists and a few small gallery
spaces. But to be honest, the area has a way to go before
it will come close to rivaling Temple Bar.

There are only a few places to eat and drink in the
neighborhood. The ones that are open seem to do only
middling business in the evening.

Take the John Hewitt Bar, on Donegall Street, a comfortably
well-worn establishment singled out by almost every
guidebook as one of the most picturesque watering holes in
the city. On the Sunday evening I went there, a local
singer-guitarist - promoted all weekend with large placards
in the windows of the pub - played to an audience of 11
people, including the two bartenders. (Give the bar credit,
though: Its featured beer that week, Taybeh, was advertised
as having come from Palestine and was being touted as the
"beer for peace.")

What night life there is in the Cathedral District these
days seems to be largely targeted toward gay Belfasters,
with Kremlin and Mynt drawing large crowds of gays and
lesbians on the weekend, and Milk jammed with patrons well
into the early morning hours for its Monday night gay-
themed event, "Forbidden Fruit."

Night life in general doesn't seem to be Belfast's strong
suit. In fact, the city turns into a bit of a ghost town at
night. The central shops close by around 6. Most of the
pubs empty soon after. Few customers show up at the cafés,
and most of the restaurants are either closed or doing
little business. What action there is seems to shift mostly
to Botanic and Lisburn roads, in the somewhat more lively
residential neighborhoods about a half-hour walk away.

An eerie stillness descends on the city center that's
unlike any other I've experienced in Europe. (It feels
almost like Atlanta or Detroit, cities where much of the
downtown action abruptly ends when the workday is over and
the office workers flee to the suburbs.) Even on Saturday
nights, when the downtown bars are packed with patrons,
there is little of the street action you would expect in a
metropolitan capital.

One night, around 9:30, the midsummer sky still bright with
light, I walked through downtown Belfast from a restaurant
to my hotel, a journey of about 15 minutes. The entire time
I saw only two other people and just a few passing cars.
When I got to my hotel, I asked the woman at the front desk
why the city was empty. "Oh, no one lives in the city
center," she said. "Everyone has gone home for the day."

If the night life disappointed, though, the restaurant
scene did the opposite. In fact, the real renaissance in
Belfast is a culinary one. Led largely by Paul Rankin -
owner of two top-tier restaurants as well as a couple of
casual cafés, and a host of a popular cooking show in
Britain, "Ready Steady Cook" - Belfast's restaurant scene
is among the best in the United Kingdom.

Rankin's latest venture, Cayenne, is on Shaftesbury Square,
along the so-called Golden Mile. This area used to be the
social center of Belfast, but a series of IRA bombings in
the 1970s and 1980s - with restaurants reopening and then
shutting down again after another attack - eventually
forced most businesses to shutter for good. It is only in
the past couple of years that this stretch of Great
Victoria Street is once again drawing visitors.

On a Saturday night in late June, Cayenne was jammed.
Though a friend had called two weeks in advance to reserve
for the two of us, we couldn't get a table until 9:45.
Arriving a few minutes early, we were seated in the bar
area and reclined on a comfortable couch while we ordered
drinks and read over the menu. It looked promising, an
intriguingly fusion take on some regional specialties, like
a "chargrilled Lough Neagh eel with Japanese pickled
vegetables."

Soon we were in an inviting, softly illuminated room -
tables of seemingly happy patrons buzzing around us -
dipping into a superb risotto with locally caught lobster,
prawns, cockles and squid and sampling a bracing, clear
tomato soup with orzo and spring vegetables.

About three hours later, and after a lengthy chat with the
maître d'hôtel about the vibrant dining scene in Belfast,
we ambled along the mostly empty streets back to my hotel,
the silence broken only by a lone bus going by, a handful
of people sitting inside.

Not for the last time, I wondered where everyone was.

On my last day in Belfast, I was walking down High Street
when I spotted a group of map-clutching tourists boarding
an open-top sightseeing bus. Might as well hop on, I
thought. If nothing else, it would be a good way to kill an
hour.

We meandered through the city, admiring its architecture,
learning more from the tour guide about Belfast's history
as a shipbuilding center (the Titanic was built here, in a
building that is being turned into a museum). We heard
about all the new developments being planned for land that
now is overrun by weeds, and how most of the new buildings
in town, particularly the Laganside Courts building, were
incorporating huge swaths of glass into their design, "as a
gesture of faith in the peace process."

Then we turned onto Shankill Road.

There before us was the Belfast of old - the rundown
buildings; the grim faces of the passersby; the Union Jacks
flying from almost every window, reminding those who might
wish for a unified Ireland that this was still a land
fiercely loyal to the British government. Most striking
were the famous murals that decorated nearly every vacant
wall - huge, crudely drawn paintings that vilified the
Catholic citizens of this divided city and celebrated the
Protestants who had died in battle with their crosstown
adversaries.

As we rumbled through the neighborhood, the mood turned
somber, and idle conversation ceased. Even two teenage boys
from New York who had been chattering nonstop fell silent,
except for a mumbled "This is intense" from one. At one
point the guide casually pointed out a 70-foot-high, or 21-
meter-high, fence that she said ran the length of the
Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods and kept each side
from crossing into the other's territory. Called the Peace
Wall - a name that perhaps only George Orwell could fully
appreciate - it was open for just a few hours each day from
Monday through Friday, when traffic could be carefully
monitored. Seeing it now, on a Sunday morning, shut tight
and heavily barricaded, it stood as stark a symbol as the
Berlin Wall once did.

It was a chilling moment, one whose force caught me by
surprise.

For it is one thing to have read all about "the Troubles"
and yet another to actually witness firsthand the legacy of
this conflict. As the bus turned back toward town and the
spruced-up city center came back into view, my attitude
toward Belfast began to change. Yes, the "new" Belfast -
the Belfast of outsized ambitions and perhaps unrealistic
expectations - clearly had far to go. But it had already
come an awfully long way.

******************************************

http://travel2.nytimes.com/2005/08/21/travel/21belfast.html?n=Top%2FFeatures%2FTravel%2FDestinations%2FEurope%2FUnited+Kingdom&pagewanted=print

August 21, 2005

Trav: Belfast Is Ready For The Party To Begin

By Stuart Emmrich

BELFAST in the late 1980's was not what you would call an
inviting spot. When I arrived there by train on a hot
summer afternoon in 1989, I wandered Central Station for
almost half an hour, hunting for a place to store my
overstuffed backpack until I could find a hotel for the
night. Finally, I approached a police officer and asked
where I could find the lockers.

"Mate," he said, looking at me as though I were an idiot.
"This is Belfast. There are no lockers anywhere in this
town."

Indeed, on the streets were signs of a city still reeling
from years of stealth attacks by the Irish Republican Army,
a place in which an unoccupied locker could all too easily
be the resting place for yet another explosive. Clusters of
armed policemen patrolled the city center, machine guns at
the ready. A long line of cars stretched out from an
underground parking garage, as security personnel
methodically searched each car trunk for possible weapons.
At one point I even saw an armored tank pass by. Back then,
the main tourism activity was to hire a cab to take you on
a quick tour of the war zones that were the Catholic and
Protestant neighborhoods - and you typically had to get
separate cabs to take you to each place, as no one driver
would venture into both. In addition, you could experience
the slightly uncomfortable thrill of staying in the Europa
Hotel, often cited as "the most bombed hotel in Europe."

I spent one night and caught the morning train to Dublin.

Sixteen years later, Belfast is almost unrecognizable. The
city center is now a thriving social hub - with young,
well-dressed couples whiling away their weekend afternoons
at a series of fashionable cafes. A clutch of boutique
hotels and first-class restaurants has opened up in recent
years, and there have been sightings of visiting
celebrities like Bono, Colin Farrell and Brad Pitt
regularly reported by The Belfast Telegraph. Parts of the
formerly neglected downtown are now vast construction
sites, as developers have moved in to convert decaying mid-
19th-century buildings into luxury condos and retail
spaces. Striking new public buildings dot the waterfront,
itself the recipient of a handsome promenade that rings the
city's perimeter.

Most surprising, during a three-day visit in late June, I
saw almost no policemen on the streets, I experienced no
searches by armed guards as I entered public buildings, and
witnessed none of the fear and paranoia that seemed so
common in 1989. And all this was still weeks before the
announcement by the I.R.A. that it was renouncing all use
of violence, the most significant step in the peace process
since the 1994 cease-fire - giving even more hope to the
locals that the violence of the city's past might one day
be a distant memory. (One thing hadn't changed, however:
there were still no lockers at the train station.)

I had come to Belfast this summer because I had read about
the city's renaissance and its somewhat unlikely emergence
as a "cool" tourist destination. Friends in England had
mentioned that it had just started to become a popular
weekend break for Londoners, and it had garnered some
positive coverage in the European papers. Could it be true?
Had the Belfast of my memories really become "the new
Dublin," as it was often referred to in the press?

Early signs were promising. On a busy Saturday afternoon,
the lobby bar of the Malmaison Hotel, the latest British
outpost of this trendy boutique hotel chain, was filled
with a buzzing crowd of 20- and 30-somethings sipping
glasses of white wine while a huge television set hanging
from the ceiling played a nonstop loop of runway shows from
the Fashion Channel. Across town, at yet another
fashionably hip hotel, Ten Square, a dozen or so outdoor
tables were filled with young patrons enjoying a leisurely
brunch. Down the road, shoppers were streaming out of
historic St. George's Market, their bags overflowing with
fresh produce and local seafood from one of the market's 23
fish stalls.

On the inviting green lawn that surrounds the city's
architectural centerpiece - the imposing City Hall, built
in the late 1890's in the Classical Renaissance style -
practically every patch of green and all of the surrounding
benches were filled with people grabbing a quick picnic
lunch, or a restorative nap or just hanging out and
gossiping with friends. Off to the side, a group of teenage
goths were clustered in a sea of black while shoppers
heading to the nearby mall looked on in amusement.

Walking around the streets of Belfast, I found the
incongruity of what I was seeing hard to ignore. As I
watched young couples stroll along the waterfront walkway
that meandered along the River Lagan, I flashed back to a
documentary I vaguely recalled seeing sometime in the
1980's, in which a Catholic mother talked about having
tarred and feathered her daughter because she had become
involved with a British soldier.

As I sat in one of the crowded cafes that surround Donegall
Square sipping a cappuccino, or walked through the lush
grounds of the Botanic Gardens, it was difficult to
remember just how shocking it had been to read about the
violence of Belfast in the 1970's and 80's, at a time when
the notion of neighbors wantonly killing one another in the
name of faith still seemed all but incomprehensible, and
the term "suicide bomber" was not yet a part of the
vernacular.

The most visible sign of Belfast's ambitions can be found
in the city's Cathedral Quarter, an area just slightly
northeast of the city center that the locals commonly refer
to as "our Temple Bar" - a reference to the once-crime-
ridden, run-down neighborhood in Dublin that in the last
decade has been transformed by the addition of trendy bars
and restaurants into a vibrant gathering spot for both
locals and tourists.

Hints of an urban revival abound in this neighborhood
(anchored by its namesake, St. Anne's Cathedral), with
renovated storefronts pasted with "for rent" signs and
scaffolding surrounding the hollowed remains of decaying
but gorgeous Victorian buildings - with billboards
announcing them as the future homes of luxury apartments.
An annual arts festival is now held here, and among the
early tenants are local artists and a few small gallery
spaces, including Belfast Exposed - the Contemporary
Gallery of Photography. But, to be honest, the area has a
way to go before it will come close to rivaling Temple Bar.
There are only a few places to eat and drink in the
neighborhood, and the ones that are open seem to do only
middling business in the evening.

Take the John Hewitt Bar, on Donegall Street, a comfortably
well-worn establishment singled out by almost every
guidebook as one of the most picturesque watering holes in
the city. On the Sunday evening I went there, a local
singer/guitarist - promoted all weekend with large placards
in the windows of the pub - played to an audience of 11
people, including the two bartenders. (Give the bar credit,
though: Its featured beer that week, Taybeh, was advertised
as having come from Palestine and was being touted as the
"beer for peace.") What night life there is in the
Cathedral District these days seems to be largely targeted
toward gay Belfasters, with Kremlin and Mynt drawing large
crowds of gays and lesbians of barely legal drinking age on
the weekend, and Milk jammed with patrons well into the
early morning hours for its Monday night gay-themed event,
"Forbidden Fruit."

Night life in general doesn't seem to be Belfast's strong
suit. In fact, the city turns into a bit of a ghost town at
night. The downtown shops close up by around 6. Most of the
pubs empty soon after. Few customers show up at the cafes,
and most of the restaurants are either closed or doing
little business. What action there is seems to shift mostly
to Botanic and Lisburn Roads, in the somewhat more lively
residential neighborhoods about a half-hour walk away.

An eerie stillness descends on the city center that's
unlike any other I've experienced in Europe. (It feels
almost like Atlanta or Detroit, cities where much of the
downtown action abruptly ends when the workday is over and
the office workers flee to the suburbs.) Even on Saturday
nights, when the downtown bars are packed with patrons,
there is little of the street action you would expect on a
typical summer weekend in a metropolitan capital.

One night, around 9:30, the midsummer sky still bright with
light, I walked through downtown Belfast from a restaurant
to my hotel, a journey of about 15 minutes. The entire time
I saw only two other people and just a few passing cars.
When I got to my hotel, I asked the woman at the front desk
why the city was empty. "Oh, no one lives in the city
center," she said. "Everyone has gone home for the day."

If the night life disappointed, though, the restaurant
scene did the opposite. In fact, the real renaissance in
Belfast is a culinary one. Led largely by Paul Rankin -
owner of two top-tier restaurants as well as a couple of
casual cafes, and the host of a popular cooking show in
Britain, "Ready, Steady, Cook" - Belfast's restaurant scene
is among the best in Britain.

Mr. Rankin's latest venture, Cayenne, is on Shaftesbury
Square, along the so-called Golden Mile. This area used to
be the social center of Belfast, but a series of I.R.A.
bombings in the 1970's and 1980's - with restaurants
reopening and then shutting down again after another attack
- eventually forced most businesses to shutter for good. It
is only in the past couple of years that this stretch of
Great Victoria Street is once again drawing visitors.

On a Saturday night in late June, Cayenne was jammed.
Though a friend had called two weeks in advance to reserve
for the two of us, we couldn't get a table until 9:45.
Arriving a few minutes early, we were seated in the bar
area, and reclined on a comfortable couch while we ordered
drinks and read over the menu. It looked promising, an
intriguingly fusion take on some regional specialties, like
a "chargrilled Lough Neagh eel with Japanese pickled
vegetables."

Soon we were in an inviting, softly illuminated room -
tables of seemingly happy patrons buzzing around us -
dipping into a superb risotto with locally caught lobster,
prawns, cockles and squid and sampling a bracing, clear
tomato soup with orzo and spring vegetables. About three
hours later, and after a lengthy chat with the maître
d'hôtel about the vibrant dining scene in Belfast, we
headed out into the warm summer air and ambled along the
mostly empty streets back to my hotel, the silence broken
only by a lone bus going by, a handful of people sitting
inside.

Not for the last time, I wondered where everyone was.

ON my last day in Belfast, I was walking down High Street
when I spotted a group of map-clutching tourists boarding
an open-top sightseeing bus. Might as well hop on, I
thought. If nothing else, it would be a good way to kill an
hour. (To be honest, after three days in Belfast I was
running out of things to do. There are only so many times
you can visit a botanic garden, and at 11 a.m., it was
still a bit too early to hit the pubs.)

We meandered through the city, admiring its architecture,
learning more from the tour guide about Belfast's history
as a shipbuilding center (the Titanic was built here, in a
building that is being turned into a museum). We heard
about all the new developments being planned for land that
now lay fallow and overrun by weeds, and how most of the
new buildings in town, particularly the Laganside Courts
building, were incorporating huge swaths of glass into
their design, "as a gesture of faith in the peace process."

Then we turned onto Shankill Road.

There before us was the Belfast of old - the rundown
buildings; the grim faces of the passersby; the Union Jacks
flying from almost every window, reminding those who might
wish for a unified Ireland that this was still a land
fiercely loyal to the British government. Most striking
were the famous murals that decorated nearly every vacant
wall - huge, crudely drawn paintings that vilified the
Catholic citizens of this divided city and celebrated the
Protestants who had died in battle with their crosstown
adversaries.

The scene was the same a few minutes later when we drove
down Falls Road, the main artery of Catholic Belfast. No
Union Jacks here, but plenty of murals as well - some
praising the work of other "liberators" - the P.L.O.,
E.T.A., the insurgents in Iraq trying to keep George Bush
from taking their oil - as well as those honoring their own
dead, most notably Bobby Sands, who died during a prison
hunger strike in 1981.

As we rumbled through the neighborhood, the mood turned
somber, and idle conversation ceased. Even two teenage boys
from New York who had been chattering nonstop fell silent,
except for a mumbled "This is intense" from one. At one
point the guide casually pointed out a 70-foot-high fence
that she said ran the length of the Catholic and Protestant
neighborhoods and kept each side from crossing into each
other's territory. Called the Peace Wall - a name that
perhaps only George Orwell could fully appreciate - it was
open for just a few hours each day from Monday through
Friday, when traffic could be carefully monitored. Seeing
it now, on a Sunday morning, shut tight and heavily
barricaded, it stood as stark a symbol as the Berlin Wall,
now fallen.

It was a chilling moment, one whose force caught me by
surprise. For it is one thing to have read all about "the
Troubles" and yet another to actually witness firsthand the
legacy of this conflict. As the bus turned back toward
town, and the spruced-up city center came back into view,
my attitude toward Belfast began to change. Yes, the "new"
Belfast - the Belfast of outsized ambitions, and perhaps
unrealistic expectations - clearly had far to go. But it
had already come an awfully long way.
----

VISITOR INFORMATION

GETTING THERE

Continental Airlines (www.continental.com) has a daily
nonstop flight from Newark to Belfast International
Airport. Fares for mid-September, booked a month in
advance, start at about $610. Other options include tagging
on a trip to Belfast while visiting London. BMI
(www.flybmi.com) has several flights a day, operating out
of Heathrow. Fares generally start at about $190, although
fares as low as $20 can sometimes be found on the Internet.

A taxi ride to the city center from the Belfast
International Airport is about £25 ($46, at $1.82 to the
pound); from Belfast City Airport, about £7 ($12.75).

Belfast is a compact, walkable city. There is no need to
rent a car, unless you want to go out into the country, and
you'll rarely need a taxi to get around town.

The country code is 44; city code, 28. All phone numbers
below are for local calls.
----

WHERE TO STAY

Its popularity among members of the boldfaced crowd on
their visits to Belfast has helped to make the 23-room Ten
Square, 10 Donegall Square South, 9024-1001,
www.tensquare.co.uk, a hot destination. Both the Asian-
influenced bedrooms and bathrooms are huge (the bathtub
alone could accommodate two people), and the rooms come
with Frette linens, Molton Brown toiletries and high-speed
Internet access. Rates start at $292 for a double room with
breakfast (including taxes), but lower rates can be
obtained by booking through the hotel's Web site and paying
upfront, with no possibility of a refund. The Grill Room
and Bar, just off the lobby, is a popular gathering spot
throughout the day.

The lushly furnished 62-room Malmaison, 34-38 Victoria
Street, 9022-0200, www.malmaison.com, is the latest outpost
of this affordable-hip hotel chain. Rooms are on the
smallish side, but smartly outfitted with plasma-screen
TV's and DVD players. There's a tiny gym - basically an
oversized hotel suite with a couple of treadmills and a few
free weights. The lobby bar is a popular hangout for guests
and city residents alike. Rates start at $155, not
including taxes.
----

WHERE TO EAT

Paul Rankin rules the Belfast culinary scene with two
highly regarded restaurants: Cayenne, at 7 Ascot House,
Shaftesbury Square, 9033-1532, and Roscoff, 7-11 Linenhall
Street, 9031-1150; www.rankingroup.co.uk. Cayenne, his
latest establishment, has a fusion-style menu, with
appetizers, in summer, like smoked Lough Neagh eel with
roast beetroot, apple and horseradish cream ($13.65) and
seared foie gras with duck confit spring rolls and peach
chutney ($19), and main-course offerings ranging from slow-
roasted rabbit with pappardelle, girolles, broad beans and
pancetta ($27.35) to Korean spiced lamb chops with kimchi,
roast aubergine and wok-fried potatoes ($29.15). A three-
course dinner for two, including wine, will run about $180.

Roscoff Brasserie, modeled on Paul Rankin's first Belfast
restaurant, is set in an inviting, coolly elegant space,
and features a more traditional menu, drawing heavily on
local ingredients. Main courses include rack and braised
shoulder of lamb with crushed new potatoes and mustard jus
($33) and grilled wild salmon with sauce vierge and a
panache of vegetables ($32). Dinner for two, including
wine, will run about $145. A particularly good deal is the
prix fixe menu at lunch, with $27.75 for two courses and
$35.50 for three, not including wine.

If Paul Rankin has a chief rival, it is probably Michael
Deane, the recipient of a Michelin star for Restaurant
Michael Deane, 36-40 Howard Street, 9056-0000. There are
actually two restaurants in this space, and the better deal
is the street-level brasserie. Service can be maddeningly
slow at times, but the food - including a recent lunch of a
goat cheese tart and roast chicken - is hard to beat.
Dinner for two, including wine, will run about $110 at the
brasserie. A three-course meal at the main restaurant will
cost about $190.

The gastropub movement has come to Belfast with Ta-Tu Bar &
Grill, 701 Lisburn Road, 9038-0818. At this architecturally
sleek establishment, there is a bar in front, complete with
a D.J. and video screens, a small restaurant in the back
and a lounge. Among the menu selections are grilled haloumi
cheese with tomato and olive salsa ($10), a Moroccan
vegetable tagine with couscous ($16.35), and roast shoulder
of lamb with ratatouille dressing, tapenade and basil mash
($27.25). A meal for two with wine is about $80.

Botanic Road, especially the area around Queen's
University, boasts a lively street scene, particularly
after dark. (Well, at least most of the shops and cafes are
open after 6.) You won't find much fine dining here, but
there are some pleasant, casual restaurants drawing a
youngish crowd. Among the most inviting is AM:PM, 67-69
Botanic Avenue, 9023-9443, where a meal of a pizza and a
glass of wine for two will run about $22.

WHERE TO DRINK

One of the most famous pubs in Belfast is the Crown Bar
Liquor Saloon, 46 Great Victoria Street, 9027-9901,
www.crownbar.com, just down the street from the Grand Opera
House. It's a tourist rite of passage to drop in at the
Crown, which dates back to 1826 - it was bought by the
National Trust in 1978 - and grab a pint of Belfast Ale
while marveling at the ornate yellow, red and gold ceiling,
and admiring the etched-glass doors that cordon off the 10
private booths. As for the food? Well, the portions -
particularly at the highly touted Sunday lunch - are huge,
but the food itself is largely indigestible.

Next door to the Crown is Robinson's, 38-42 Great Victoria
Street, 9024-7447, a popular gathering spot for the 20-
something crowd, particularly in the early evening, with a
traditional pub setting in back on the ground level, a
restaurant, and nightclubs upstairs and on the basement
level. Other popular bars in the city center include the
John Hewitt Bar, 51 Donegall Street, 9023-3768; the
Fountain Bar and Restaurant, 16-20 Fountain Street, 9032-
4769 (though here, too, skip the food); the Apartment, 2
Donegall Square West, 9050-9777; and Northern Whig, 2-10
Bridge Street, 9050-9888, an upscale cocktail bar that is
housed in the vast three-story space of a former newspaper
and often the starting-off point for clubgoers on a
Saturday night.

The gay club scene is centered on the Cathedral Quarter,
with Kremlin, 96 Donegall Street, 9031-6060, and Mynt, 2-15
Dunbar Street, 9023-4520, drawing large crowds after about
11 p.m.

STUART EMMRICH Is Editor Of The Travel Section.

******************************************

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2005/0822/3096418359HM2150CHURCH.html

Cathedral Marks 150th Anniversary

Anne Lucey

St Mary's Cathedral in Killarney, designed by the
architect Augustus Pugin, is tonight celebrating the 150th
anniversary of its consecration.

Considered Pugin's favourite project and one of the finest
neo-Gothic cathedrals in Europe, St Mary's was conceived
after Catholic emancipation in 1829.

The diocese of Kerry, which includes parts of north and
west Cork, had been without a cathedral for 200 years.

Construction was interrupted by the Great Famine, when the
unfinished building became a shelter for the sick and
dying.There are famine memorials and graves in the grounds
of the cathedral.

Over the past year, the 85-metre (280ft) spire has been
repaired and new paving laid. Large plasma screens have
also been set high over the aisles to allow Mass-goers a
fuller view of the altar and a loop sound system for the
hard of hearing is being installed in the €1 million works.

© The Irish Times

----
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