News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)

August 21, 2006

New Cross-Border Bodies Needed

News About Ireland & The Irish

BB 08/21/06 'New Cross-Border Bodies Needed'
IT 08/22/06 Two Terror Suspects Have Irish Links
IC 08/21/06 Family Calls For New Look At Massacre
DI 08/21/06 Son Proud Of Father’s Fight Against Injustice
GU 08/21/06 Row Over Anthem As Irish Rugby Match In Belfast
IN 08/21/06 Opin: Incisive Thinker Fought Sectarianism To The End
UT 08/21/06 Bull 'Gored Farmer To Death' Inquest Hears
BB 08/21/06 Tourism Dynamo Of Down

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5272002.stm

'New Cross-Border Bodies Needed'

Sinn Fein has called for the creation of nine new cross-
border bodies and an expansion of existing organisations.

They would be in addition to the six all-Ireland bodies set
up by the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Fein wants extra bodies to cover justice, policing,
social economy, energy, rural development, pollution
control and mental health.

It has also called for communications and higher and
further education bodies to be established.

Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd has warned the DUP that whether or
not they meet the November deadline for restoring
devolution, "there will be an expansion in the existing
role of cross-border bodies".

Meanwhile, DUP Upper Bann MP David Simpson has said his
party supports devolution in Northern Ireland that is
"democratic, fair, accountable and free from the taint of
terror and criminality".

"The people of Northern Ireland are not being served well
by the continuance of direct rule."

He added: "Sinn Fein must face up to the difficult
questions on criminality, decommissioning, disbandment and
policing.

"There can, and will, be no tolerance of criminality and
paramilitarism as far as participation in government is
concerned," said Mr Simpson.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/08/21 15:37:18 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0822/1155714897378.html

Two Terror Suspects Have Irish Links

Conor Lally and Ruadhán Mac Cormaic
22/08/2006

Two people arrested under anti-terrorism laws at Holyhead
Port in Wales earlier this month are naturalised Irish
citizens, it has emerged.

A 47-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman, both Algerian-
born, were arrested under Britain's Terrorism Act in
Holyhead on Friday, August 11th.

Their arrests followed a UK intelligence-led operation, and
it is understood the arrested man had been under
surveillance by British police for some time.

He was also known to gardaí, but sources said yesterday he
was not regarded as posing any significant threat.

The woman, who had been staying for some time at an address
in Clondalkin, west Dublin, had travelled to Wales - where
the two were to meet - on a ferry from Ireland.

The couple have four children, at least one of whom was
born in the Republic. The arrested man is based mainly in
Britain.

A Garda source said police in Holyhead seized a laptop
computer and a disk containing bomb-making instructions.

Immediately after the arrests in Wales, UK police contacted
the Garda to request the search of a house in Clondalkin. A
Garda spokesman confirmed that "an action" was carried out
on behalf of UK authorities.

While some documentation was examined, it is understood a
thorough search of the property yielded little of interest
to officers.

The two Irish citizens were still being questioned in north
Wales yesterday. Last Thursday, they appeared at Holyhead
Magistrates Court, where police were granted an extension
to their detention period. Detectives must decide today
whether to charge the man and woman, free them, or apply to
the court for another extension.

The arrests came the day after UK police arrested 24 people
in connection with an alleged plot to blow up passenger
aircraft en route from Britain to the US.

A spokeswoman for North Wales Police said yesterday that
police were "keeping an open mind" on whether there is any
link between the arrests and the alleged plot.

The spokeswoman said there was no threat to passengers and
staff at Holyhead Port as a result of the arrests. Security
has been increased at the port, which is the main ferry
terminal between Ireland and north Wales.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.irelandclick.com/news/news.cfm?id=20090

Family Calls For New Look At Massacre

by Evan Short

The daughter of one of the men murdered in the 1971
Ballymurphy Massacre has called for the death of her father
to be reinvestigated on the 35th anniversary of his death.

Janet Donnelly’s father Joseph Murphy (41) was one of 11
people to be murdered in the nationalist area in the three
days following the introduction of internment.

Ten men - one of whom was a priest - and one woman were
shot dead by the Parachute Regiment in the hours that
followed the rounding-up of local nationalists.

Janet says many of those who were on the crowded streets
were only there to look for loved ones who had been lifted
earlier that day - as the British government moved to
detain nationalists without trial - when the British
soldiers came out of the Henry Taggart barracks, firing at
passers-by.

It is only now that the truth surrounding the horrific
incidents of 1971 are emerging, after relatives grouped
together to investigate the killings themselves, explains
Janet who has also become heavily involved in recording the
exact details of the Ballymurphy Massacre.

“The British army came out of the Henry Taggart (memorial
hall) firing at whoever was there, they did not care who
they were shooting at – they were there to murder and they
did. Everyone who was shot was totally innocent.”

Janet was just eight years old when her father died,
leaving behind him a wife and nine young children.

It was not until 1998 however that Janet, along with other
relatives, came together to try to find out what happened
and discovered from official documents, released by both
the RUC and the Coroner’s Office, that the deaths of these
11 innocent people had not been fully investigated.

“Basically me and some of the other families started doing
a bit of digging by sending away for inquest papers and
knocking doors in Ballymurphy trying to find out what
people had seen at the time.

“My father was one of four people shot in the Manse Field.
He was shot twice in the leg and died two weeks later in
hospital but the only investigation into his death has been
written in a paragraph on a page, and a lot of the
information was inaccurate,” she said.

The families’ investigation found some details which Janet
admits she still struggles to cope with.

“The coroner’s report shows that my daddy was beaten after
he was shot. By the time he got to hospital he was covered
in extensive bruising,” says Janet who explained that the
Paras had emerged from the barracks firing both rifles and
hand guns.

Having discovered that the same soldiers were involved in
the Bloody Sunday massacre six months later, Janet says she
now believes that had the incident been properly
investigated at the time it could have saved further
tragedy.

“The British government didn’t care what happened that
day,” said Janet.

“There were not any television cameras about so really it
is remembered only by word of mouth.

“For many people when they think back to 1971 and
internment they remember people being lifted, for us we
remember the murder of family members, six months before
the same people carried out another massacre in Derry.”

Journalist:: Evan Short

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http://www.dailyireland.com/home.tvt?_ticket=3XGDALOLO9M2TR
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00QFIRYN6BG7RV&_scope=DailyIreland/Content/News&id=20268&op
p=1

Son Proud Of Father’s Fight Against Injustice

Hundreds of republicans in Derry commemorate 25th
anniversary of INLA hunger striker’s death

By Eamonn Houston
21/08/2006

As his final days on the 1981 hunger strike loomed, 27-
year-old Michael Devine asked for his two children, Michael
Jr and Louise, to be brought to the hospital wing of Long
Kesh prison.

It was to be an emotional visit.

By that stage the ravages of Devine’s fast had rendered him
blind.

His life was now quickly ebbing away.

Michael and Louise were brought to Long Kesh by their aunt
Margaret – Mickey Devine’s only surviving family member.

For Michael Jr, that last visit when he was just eight
years old is seared into his memory.

“I remember the prison hospital pretty well,” he says.

“On one of the last visits we were brought to his bedside
at each side and he held our hands.

“That is something that stays with you – you could never
forget that even though you were so young. It was hurtful
and hateful.”

Michael Devine is now 33 – older than his father was when
he took the decision to join the prison protest that saw
ten republican prisoners fast to the death in a bid to gain
political status.

Devine Jr (Óg) is soft-spoken and politically astute.

He is committed to the same republican socialist ideals
that his father died for. The hunger strike and his
father’s death have dominated his life. At times, he
admits, it has almost become too much for him.

Mickey Devine was the last of the hunger strikers to die.
His funeral saw tens of thousands of people follow his
cortege through Derry’s Creggan estate.

During this reporter’s interview with Mickey Jr, we look at
pictures of his father’s hearse flanked by INLA volunteers
as the funeral snaked its way through the Creggan estate.
There are other pictures of Mickey Devine lying in state
with an INLA guard of honour.

At the age of eight, Michael Jr says that he knew what was
happening.

“I knew what he was doing. We knew that he was on hunger
strike and refusing food and that other people were. It was
something we couldn’t get away from at that time and we had
been going to the prison for five years. It was something
that was part of our childhood.”

On August 20, 1981, Michael and Louise Devine were awoken
at 7am to be told that their father had died.

“We were sat down and told by our mother. I remember crying
but even then I had a fair feeling of that coming – but it
was still a shock at that time.

“I remember the wake house, and knew that my father was a
republican socialist. It was on the last day of the wake
that things really hit me. There were throngs of people
coming and going.”

Devine’s funeral witnessed one of the biggest colour party
displays by the INLA. Michael Jr and Louise were taken the
short distance to the city cemetery by their aunt Margaret
and Theresa Moore, who had visited Mickey Devine daily
during the latter stages of his hunger strike.

Theresa Moore, who was an Irish Republican Socialist Party
(IRSP) welfare officer at the time, was appointed as one of
Mickey Devine’s ‘surrogate’ family. She remembers Devine’s
fondness for his son.

“On his son Michael’s birthday, Michael borrowed £2 to put
in a card for him. I said to him: “You can’t die now
Michael Devine – you owe me £2.

“He could hear everything, but he couldn’t speak,” she
says.

The late Margaret McCauley would talk often of Michael Jr
and Louise’s last visit to their father. In several
interviews she recalled Devine – who could no longer see –
feeling the faces of his children with his hands. She
recalled looking back at a “dying skeleton of a man” with
tears streaming down his face as she took the children out
of the room.

Devine had endured a hard life. His father died when Mickey
was a young boy. Devine found his mother dead when he was a
teenager. He married young but the union ended in
separation.

He also underwent four years of suffering ‘on the blanket’
in the H-blocks and finally the physical and mental torture
of hunger strike.

Michael Jr remembers standing in the cemetery as his father
was laid to rest.

“I remember the shots ringing in my ears. In the months
after his death there was just a numbness. It was a numbing
experience even at that age. It was an experience that was
hard to deal with. It is something that I found hard to
cope with.”

Devine Jr says that his schooling suffered. He was no
longer a young boy enjoying a normal existence. Everyone at
his school knew who his father was and what had happened.
It was something that he could not escape.

“I don’t remember much about school. I was put back a year
at school, so there must have been something happening in
me at that stage.”

Michael Devine says that he first began to really
understand his father’s motivation and sacrifice when he
entered his early teens.

“I was thinking politically at a very young age,” he says.

“I was always surrounded by his former comrades and at the
age of 13 or 14, I remember becoming very politically aware
of what it was all about. It was important for me to have
my father and his politics honoured.

“I got angry at stages and had a complete hatred against
the British.”

In 2001, Michael Devine took a step that he admits “nearly
wrecked” him.

In Turkish prisons, many socialists joined “deathfasts”.
Devine Jr felt duty bound to show solidarity with the
hunger strikers.

“I felt that I would have some connection with these people
– that’s why I went. There is a natural bond and I still
feel the same. It disturbed me when I saw those people
sitting in those rooms. To be honest, it nearly wrecked
me.”

Michael Devine says that his father’s sacrifice is a source
of pride.

“I’m proud of him and his politics for the working class.
It has dominated my life and sometimes I have tried not to
let it dominate my life, but it is always there. It’s
something that will be there in 80 years time. The hunger
strike is never going to go away. I’m also proud of his
former comrades and proud of them putting on such a fitting
tribute to him on the 25th anniversary.

“Regardless of political differences, the hunger strikers
should be honoured as equals. They fought beside each other
in the prisons as comrades. There was a unity.”

Yesterday hundreds of republicans in Derry turned out to
commemorate the anniversary of Mickey Devine’s death.

A plaque and murals in his honour were unveiled. The murals
feature the signature image of Mickey Devine smiling
benignly. His image is one of the most recognisable in his
home city.

On June 22, 1981 Devine had completed his fourth year on
the blanket and joined Joe McDonnell, Kieran Doherty, Kevin
Lynch, Martin Hurson, Thomas McElwee and Paddy Quinn on
hunger strike.

He became the seventh man in a weekly build-up from a four-
strong hunger strike team to eight-strong.

He was transferred to the prison hospital on Wednesday,
July 15, his 24th day on hunger strike.

With 50 per cent remission available to conforming
prisoners, Devine would have been due out of jail the
following September, but the criminalisation policy of the
British government spurred Devine to face death within the
walls of Long Kesh.

Micky Devine died at 7.50am on Thursday, August 20, 1981.

On the same day nationalist voters in Fermanagh/South
Tyrone were beginning to make their way to the polling
booths to elect Owen Carron a member of parliament for the
constituency.

In the months that followed, prisoners in Long Kesh were
granted most of the privileges they had fought for, first
on the blanket protest, and then on hunger strike, by
Margaret Thatcher’s government.

A large mural of Devine is painted on the gable wall of the
home of his late sister Margaret.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,,1855517,00.html

Row Over Anthem As Irish Rugby Prepares For Match In Belfast

Owen Bowcott, Ireland correspondent
Tuesday August 22, 2006
The Guardian

An unusually discordant note is reverberating around the
world of Irish rugby after the governing body ruled that
God Save the Queen should not be sung at the first
international to be held in Belfast for more than half a
century.

Rugby is one of the few sports to be played on an all-
Ireland basis. The game has always avoided sectarian and
political strife. But a decision by the Irish Rugby
Football Union not to play the UK's national anthem at the
first game to be held in Northern Ireland since the 1950s
has upset the Democratic Unionist party.

Ian Paisley Jnr, who plays rugby, has expressed dismay that
only the IRFU's song Ireland's Call will be performed at
the Ravenhill Road ground in East Belfast next August when
Ireland play Italy. The game is a warm-up for the 2007
World Cup. Ireland usually play at Lansdowne Road stadium
in Dublin or Thomond Park in Limerick, which are being
renovated. The Ravenhill Road stadium is smaller but
available. The Irish national anthem is still sung, along
with Ireland's Call, whenever matches are held in the
republic.

"It appears that there's been a policy change since the
1950s," Mr Paisley told the Guardian. "I don't want to make
a big issue out of it, but it's a matter of protocol to
have the national anthem if they are playing in Northern
Ireland."

Karl Richardson, for the IRFU, said there had been no
objections from the organisation's Ulster branch. "Symbols
and emblems should be put to one side," he said. "This is a
game and a sport." Before 1995 God Save the Queen was
played at Irish rugby matches in Belfast and the Irish
anthem in Dublin. And no song was played at international
games.

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http://www.irishnews.com/

Opin: Incisive Thinker Fought Sectarianism To The End

Opinion
By Roy Garland

Some of us had hoped that Paisley’s talk of blood sacrifice
on the Twelfth was just talk and that his desire for power
would override any residual loyalties to bloody creeds,
enabling him to share power.

But the two governments appear close to accepting failure
and relinquishing any lingering hopes of going down in
history for solving Irish questions. Our rivalling
‘religious’ tribal leaders thus seem close to another
pyrrhic victory.

Some may resent my use of the word religious, but for me
nationalism is a form of religion binding people together
at the expense of outsiders.

In this sense it can be the bane rather than balm of
humanity, as in the relationship between Hezbollah the
Party of God and God’s People the Israelis.

It is the violent ‘religious’ element that arouses such
passion when compared to the relative lack of interest in
starving humanity elsewhere. That which unites a people
does not, however, require overt theological bases.

Many Israelis are not devout believers though most Moslems
probably are and one is led to question whether such people
are driven by theology or nationalism and if there is any
real difference.

Many here have been driven by unionism and republicanism/
nationalism – isms that would appear to be non-religious
but whose adherents include those characterised by
something approaching religious fervour directed at the
other tribe.

The apparent absolute commitment of some republicans to a
32-county state is also ‘religious’ in that it reflects
received ‘wisdom’.

This is not to suggest there is no rational case to be made
for unity, but rather that the aspiration is driven by
ancestral voices made sacred through violence.

Likewise a reasonable case can be made for the union,
though in practice this is often tainted by tribal
commitments that have the characteristics of religion.

Thus some of the bitterest opponents of reconciliation are
those with little interest in the practice of religion as
normally understood.

Jack McDowell, who died suddenly last week, did not fit
easily into any of these moulds.

He was an incisive thinker, humanitarian, labour activist
and dissenting leader of the New Ireland Group in the Wolfe
Tone tradition.

Jack spent his early years on the Shankill and had
relatives in the Orange Order, but had concluded that a
united island was the best way forward. Yet for Jack unity
was no sacred goal to be pursued at any cost.

Despite claiming to be an unbeliever, he was more a man of
faith who cared deeply about justice and humanity rather
than about the structure of the state.

Nationalism, like sectarianism, was anathema to Jack
McDowell who once gave serious consideration to the idea of
a new political party to be named Ulster Republican Party.

His point was that the just society was not necessarily
defined or confined by geographical, cultural or historical
notions.

While he believed that justice might best be served in the
context of Irish unity, he was willing to contemplate an
independent Ulster or – in his NI Labour days – a United
Kingdom built on social justice.

On this basis Jack challenged some of those who claimed to
be republicans by demanding to know why a 32-county state
had become a sacred goal for which human sacrifice seemed
necessary.

The republic he envisaged would be of the people, by the
people and for the people but not imposed on some pre-
determined geographic, cultural or ‘religious’ basis. That
we are surrounded by water was beside the point.

In the late 1980s I put Jack’s ideas to UDA leader John
McMichael because Jack wanted to open up new possibilities
for loyalists.

John seemed shocked and complained that Jack was ‘always
coming up with ideas like that’. However, loyalists were
clearly listening.

Jack rejected privilege and spent his life challenging
religious and secular establishments in favour of the
underprivileged.

He would have abolished monarchy and all that went with it,
but might have had some sympathy with loyalist Billy
Mitchell’s contention that Britain was a ‘crowned
republic’.

Even so, in Jack’s eyes a republic was not the be-all and
end-all.

His first commitment was to marginalised people and last
week on the very day he passed away at the age of 83, he
was on his way to talk with the ICTU on ways to tackle
sectarianism and racism.

roy@irishnews.com

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http://www.utvinternet.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=76145&pt=n

Bull 'Gored Farmer To Death' Inquest Hears

A bull gored its owner to death in a rage at being driven
out of a field of cows, an inquest in Northern Ireland has
heard.

By:Press Association

Wesley Forster, 73, was flung into the air and stamped on
as the animal went berserk.

His wife Violet and grandson watched in horror as the
veteran farmer was attacked at their home in Newtownbutler,
County Fermanagh, last August.

Mrs Forster told Enniskillen Coroner`s Court today: "What`s
in my memory is the bull just butting him up and him
falling down.

"Then I maybe looked away. In my torment I mightn`t have
watched when the bull went back at him.

"But there`s something in my memory that I can still see
him being thrown into the air."

The Charolais bull was the most aggressive they had dealt
with in over 40 years of farming, the inquest was told.

Its agitation was shown by regular bouts of digging the
ground, snorting and shaking its head. On one occasion it
also head-butted a tractor wheel.

But its temper erupted with deadly consequences after Mr
Forster discovered it had gone in with a herd of his
neighbour`s cows.

He forced the bull out, beating it with a stick as he tried
to drive it back down a lane to his own Kilmore Farm.

But when they passed the farmer`s own cattle in an adjacent
field the bull attacked.

Health and Safety officer Brian Pryce agreed with Coroner
Brian Sherrard`s assessment that this contributed to the
goring.

"The bull was probably angry at being moved from a field of
cows in the first place," Mr Sherrard said.

"Then driving down a pathway, going past more cows, would
further have agitated the bull."

Mrs Forster, who had come out to see what was taking her
husband so long, thought he was already dead when she ran
to his side.

Blood was pouring from his head, the damage caused by
striking the concrete laneway.

But after her grandson saw his leg moving an ambulance
arrived to take him to the Erne Hospital from where he was
transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

Mr Forster`s condition deteriorated rapidly and he died the
next day.

The goring had inflicted multiple injuries, including rib
and skull fractures, along with bleeding and bruising to
the brain which caused fatal swelling.

Although the farmer was a diabetic who had undergone heart
bypass surgery to replace a valve, a pathologist said the
attack would have killed even the healthiest of men.

The bull was put down immediately, but Mr Pryce warned
farmers they may have to take drastic action with any
dangerous animals among their herds.

He said: "Bulls that show signs of aggression, there needs
to be consideration taken about whether that bull should
then be destroyed," he told the hearing.

"With regard to the movement of bulls obviously every
situation is different and needs to be assessed, but maybe
further assistance by other individuals is required or the
use of vehicles.

"Animals by their very nature are unpredictable."

In his findings Mr Sherrard said the animal, with a
reputation for aggression, was distracted by being taken
away from the herd of cows and then passing more cattle.

The bull struck Mr Forster, causing his head to hit the
concrete path.

Offering his sympathies to the dead man`s family, he told
them: "We owe a great debt of gratitude to the farming
community who often work in uncomfortable and dangerous
conditions for the benefit of the rest of society.

"Mr Forster devoted his life to farming and this showed
that even the most experienced of farmers should be
constantly alert to the risks that go with that
profession."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/5246842.stm

Tourism Dynamo Of Down

By Joe Boyle
BBC News

As part of a series of features studying the UK's seaside
towns, the spotlight falls on Newcastle in County Down.

As you arrive in the small town of Newcastle, you cannot
fail to be struck by the looming presence of the Mourne
Mountains.

Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland's highest peak, stands
majestic with grey-white clouds clinging to its sweeping
green slopes.

Yet the splendour of the topography is hardly matched by
the down-at-heel main street, where pound shops vie for
space with 1960s shopping centres and amusement arcades.

Young mothers push baby-buggies, bored-looking teenagers
loiter idly, shopkeepers buzz around, arranging and
rearranging their goods.

The wind rips through the street and motorists sit in
queues of traffic, gridlocked.

It could be a scene on any high street in any UK town.

But that is a misconception corrected after a day in
Newcastle, hearing stories of Tiger Woods being dropped at
the local hotel by helicopter.

Big plans

Running parallel to the main street is the newly-built
promenade. Its shiny metal railings and freshly-laid
walkways flank the seafront, punctuated by dazzling metal
sculptures and low-rise blocks of modern apartments.

The new promenade is part of a £14 million regeneration
project that is a source of considerable local pride -
residents almost universally describing it as "fantastic".

----
Newcastle, County Down
Population: 7,500
Famous visitor: Tiger Woods
Interesting fact: In 1898 Newcastle was 55 minutes from
Belfast by train. The line is now closed and the station is
a Lidl supermarket.
----

The person in charge of the scheme is Sharon O'Connor, Down
District Council's director of cultural and economic
development. Having started the project in 2000, it has
become a labour of love for her.

"Newcastle is the dynamo - it is the part of the tourism
product that drives everything else in the area," she said.

The ambitious plans for the town include a complete
overhaul of the road system and the creation of a new
national park, with Newcastle serving as the "gateway" to
the Mourne Mountains.

"We are really trying to redefine Newcastle as less 'kiss-
me-quick' hats and amusement arcades, more outdoor pursuits
with a family environment where people come to enjoy the
physical beauty of the place," said Ms O'Connor.

If John and Jean Gibson are typical of the visitors to the
town, Ms O'Conner might well have won half of her battle
already.

"We come here to go cycling and walking in the mountains,"
said Jean while trying to stop her young grandson
Christopher from charging back towards the sea.

"There are organised walks and tours, but it's just as easy
to make your own path. It really is an wonderful place."

The Gibsons explain that the town has its seamy side - with
drunken youths vandalising telephone boxes and picnic areas
- but it has not stopped them from buying a second home
there.

Helicopter landings

At the other end of the main street lies the Royal County
Down Golf Course - regarded as one of the best in the
world. Attached to it is the enormous neo-gothic Slieve
Donard Hotel.

Built in the 1890s to cater for the holiday-hungry middle
classes of Belfast, the hotel kick-started the tourism
industry in the area.

Since then, it has opened its doors to guests as varied as
Charlie Chaplin, Desmond Tutu and Daniel O'Donnell - as
well as a Who's Who of the professional golf world.

The hotel's mainly American clientele sport polo-necks,
accompanied by plus-fours for the men and tartan pleated
skirts for the women - de rigeur for the global golf scene.
Compared with the main street, this is a different world.

"Tom Watson is out there playing a round now," explained
John Toner, the hotel's manager. "The client that we are
aiming for is the international golfer."

He added: "We have a helipad capable of landing three
helicopters at the same time."

A different world indeed.

Hectic summer

On a weekday morning, away from the golf set, the Tropicana
Warm Sea Pools - one of the few "traditional" seaside
attractions - seems to be the busiest place in town.

To a backdrop of squealing children, 22-year-old supervisor
Carmel Ross said the pools have been "really hectic" all
summer.

"Even yesterday, when the wind was so powerful it'd split
you in two, the pool was still packed."

The pools are only open from July to September, but if
Sharon O'Connor has her way, they will be made into all-
year-round indoor baths to be more use for local residents.

The sweeping changes the town is undergoing reflect a sense
of resilience and regeneration that seems to permeate its
history.

In the mid-19th century, when a boating disaster killed
many of Newcastle's residents and wiped out its fishing
industry, the town regrouped and began to make a living
through mining granite. When cement superseded granite,
tourism became the staple.

In the 1960s what Ms O'Connor labelled the "double-whammy"
of cheap European holidays and the outbreak of sectarian
violence in the province all but destroyed Newcastle's
tourism industry.

Once again, outside events are threatening to derail
Newcastle's attempts to catapult itself into the tourism
major league.

"In three years' time, there's going to be a major local
authority reorganisation," Ms O'Connor said.

"If we get a centralised metropolitan-style council,
Newcastle will probably just slip off their radar
entirely."

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/08/19 14:56:46 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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