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News about the Irish & Irish American culture, music, news, sports. This is hosted by the Irish Aires radio show on KPFT-FM 90.1 in Houston, Texas (a Pacifica community radio station)
September 22, 2006
Drumcree Ruling Will Be Reviewed
News About Ireland & The Irish
BB 09/22/06 Drumcree Ruling Will Be Reviewed
SF 09/22/06 Progress Is Responsibility Of 2 Govnts - Adams
IT 09/23/06 Executive Will Be Re-Established, Says Adams
BT 09/23/06 Adams Endorses Paisley In Speech Delivered In The US
IT 09/23/06 Donors Refused Return Of Cash From Ahern - Report
IT 09/23/06 Pluralism Key To Education Now, Says Archbishop
IT 09/23/06 Storms Lead To Power Blackout
*************************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5372360.stm
Drumcree Ruling Will Be Reviewed
The Parades Commission has been told to reconsider its
decision not to restrict an Orange Order parade at
Drumcree.
The High Court ruling came after Garvaghy Road Residents
challenged the commission's decision.
Saturday's march was arranged to mark 3,000 days since
Orangemen were barred from marching along the mainly
nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
A judge said the commission was told there was no general
call-out but the lodge's website contradicted that.
Mr Justice Weatherup said Portadown District Lodge on its
website had called for Orange Order members throughout
Northern Ireland to join the march at Drumcree Hill.
But he said the Parades Commission had been told there was
no general appeal for support when it made its decision.
"It seems to me that the Parades Commission proceeded on
the basis of the assurance there was no general call-out
but that is incorrect in view of the website," said the
judge.
"The commission has been given an ill-founded assurance and
accordingly that is a relevant consideration which requires
to be taken into account in relation to their decision to
issue no determination."
The court has raised an issue on the numbers of
participants and asked the commission to clarify the
numbers
Parades Commission
The commission will discuss the matter on Saturday.
A commission spokesperson said: "We welcome the fact that
the commission's decision-making process has been upheld
and validated.
"The court has raised an issue on the numbers of
participants and asked the commission to clarify the
numbers."
Breandan MacCionnaith, spokesman for the Garvaghy Road
Residents Coalition, said the court had "vindicated the
criticisms we made".
"Hopefully, now that the commission has been ordered by the
court to look again at the issue we will now see common
sense restrictions being put on the parade with the result
that tensions will be defused over the weekend," he said.
Serious violence
Each July, the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service at
Drumcree church to commemorate the anniversary of the
Battle of the Somme.
Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by the
security forces, following a determination by the Parades
Commission.
The parade has been marked by serious violence in the past,
but it has passed off peacefully in the last three years.
The march has been one of Northern Ireland's most
contentious. The route was last used by Orangemen in 1997.
The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions
on whether controversial parades should be restricted.
The Orange Institution is the largest loyal order in
Northern Ireland.
Its origins date from the 17th century battle for supremacy
between Protestantism and Catholicism. Prince William of
Orange, originally of the Netherlands, led the fight
against Catholic King James.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/09/22 19:51:54 GMT
© BBC MMVI
*************************
http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16063
Progress Is Primarily The Responsibility Of The Two Governments - Adams
Published: 22 September, 2006
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams is on the third day of a
visit to the USA. Since his arrival he has attended a small
reception for Heads of State and Foreign dignitaries
attending the Clinton Global Initiative event and addressed
the prestigious New York based Council on Foreign
Relations.
Mr. Adams provided the Council with an update on the
current state of the peace process in Ireland.
He said:
"The key to stability and progress in any peace process is
the guarantee that the status quo, which led to the
conflict, is changing and that discriminatory and
repressive policies used in the past are being abandoned
and replaced by a rights based inclusive dispensation based
on equality..
"Unionist political leaders have demonstrated time after
time a predisposition toward diluting, minimizing and if
possible stopping change. All of us have a duty to persuade
unionism that the peace process and inclusive arrangements
between the parties is the only road which can lead to a
better future. The principle responsibility for advancing
the rights and entitlements of citizens contained in the
Good Friday Agreement lies with the two governments. And
these cannot be vetoed by the DUP.
Next months discussions are not therefore about a choice
between Plan A - the restoration of the institutions and
the implementation of the Agreement - and Plan B - the two
governments agreeing new partnership arrangements to
implement human rights, justice, economic, and policing
arrangements. What is required is a clear commitment from
the two government that they are determined to move ahead
whatever happens with a continuous, seamless process of
change." ENDS
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590929158.html
Executive Will Be Re-Established, Says Adams
Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent in New
York
23/09/2006
Supporters of powersharing in the North were trying to
teach the word "Yes" to Democratic Unionist Party leader,
the Rev Ian Paisley MP, Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams
said yesterday.
It was not a question of whether or not the powersharing
executive in the North would be re-established, but when it
would be re-established, Mr Adams told an audience of
diplomats and politicians at the Council on Foreign
Relations in Manhattan yesterday.
Among those present were former US ambassador to Ireland,
Jean Kennedy Smith; former mayor of New York David Dinkins;
former Clinton administration official, Nancy Soderberg,
now with the International Crisis Group; and former
presidential envoy for Northern Ireland, Richard Haass, now
president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Interviewed by CBS journalist Martha Teichner, Mr Adams
reiterated that he regarded the partition of Ireland as
"totally immoral". He continued: "The Good Friday Agreement
is a bridge out of that."
Asked about possible Sinn Féin participation in policing,
he said: "Sinn Féin wants policing." He added: "The Police
Service of Northern Ireland has, one could say, moved
considerably along the Good Friday Agreement road to a new
beginning of policing."
There was a long-standing agreement with the British
government that when a number of outstanding issues were
addressed, he would go to the leadership of Sinn Féin and
ask for a special ardfheis to ask the membership to "allow
us to embrace what would be an acceptable policing
service".Asked why the IRA would not now disband, Mr Adams
said an unnamed "very senior unionist" had told him that,
"if the IRA paraded naked on the lawn of Stormont,
destroyed all their weapons and committed mass hara-kiri",
it would not be acceptable to the DUP.
He also pointed out that there were "very small, almost
micro-organisations on the fringes of republicanism" which
had been responsible for the Omagh bombing, for example.
"How we have been able to counter those groups is, in the
republican heartlands, by debating in a very open way with
republican people," he said.
Mr Adams continued: "What is required is that there isn't a
vacuum on the republican side."
He said it was not "within my ability to disband the IRA".
The Bush administration has refused permission for Sinn
Féin leaders to fundraise during their visits here,
although the US-based Friends of Sinn Féin organisation is
allowed to do so.
Asked how he felt about that, Mr Adams said he did not
think he had "any special entitlement" to fundraise in the
US:
"I do think it's a wee bit bizarre because I can fundraise
in London" [laughter]. But he added that, "President Bush
remains supportive of our process".
© The Irish Times
*************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=707360
Adams Endorses Paisley In Speech Delivered In The US
By Sean O' Driscoll
22 September 2006
Ian Paisley would do a far better job as leader of Northern
Ireland than any direct rule minister, Gerry Adams has told
an audience in New York.
Speaking yesterday before an audience at a leading American
foreign policy think-tank, the Council on Foreign
Relations, Adams said that Northern Ireland secretary,
Peter Hain, and other British representatives did not have
the same understanding of Northern Ireland as Mr Paisley.
He said that the DUP leader was answerable to the people of
Northern Ireland and not to the British parliament, as is
the case with Peter Hain and direct rule ministers.
He added that he didn't want to speak in a derogatory way
but said it was possible that Ian Paisley did not know
whether he would go into government with Sinn Fein until
the day before the November 24 deadline.
He drew laughter from the crowd when he said it was a "bit
bizarre" that the Bush administration continues to ban him
from fundraising in the US while he is free to fundraise in
London.
He said he wanted to be diplomatic towards the Bush
administration on the fundraising issue but noted that
"about half" of all Sinn Fein fundraising came indirectly
from the British and Irish governments through
contributions made from the salaries of elected Sinn Fein
representatives.
He said the issue in the US was not about his rights but
the rights of Americans to hear who they wanted to hear and
to donate money as they see fit.
At the conference Mr Adams said that unionist reasons for
objecting to a united Ireland were breaking down, such as
southern poverty or the influence of the Catholic Church.
He said that an increasing number of unionists were
starting to regard Ireland as a single unit, but he added
that the wealth in the Republic needed to be distributed
much more evenly.
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0923/breaking2.htm
Donors Refused Return Of Cash From Ahern - Report
Last updated: 23-09-06, 01:18
Pressure on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to reveal more details
about money he received in 1993 is likely to increase with
a report today that the cash came in the form of repayable
loans which have not yet been fully returned.
The Irish Times today reports that the donors of the cash
refused Mr Ahern's offer to repay the outstanding sum. "He
wants to repay them but the boy's won't take it back at the
moment," the newspaper quotes an unnamed source.
Opposition parties have called on the Taoiseach to explain
details of the money he received from businessmen in 1993
when he was minister for finance. But Mr Ahern has said his
receipt of the money was a private matter and that he had
disclosed full information to the tribunal.
The payment was revealed in leaked documents from the Mahon
Tribunal published by The Irish Times on Thursday. Mr Ahern
described the details in the newspaper as "impeccable" but
denied that a figure of €50,000 - €100,000 was involved.
The tribunal has been told that the money was used to pay
legal bills.
Mr Ahern refused to answer questions on the matter
yesterday but gave a statement to reporters in which he
said the revelation came as a "calculated leak of
confidential material which was made available to the Mahon
tribunal".
The tribunal has launched an investigation into the leak.
© 2006 ireland.com
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590929254.html
Pluralism Key To Education Now, Says Archbishop
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
23/09/2006
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said
it is his "strong conviction" that a pluralist society can
be best served by a plurality in schools, "in which the
variety of cultures and religious backgrounds are
reflected, rather than through centralised uniformity".
He also said that "guaranteeing denominational religious
instruction in a new form of State-sponsored primary
school, not directly under religious patronage, would also
allow the State to have an overseeing role in ensuring the
quality of teaching of religion in order to ensure that
abuses do not emerge or any form of fundamentalism in any
religious tradition gain ground".
The archbishop was delivering the "Opening of the Academic
Year Address" at the school of education studies in Dublin
City University last night.
He noted that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
recently addressed the question of demographic change in
Ireland, where many immigrants are not Catholics while the
ethos of most schools is Catholic.
"We have Catholic schools in Dublin where over 50 per cent
are international children - in one school, the new entries
are 80 per cent this year. Many of these will not be
Catholics," he said. He repeated his opinion that "the
fostering of plurality of educational patronage is
something desirable and welcome in Ireland today and could
bring benefit to all".
He observed that "pluralism in religious belief has now
entered into a new chapter in its history in Ireland. In
this new reality, the school must become a primary focus
for fostering a climate of knowledge about various
religions and about dialogue and mutual respect among
different religious traditions."
He continued that, "in this State, all religious
confessions have the right to expect the respect and the
support of the State in education within one's own
denomination and tradition. Is this something which divides
the community? I do not believe so. Dialogue does not mean
abandoning identity. Identity within a specific religious
tradition can also be one open to and respectful of other
religious traditions and of those who do not hold any
religious faith."
He pointed out that "the Catholic schools in the
archdiocese of Dublin have been extraordinarily sensitive
to the fact of difference of ethnic, national and religious
background in the school community and they deserve credit
for what they have achieved".
The State, he said, "should be neutral in addressing
religious diversity in the sense that it does not favour
any individual religious community, except where such a
community may suffer disproportionate disadvantage because
of size or other reason".
There was "no evidence" a totally "religiously neutral
secularist society" was the best space in which to foster
dialogue between religions, he said. On the other hand,
there were forms of secular society "in which hostility to
religious values can indeed force religious groups into a
dangerously narrow perception of their culture and thus
sharpen religious differences".
© The Irish Times
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590928595.html
Storms Lead To Power Blackout
Olivia Kelly
23/09/2006
Proceedings at the Ryder Cup competition were not the only
thing put in jeopardy by Thursday night's storms. Up to
50,000 homes were left without electricity due to downed
power lines during what the ESB said was the worst power
blackout in over 18 months.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 phone lines were also cut,
according to Eircom, and some customers will be without any
service until the middle of next week.
A number of houses had no electricity for almost 24 hours
as ESB crews struggled to restore power to counties along
the east coast as well as to parts of Limerick, Tipperary
and Donegal.
Winds of up to 132km/h (82mph) felled trees and telephone
poles, while up to 82mm of rain caused flooding in some
areas in a 7/8-hour hour period.
Some 400 Eircom field staff are scheduled to work over the
weekend to try to restore phone lines, but a spokesman said
that their work would take longer than ESB repairs because
each line had to be restored on an individual rather than
an area basis.
ESB repair crews were on alert from Thursday evening
following a severe weather warning from Met Éireann and
they had reconnected most homes by lunchtime yesterday.
Blackouts were caused by timber falling on power lines, a
spokesman for the company said.
More trees fell than would have been expected because they
were still in leaf, making them more susceptible to high
winds, according to Met Éireann.
The storm was the tail-end of Hurricane Gordon, which blew
in from the middle of the Atlantic but had been downgraded
to a tropical storm before reaching Ireland.
Weather conditions were likely to remain blustery and
breezy over the coming days but more extreme weather was
not expected, said Met Éireann forecaster Michael
McAuliffe.
Several marquees which had been erected for next week's
National Ploughing Championships in Carlow were badly
damaged by the storms. However, the National Ploughing
Association said that arrangements were being made to
repair or replace damaged structures, and the ground
conditions for ploughing were excellent.
© The Irish Times
----
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To September Index
To Index of Monthly Archives
BB 09/22/06 Drumcree Ruling Will Be Reviewed
SF 09/22/06 Progress Is Responsibility Of 2 Govnts - Adams
IT 09/23/06 Executive Will Be Re-Established, Says Adams
BT 09/23/06 Adams Endorses Paisley In Speech Delivered In The US
IT 09/23/06 Donors Refused Return Of Cash From Ahern - Report
IT 09/23/06 Pluralism Key To Education Now, Says Archbishop
IT 09/23/06 Storms Lead To Power Blackout
*************************
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/5372360.stm
Drumcree Ruling Will Be Reviewed
The Parades Commission has been told to reconsider its
decision not to restrict an Orange Order parade at
Drumcree.
The High Court ruling came after Garvaghy Road Residents
challenged the commission's decision.
Saturday's march was arranged to mark 3,000 days since
Orangemen were barred from marching along the mainly
nationalist Garvaghy Road in Portadown.
A judge said the commission was told there was no general
call-out but the lodge's website contradicted that.
Mr Justice Weatherup said Portadown District Lodge on its
website had called for Orange Order members throughout
Northern Ireland to join the march at Drumcree Hill.
But he said the Parades Commission had been told there was
no general appeal for support when it made its decision.
"It seems to me that the Parades Commission proceeded on
the basis of the assurance there was no general call-out
but that is incorrect in view of the website," said the
judge.
"The commission has been given an ill-founded assurance and
accordingly that is a relevant consideration which requires
to be taken into account in relation to their decision to
issue no determination."
The court has raised an issue on the numbers of
participants and asked the commission to clarify the
numbers
Parades Commission
The commission will discuss the matter on Saturday.
A commission spokesperson said: "We welcome the fact that
the commission's decision-making process has been upheld
and validated.
"The court has raised an issue on the numbers of
participants and asked the commission to clarify the
numbers."
Breandan MacCionnaith, spokesman for the Garvaghy Road
Residents Coalition, said the court had "vindicated the
criticisms we made".
"Hopefully, now that the commission has been ordered by the
court to look again at the issue we will now see common
sense restrictions being put on the parade with the result
that tensions will be defused over the weekend," he said.
Serious violence
Each July, the Portadown Orange Lodge attends a service at
Drumcree church to commemorate the anniversary of the
Battle of the Somme.
Since 1998, their homeward route has been blocked by the
security forces, following a determination by the Parades
Commission.
The parade has been marked by serious violence in the past,
but it has passed off peacefully in the last three years.
The march has been one of Northern Ireland's most
contentious. The route was last used by Orangemen in 1997.
The Parades Commission was set up in 1997 to make decisions
on whether controversial parades should be restricted.
The Orange Institution is the largest loyal order in
Northern Ireland.
Its origins date from the 17th century battle for supremacy
between Protestantism and Catholicism. Prince William of
Orange, originally of the Netherlands, led the fight
against Catholic King James.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/09/22 19:51:54 GMT
© BBC MMVI
*************************
http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/16063
Progress Is Primarily The Responsibility Of The Two Governments - Adams
Published: 22 September, 2006
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams is on the third day of a
visit to the USA. Since his arrival he has attended a small
reception for Heads of State and Foreign dignitaries
attending the Clinton Global Initiative event and addressed
the prestigious New York based Council on Foreign
Relations.
Mr. Adams provided the Council with an update on the
current state of the peace process in Ireland.
He said:
"The key to stability and progress in any peace process is
the guarantee that the status quo, which led to the
conflict, is changing and that discriminatory and
repressive policies used in the past are being abandoned
and replaced by a rights based inclusive dispensation based
on equality..
"Unionist political leaders have demonstrated time after
time a predisposition toward diluting, minimizing and if
possible stopping change. All of us have a duty to persuade
unionism that the peace process and inclusive arrangements
between the parties is the only road which can lead to a
better future. The principle responsibility for advancing
the rights and entitlements of citizens contained in the
Good Friday Agreement lies with the two governments. And
these cannot be vetoed by the DUP.
Next months discussions are not therefore about a choice
between Plan A - the restoration of the institutions and
the implementation of the Agreement - and Plan B - the two
governments agreeing new partnership arrangements to
implement human rights, justice, economic, and policing
arrangements. What is required is a clear commitment from
the two government that they are determined to move ahead
whatever happens with a continuous, seamless process of
change." ENDS
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590929158.html
Executive Will Be Re-Established, Says Adams
Deaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent in New
York
23/09/2006
Supporters of powersharing in the North were trying to
teach the word "Yes" to Democratic Unionist Party leader,
the Rev Ian Paisley MP, Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams
said yesterday.
It was not a question of whether or not the powersharing
executive in the North would be re-established, but when it
would be re-established, Mr Adams told an audience of
diplomats and politicians at the Council on Foreign
Relations in Manhattan yesterday.
Among those present were former US ambassador to Ireland,
Jean Kennedy Smith; former mayor of New York David Dinkins;
former Clinton administration official, Nancy Soderberg,
now with the International Crisis Group; and former
presidential envoy for Northern Ireland, Richard Haass, now
president of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Interviewed by CBS journalist Martha Teichner, Mr Adams
reiterated that he regarded the partition of Ireland as
"totally immoral". He continued: "The Good Friday Agreement
is a bridge out of that."
Asked about possible Sinn Féin participation in policing,
he said: "Sinn Féin wants policing." He added: "The Police
Service of Northern Ireland has, one could say, moved
considerably along the Good Friday Agreement road to a new
beginning of policing."
There was a long-standing agreement with the British
government that when a number of outstanding issues were
addressed, he would go to the leadership of Sinn Féin and
ask for a special ardfheis to ask the membership to "allow
us to embrace what would be an acceptable policing
service".Asked why the IRA would not now disband, Mr Adams
said an unnamed "very senior unionist" had told him that,
"if the IRA paraded naked on the lawn of Stormont,
destroyed all their weapons and committed mass hara-kiri",
it would not be acceptable to the DUP.
He also pointed out that there were "very small, almost
micro-organisations on the fringes of republicanism" which
had been responsible for the Omagh bombing, for example.
"How we have been able to counter those groups is, in the
republican heartlands, by debating in a very open way with
republican people," he said.
Mr Adams continued: "What is required is that there isn't a
vacuum on the republican side."
He said it was not "within my ability to disband the IRA".
The Bush administration has refused permission for Sinn
Féin leaders to fundraise during their visits here,
although the US-based Friends of Sinn Féin organisation is
allowed to do so.
Asked how he felt about that, Mr Adams said he did not
think he had "any special entitlement" to fundraise in the
US:
"I do think it's a wee bit bizarre because I can fundraise
in London" [laughter]. But he added that, "President Bush
remains supportive of our process".
© The Irish Times
*************************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=707360
Adams Endorses Paisley In Speech Delivered In The US
By Sean O' Driscoll
22 September 2006
Ian Paisley would do a far better job as leader of Northern
Ireland than any direct rule minister, Gerry Adams has told
an audience in New York.
Speaking yesterday before an audience at a leading American
foreign policy think-tank, the Council on Foreign
Relations, Adams said that Northern Ireland secretary,
Peter Hain, and other British representatives did not have
the same understanding of Northern Ireland as Mr Paisley.
He said that the DUP leader was answerable to the people of
Northern Ireland and not to the British parliament, as is
the case with Peter Hain and direct rule ministers.
He added that he didn't want to speak in a derogatory way
but said it was possible that Ian Paisley did not know
whether he would go into government with Sinn Fein until
the day before the November 24 deadline.
He drew laughter from the crowd when he said it was a "bit
bizarre" that the Bush administration continues to ban him
from fundraising in the US while he is free to fundraise in
London.
He said he wanted to be diplomatic towards the Bush
administration on the fundraising issue but noted that
"about half" of all Sinn Fein fundraising came indirectly
from the British and Irish governments through
contributions made from the salaries of elected Sinn Fein
representatives.
He said the issue in the US was not about his rights but
the rights of Americans to hear who they wanted to hear and
to donate money as they see fit.
At the conference Mr Adams said that unionist reasons for
objecting to a united Ireland were breaking down, such as
southern poverty or the influence of the Catholic Church.
He said that an increasing number of unionists were
starting to regard Ireland as a single unit, but he added
that the wealth in the Republic needed to be distributed
much more evenly.
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0923/breaking2.htm
Donors Refused Return Of Cash From Ahern - Report
Last updated: 23-09-06, 01:18
Pressure on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to reveal more details
about money he received in 1993 is likely to increase with
a report today that the cash came in the form of repayable
loans which have not yet been fully returned.
The Irish Times today reports that the donors of the cash
refused Mr Ahern's offer to repay the outstanding sum. "He
wants to repay them but the boy's won't take it back at the
moment," the newspaper quotes an unnamed source.
Opposition parties have called on the Taoiseach to explain
details of the money he received from businessmen in 1993
when he was minister for finance. But Mr Ahern has said his
receipt of the money was a private matter and that he had
disclosed full information to the tribunal.
The payment was revealed in leaked documents from the Mahon
Tribunal published by The Irish Times on Thursday. Mr Ahern
described the details in the newspaper as "impeccable" but
denied that a figure of €50,000 - €100,000 was involved.
The tribunal has been told that the money was used to pay
legal bills.
Mr Ahern refused to answer questions on the matter
yesterday but gave a statement to reporters in which he
said the revelation came as a "calculated leak of
confidential material which was made available to the Mahon
tribunal".
The tribunal has launched an investigation into the leak.
© 2006 ireland.com
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590929254.html
Pluralism Key To Education Now, Says Archbishop
Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent
23/09/2006
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dr Diarmuid Martin has said
it is his "strong conviction" that a pluralist society can
be best served by a plurality in schools, "in which the
variety of cultures and religious backgrounds are
reflected, rather than through centralised uniformity".
He also said that "guaranteeing denominational religious
instruction in a new form of State-sponsored primary
school, not directly under religious patronage, would also
allow the State to have an overseeing role in ensuring the
quality of teaching of religion in order to ensure that
abuses do not emerge or any form of fundamentalism in any
religious tradition gain ground".
The archbishop was delivering the "Opening of the Academic
Year Address" at the school of education studies in Dublin
City University last night.
He noted that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child
recently addressed the question of demographic change in
Ireland, where many immigrants are not Catholics while the
ethos of most schools is Catholic.
"We have Catholic schools in Dublin where over 50 per cent
are international children - in one school, the new entries
are 80 per cent this year. Many of these will not be
Catholics," he said. He repeated his opinion that "the
fostering of plurality of educational patronage is
something desirable and welcome in Ireland today and could
bring benefit to all".
He observed that "pluralism in religious belief has now
entered into a new chapter in its history in Ireland. In
this new reality, the school must become a primary focus
for fostering a climate of knowledge about various
religions and about dialogue and mutual respect among
different religious traditions."
He continued that, "in this State, all religious
confessions have the right to expect the respect and the
support of the State in education within one's own
denomination and tradition. Is this something which divides
the community? I do not believe so. Dialogue does not mean
abandoning identity. Identity within a specific religious
tradition can also be one open to and respectful of other
religious traditions and of those who do not hold any
religious faith."
He pointed out that "the Catholic schools in the
archdiocese of Dublin have been extraordinarily sensitive
to the fact of difference of ethnic, national and religious
background in the school community and they deserve credit
for what they have achieved".
The State, he said, "should be neutral in addressing
religious diversity in the sense that it does not favour
any individual religious community, except where such a
community may suffer disproportionate disadvantage because
of size or other reason".
There was "no evidence" a totally "religiously neutral
secularist society" was the best space in which to foster
dialogue between religions, he said. On the other hand,
there were forms of secular society "in which hostility to
religious values can indeed force religious groups into a
dangerously narrow perception of their culture and thus
sharpen religious differences".
© The Irish Times
*************************
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/0923/1158590928595.html
Storms Lead To Power Blackout
Olivia Kelly
23/09/2006
Proceedings at the Ryder Cup competition were not the only
thing put in jeopardy by Thursday night's storms. Up to
50,000 homes were left without electricity due to downed
power lines during what the ESB said was the worst power
blackout in over 18 months.
Between 3,000 and 5,000 phone lines were also cut,
according to Eircom, and some customers will be without any
service until the middle of next week.
A number of houses had no electricity for almost 24 hours
as ESB crews struggled to restore power to counties along
the east coast as well as to parts of Limerick, Tipperary
and Donegal.
Winds of up to 132km/h (82mph) felled trees and telephone
poles, while up to 82mm of rain caused flooding in some
areas in a 7/8-hour hour period.
Some 400 Eircom field staff are scheduled to work over the
weekend to try to restore phone lines, but a spokesman said
that their work would take longer than ESB repairs because
each line had to be restored on an individual rather than
an area basis.
ESB repair crews were on alert from Thursday evening
following a severe weather warning from Met Éireann and
they had reconnected most homes by lunchtime yesterday.
Blackouts were caused by timber falling on power lines, a
spokesman for the company said.
More trees fell than would have been expected because they
were still in leaf, making them more susceptible to high
winds, according to Met Éireann.
The storm was the tail-end of Hurricane Gordon, which blew
in from the middle of the Atlantic but had been downgraded
to a tropical storm before reaching Ireland.
Weather conditions were likely to remain blustery and
breezy over the coming days but more extreme weather was
not expected, said Met Éireann forecaster Michael
McAuliffe.
Several marquees which had been erected for next week's
National Ploughing Championships in Carlow were badly
damaged by the storms. However, the National Ploughing
Association said that arrangements were being made to
repair or replace damaged structures, and the ground
conditions for ploughing were excellent.
© The Irish Times
----
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