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December 05, 2006

One Quarter of Patten Reforms Still Not Implemented

News About Ireland & The Irish

BN 12/05/06 Quarter Of Police Reforms Not Yet Implemented
BN 12/05/06 Strict Rules To Guide Community Justice Schemes
UT 12/05/06 Committee Must Resolved Policing Dispute
BB 12/05/06 Funding Urged For Police College
IT 12/05/06 Adams/Paisley:Eye Contact But No Mind Meeting
IT 12/05/06 Paisley Makes 'Plea' To Adams On Police
IT 12/05/06 Ahern Meets Blair In London
BB 12/05/06 DUP Delegation To Meet Tony Blair
BT 12/05/06 Confusion Over Burnt Wright Files
NH 12/05/06 Opin: Parties Should Combine Forces
BT 12/05/06 Opin: Why Sir Reg Does Not Relish A Split
BT 12/05/06 Opin: The Apostles Who Would Be Paisley
GU 12/05/06 Healing Old Wounds
BB 12/05/06 NI House Prices Rising By A Third
IT 12/05/06 Irish Happier But More Tired, Says EU Survey
IT 12/05/06 US Businessman Disputes $70,000 For Irish Party
ND 12/04/06 Springsteen: Born To Run Around The World
ND 12/04/06 Irish Immigrants Tell Their Stories

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http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/?jp=CWIDQLSNIDQL&rss=yes

Quarter Of Police Reforms Not Yet Implemented

05/12/2006 - 09:57:35

More than a quarter of the Patten proposals for overhauling
the North’s police service have yet to be completed, a new
report revealed today.

In his penultimate assessment Oversight Commissioner Al
Hutchinson has set out all 175 recommendations and
identified where further work is still needed.

These include more “civilianisation” within the
organisation, enlarging the Part Time Reserve, and efforts
to encourage Catholic officers in other forces to join the
PSNI.

Another key issue, the devolution of policing and justice
powers from Westminster to Stormont, which is at the core
of the ongoing political process, is unlikely to be
finalised by the time Mr Hutchinson signs off next May.

But he urged the relevant authorities to press ahead in
other areas, such as the protracted attempts to fund and
build a new state-of-the-art training college to replace
the Garnverville complex in east Belfast.

With £40m (€59.4m) still needed to finance the planned
academy at Cookstown, Co Tyrone, Mr Hutchinson claimed it
could be realised within months.

He said: “Other issues, such as the securing of funding for
the new Police College of Northern Ireland, are more
amenable to rapid decision-making and progress, and
certainly could be resolved by the end of the oversight
mandate.

“It is also possible to achieve further progress in the
appropriate civilianisation of the Police Service of
Northern Ireland and on such things as the estate and
training strategies.”

The major progress in the transformation of policing can be
shown by the relatively few outstanding recommendations,
with many of these expected to be completed or further
advanced by May, Mr Hutchinson said.

Nevertheless, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police veteran’s
report, based on an evaluation in June, emphasised where
the focus should be.

He said: “The purpose of this present report is to indicate
the work that remains by clearly identifying the 46
recommendations and 103 performance indicators that require
completion by the various stakeholders, principally the
Police Service of Northern Ireland.”

Mr Hutchinson reiterated the critical role political
leadership has to play in developing fully effective,
representative and accountable policing.

He added: “In this respect progress remains elusive.

“As I have noted in several previous reports, collective
politics has to date failed policing in Northern Ireland.”

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http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/?jp=CWIDQLSNSNGB&rss=yes

NI: Strict Rules To Guide Community Justice Schemes

05/12/2006 - 10:23:23

Northern police chief Hugh Orde will today tell MPs that
controversial neighbourhood justice schemes must work under
tight guidelines if they are to be state funded.

The chief constable of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland will appear before a House of Commons committee in
Belfast after claims that his officers turned away a
murderer brought to a police station in west Belfast last
year by a nationalist community restorative justice group.

Jim Auld of Community Restorative Justice Ireland (CRJI)
told stunned members of the Northern Ireland Affairs
Committee that police also failed to help a rape victim
seeking an exclusion order against one of her relatives.

The British government is considering plans to fund the
programmes operating in loyalist and nationalist
neighbourhoods, which are seen as an alternative to so-
called punishment attacks and expulsions by paramilitary
groups.

Critics of the schemes claim they are being used by
paramilitaries to exert control over communities, with
republicans trying in particular to turn them into an
alternative police service.

Mr Auld yesterday denied during evidence to the Northern
Ireland Affairs Committee that Community Restorative
Justice Ireland was seeking to be an alternative police
force.

He also insisted his staff and volunteers referred serious
crime to the police and saw their work as being
complementary to the work of a police service.

However he also insisted that the lack of confidence in the
police by the nationalist community in the North had made
that task more difficult.

Orde and his officers have indicated they share the
concerns of the North’s Independent Monitoring Commission
about the involvement of paramilitaries in the restorative
justice programmes.

The PSNI is believed to support British government
proposals that the restorative justice schemes, which bring
the perpetrators of low-level crimes face-to-face with
their victims to understand their motivation and agree an
appropriate penalty, should comply with human rights and
equality legislation and United Nations standards.

The British government’s proposals also require nationalist
and loyalist restorative justice groups to promote
confidence in the criminal justice system including the
police and to pass on promptly details of a criminal
offence or offender directly to the police, who will decide
what further investigations are required and if
fingerprints and DNA samples must be taken before passing
them on to public prosecutors to decide who should handle
the case.

The committee was told yesterday by Northern Ireland
Alternatives, which runs four schemes in loyalist areas of
Belfast and Bangor, that they had police officers serving
on their boards.

This made them different from Community Restorative Justice
Ireland.

Tom Winstone of Northern Ireland Alternatives said despite
this difference, his scheme was being tarred with the same
brush as the nationalist schemes, with potential partners
and funders holding back because of the political
controversy around CRJI’s activities.

Northern Ireland Office minister David Hanson will give
evidence at Westminster tomorrow on his plans for
restorative justice.

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http://www.utvlive.com/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=78382&pt=n

Committee Must Resolved Policing Dispute

A Stormont committee will have four weeks to resolve the
dispute between the DUP leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein
president Gerry Adams over the transfer of policing and
justice powers from Westminster, it has emerged.

By:Press Association

A committee, involving the four parties who would make up a
power-sharing government, will meet from this Friday.

The six-member committee has been given until January 3 to
come back with recommendations to the Programme for
Government Committee on the type of government department
that will handle policing and justice issues, the timing of
any transfer of those powers and how parties can support
the rule of law.

Nationalist SDLP Policing Board member Alex Attwood
confirmed the move.

"It will be a sub-committee whose work will be pivotal to
the restoration of devolved government and it will be
operating within a tight timeframe," the West Belfast
Assembly member said.

"If the DUP does not move big time on devolution and Sinn
Fein does not move big time on the rule of law, then the
process will run out of time.

"The SDLP believes we can get agreement across the four
parties about the future structure of a justice ministry
and about the powers that can be devolved.

"There will be good work done by the sub-committee but it
will be on the managerial, technical, structural end. It is
harder to do work around the bigger commitments on the rule
of law and inclusive government."

It is understood that the sub-committee at Stormont will
consist of two DUP Assembly members, two Sinn Fein
representatives, one Ulster Unionist and one from the SDLP.

Much of its work is expected to be concentrated in the pre-
Christmas period and, given the deadline of the first week
in January, there will be some work done post-Christmas.

Policing remains a major stumbling block to any hopes of
securing a new devolved government involving unionists and
nationalists next March.

The DUP wants Sinn Fein to publicly declare its support for
policing and the rule of law before a power-sharing
government is formed and before consideration can be given
to the devolution of policing and justice powers.

Mr Adams last week told republicans and political opponents
that he required a date for the transfer of the powers from
Westminster, agreement on the type of government department
that would handle them, and the exclusion of MI5 from any
rule in civic policing before he could recommend to his
party that there should be a change in policing policy.

Mr Adams and his colleagues have been alarmed by the
insistence of many senior DUP personnel that they will not
give Sinn Fein a date for the transfer of powers ahead of
any move by the party to publicly endorse the Police
Service of Northern Ireland.

After giving evidence to a House of Commons committee in
Belfast examining restorative justice, PSNI Chief Constable
Sir Hugh Orde said he was still of the view that Sinn Fein
needed to participate on the Policing Board.

"I have always met with all political parties and have had
conversations with them on policing," he said.

"I have met Sinn Fein recently. They have made that clear
and I have made that clear and we are discussing issues
around confidence in policing. It does make sense.

"When they join policing is a matter for them. I think they
have a right to understand policing and my role is to
ensure that they do understand policing and our vision for
policing."

Sir Hugh said the issue of when policing and justice powers
were transferred was a matter for Government.

"I have said consistently for four and a half years now
Sinn Fein needs to join the Policing Board," he added.

"I think that is the first stage and we will see where it
goes from there."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6208962.stm

Funding Urged For Police College

The government has been urged to provide funding for a new
police college in Northern Ireland.

The appeal was made by Oversight Commissioner Al
Hutchinson, who monitors changes to policing.

The 18th report from the office of the commissioner said
the government should publish a timetable for completion of
the college.

Mr Hutchinson also said the devolution of policing and
justice powers should take place as soon as possible.

In a largely positive report, Mr Hutchinson said
significant progress had been made in the past five years,
with 86% of the Patten Commission recommendations "fully or
substantially implemented".

The role of the commissioner is to ensure the
recommendations of the commission, which produced a report
on the future of policing in Northern Ireland, are carried
out.

Mr Hutchinson is due to leave the role in May 2007, and
urged the government to provide the funding before then.

The Patten Commission recommended that a new state-of-the-
art academy should be built to replace the present college
at Garnerville in east Belfast.

A site near Cookstown was picked, but the government has
offered £40m less than the expected £150m cost.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/12/05 08:24:04 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2006/1205/1165221421498.html

Eye Contact But No Meeting Of Minds As Paisley, Adams Speak

Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams spoke to each other yesterday.
Mr Adams delivered a tutorial in Irish history to the DUP
leader and all other Assembly members while Dr Paisley
briefed the Sinn Féin president on the more abstruse points
of Presbyterian theology, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern
Editor

So, was it the great policing issue that triggered this
parliamentary first? Of course not, although at the end of
his speech Dr Paisley made a direct plea to Mr Adams to
take the initiative on policing. In fact, it was the ghosts
of Henry Joy McCracken and his sister, Mary Ann, Henry
Munro, Samuel Neilson, the Rev James Porter and others, all
United Irishmen - apart from Mary Ann - and all
Presbyterians, according to Mr Adams - that prompted the
interaction.

Dr Paisley said he had listened to a "very interesting
extract from republican propaganda history" but he wanted
to "inform the gentleman who has spoken" he was unaware of
the difference between Presbyterians and Unitarians and
that the Presbyterian synod around that historic period was
totally opposed to the United Irish rebellion.

But did Dr Paisley accept that all the names he mentioned
were Presbyterian, Mr Adams asked. The Free Presbyterian
moderator suggested the "honourable member" should read
Presbyterian theology or, better still, consult the Bible.

"I think that to be told that the Presbyterians of Northern
Ireland were all lined up to undermine the proper
democratic government and to break the British link is, of
course, nonsense, absolute nonsense, and a perversion of
history."

So, was there a meeting of minds? Again, of course not, but
across the Assembly chamber there was direct dialogue
between these ultra-republican and unionist opponents.
There was eye contact, reasonable body language, a smile, a
sense that these two politicians would relish the
opportunity for proper, direct, cut-and-thrust
parliamentary exchanges, if only the Twelve Apostles or
Dirty Dozen - the titles of the 12 DUP members who last
Friday week effectively challenged Dr Paisley's strategy
and leadership - would allow them get on with it.

Transitional Assembly speaker Eileen Bell allowed speakers
leeway: they could speak for as long as they liked - within
reason, of course - on the Ulster Unionist motion deploring
Peter Hain as an interfering Secretary of State.

And they did - speak at length, that is - but only
occasionally to the motion. Sinn Féin complained about 800
years of British perfidy, mentioning along the way the
aforesaid United Irishmen, the Famine, James Connolly
executed strapped to a chair, 1916, 1918, 1921, and so on.

All of which prompted DUP MLA Peter Weir, during the Sinn
Féin president's peroration, to urge Ms Bell to reconsider
her ruling; after all, Mr Adams was many minutes into his
speech and he "had only reached 1798". It was that sort of
day.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1205/1165221421494.html

Paisley Makes 'Plea' To Adams On Police

Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor

DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley made a direct "plea" to Sinn
Féin president Gerry Adams across the Northern Assembly
chamber yesterday to make a move on policing to facilitate
political progress.

Dr Paisley is today leading a delegation in talks with
British prime minister Tony Blair at Downing Street which
includes two members - party chairman Lord (Maurice) Morrow
and North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds - who last Friday week
appeared to question his leadership. Also on the delegation
is deputy DUP leader Peter Robinson.

In the Assembly yesterday ahead of this meeting, Dr Paisley
engaged in a number of direct exchanges with Mr Adams: once
when discussing Presbyterian involvement in the United
Irishmen rebellion of 1798, and a second time when Mr Adams
challenged Dr Paisley's use of the term "IRA/Sinn Féin".
"Well, perhaps it's a good omen that they are ashamed of
being called IRA men. I hope that will continue," said Dr
Paisley.

At the very end of his speech Dr Paisley made a direct
appeal to Mr Adams to initiate Sinn Féin endorsement of the
PSNI and the rule of law. "I would make a plea to the
leader of the party opposite. We are all waiting to hear
him say that he is going to support the police and that he
is going to abide by the conditions laid down in the [ St
Andrews] agreement. The sooner we hear that the better for
us all."

While the tenor of this engagement was generally calm and
restrained, Lord Morrow later in the Assembly debate
repeated the party insistence that the DUP would not
provide Sinn Féin with a date for the devolution of
policing and justice to the Northern Executive - a
requirement Mr Adams says is necessary in order to call a
Sinn Féin ardfheis on policing.

"Why do Sinn Féin not support the police today?" said Lord
Morrow. "Why did they not support them last week? Why are
they not supporting them next week? I will tell you why.
They have been promised more," added the Fermanagh-South
Tyrone Assembly member. "Let the message go to the
secretary of state [ Peter Hain], the prime minister and
anybody else listening that the more you concede to these
people, the more resolute unionism will become because
pushover unionism has gone," he said.

Lord Morrow said Sinn Féin should not "think that some
bland statement of support for policing is enough to fast-
track you into government. The answer here now is, forget
it."

Some DUP politicians, including Ian Paisley jnr, have
indicated that the party is not tied to the March 26th, St
Andrews Agreement deadline for the restoration of full
devolution, arguing Sinn Féin's failure to move on policing
could push back the March deadline.

Mr Blair's spokesman however said yesterday: "The timetable
has been set and it will not shift." Mr Adams said outside
the Assembly chamber yesterday that some progress was made
in his talks with Mr Blair last week. One senior source
said this was a reference to progress being made on
limiting the future role of MI5 in Northern Ireland.

While Dr Paisley has insisted he has not accepted the
position of first minister designate, the Northern Ireland
Office yesterday announced extra supports for the DUP and
Sinn Féin. Both parties are to be given three special
advisers each at a salary of £45,000 each plus additional
office accommodation and administrative support, while the
SDLP and Ulster Unionist Party will be allowed one adviser
each.

Meanwhile, the police Oversight Commissioner Al Hutchinson,
in his latest report, said that more than a quarter of the
175 Patten policing proposals were still to be completed.
These included devolution of policing and justice, building
a new training college, greater "civilianisation",
enlarging the part-time reserve, and efforts to encourage
Catholic officers in other forces to join the PSNI.

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http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1205/1165221421511.html

Ahern Meets Blair In London

Frank Millar, London Editor

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern met British prime minister Tony
Blair in Downing Street last night to review progress in
the ongoing effort to implement the St Andrews Agreement
and restore devolved government to Northern Ireland.

However, tensions in the peace process had to compete on
this occasion with stresses in the Number 10 kitchen, as
the three finalists for a new series of the BBC's Master
Chefprogramme prepared a course each for the two leaders.

Mr Blair immediately chose Mr Ahern as his dinner guest
when he agreed to host the filming of the programme due for
transmission next year.

The Taoiseach had signalled his intention to raise the
continuing controversy about alleged British security force
collusion in attacks in the Republic during their prior
one-to-one meeting, while Mr Blair updated Mr Ahern on his
meeting last Friday with Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams.

Mr Ahern confirmed yesterday that the two governments have
not yet resolved the standoff between the declared Sinn
Féin and DUP positions on the question of the modality for
a new policing and justice ministry at Stormont and a
timetable for the devolution of those powers.

However, senior British sources indicated some optimism
that a solution can be found in time to permit Mr Adams to
call a Sinn Féin ardfheis to resolve the policing issue
ahead of Northern Ireland Assembly elections scheduled for
March. At the same time the Taoiseach again said he was
confident that Sinn Féin's difficulties about the role of
the British security service, MI5, and its relationship
with the PSNI could be resolved.

He was speaking after a reception held in his honour by the
mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Tim Ahern, whose family
come from Cork and whose daughter Roberta - known as
"Bertie" to her friends - is his mayoress.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6208440.stm

DUP Delegation To Meet Tony Blair

A DUP delegation led by party leader Ian Paisley is due to
meet Prime Minister Tony Blair in Downing Street.

Mr Paisley will be accompanied by Nigel Dodds, Peter
Robinson and Lord Morrow.

A party statement said it wanted to discuss several
outstanding issues with Mr Blair - including policing and
an economic package.

Mr Blair met with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on
Monday to discuss the timetable set out at the St Andrews
talks for restoring devolution.

Mr Ahern also raised the issue of collusion between British
security forces and loyalist paramilitaries.

Last week, an Irish parliamentary report found there was
security force collusion in a series of loyalist bombings
and killings in the 1970s.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/12/05 06:43:03 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=717608

Confusion Over Burnt Wright Files

Inquiry told how crucial documents were removed from prison
office

By Claire Regan
05 December 2006

A public inquiry into the murder of LVF leader Billy Wright
has received yet more conflicting evidence on the
destruction of files on hundreds of terrorist prisoners
held at the Maze.

The Billy Wright Inquiry yesterday resumed hearing evidence
at Belfast's Europa Hotel and was given contradictory
accounts on how the key documents, which had been
transferred from the Maze to Maghaberry after its closure,
came to be incinerated.

Lord MacClean's inquiry is investigating claims of state
collusion in the murder of Wright in the Maze in 1997 at
the hands of INLA inmates.

A preliminary hearing held last month heard that some 800
files containing security information on terrorist
prisoners released under the Good Friday Agreement had been
destroyed on the orders of then prison governor Martin
Mogg, who has since died. The files included those on the
three men convicted of murdering Wright.

Junior governor Maureen Johnson said Mr Mogg told her they
should be removed from her cramped office and destroyed -
but agreed he did not give her a written order.

At yesterday's hearing, prison hospital officer Peter Dew
(45) confirmed that he had burned all the files while
working briefly in Maghaberry's security office in February
2002 - but kept back one relating to Wright.

He said he removed all the security files on the
instruction of senior security officer Richard Malloy.

He said that when he was pulling documents from the filing
cabinets to bag them he came across Wright's.

"I knew Wright had been killed in custody and thought the
file might be needed at some time so I kept it," he said.

"It was by chance, I certainly didn't go looking for it. I
recognised other names."

Earlier in yesterday's proceedings, Mr Malloy confirmed
that he had been responsible for removing the documents
from the Maze and taking them to the security office in
Maghaberry.

He claimed, however, that he did not know what had happened
to the documents afterwards and was not involved in their
destruction.

"The information was removed to Maghaberry and went to a
secure store, referred to as the cage, that can only be
accessed by security staff. I haven't seen them since that
day," he said.

"I believe they may since have been destroyed, from what I
have heard from Ms Johnson's evidence."

When asked by the inquiry's senior counsel, Derek Batchelor
QC, if he had been involved with pulling out or burning
files, he replied: "No sir".

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http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/arts2006/dec4_parties_should_combine_forces__JCoulter_Star.php

Opin: Parties Should Combine Forces

(John Coulter, Irish Daily Star)

Pro-deal Catholics need to form a Pan Nationalist Front
between the SDLP and Sinn Féin to fend off any boycott
calls from the dissident Pan Republican Front in the 7
March Assembly poll.

Just as dissident Unionism could slip on the banana skin of
'We don't want a Shinner about the place', so too could
republicanism nosedive over the hurdle – 'we don't want a
cop in our community.'

In spite of the security crisis at Parliament Buildings
during Freaky Friday, it is being widely interpreted SF has
cleverly backed the Big Man of Unionism Ian Paisley Senior
into a tight political corner concerning the timing of the
ard fheis.

In electioneering terms, the longer SF can delay its ard
fheis, the harder it will be for the Paisley camp to sell
the entire St Andrews Agreement to its religious
fundamentalist hardliners.

Before the 13 October Scottish deal, it was widely viewed
the DUP comprised three factions – the fundamentalists
around Paisley Senior; the pro-deal modernisers around
deputy boss Peter Robinson, and the anti-deal ultras around
MEP Jim Allister.

But just as they did 35 years ago at the formation of the
DUP in 1971, the Free Presbyterians are asserting their
anti-deal grip on the party.

It would be a very brave 'Free P' elected representative
who would voice support for the St Andrews Agreement given
the tremendous unease within the political Paisley camp.

The real fear the pro-deal Paisleyite faction has – what
happens if Unionist voters unhappy with the St Andrews
Agreement look likely to switch their allegiance to North
Down MLA Robert McCartney's United Kingdom Unionists?

It has been suggested given Unionist voter apathy and
defections, the UKUP could pick up between eight and a
dozen seats, most at the expense of the DUP.

If Paisley is smart, he'll form a pro-deal election pact
with the largely pro-deal rival Ulster Unionists to outgun
any potential voter defections to the McCartney camp.

Practically, the slippery slope the DUP needs to avoid is
its members remaining in the party for the meantime, but
choosing to vote UKUP on 7 March as a protest.

There has also been talk of dissident republicans opposed
to the present SF peace strategy forming a political Pan
Republican Front to oppose SF candidates, such as in chief
negotiator Martin McGuinness's Mid Ulster constituency.

DUP sources have indicated between the 2001 and 2005
General Elections, SF's rural jewel in the Northern crown
of Mid Ulster saw its vote slip by almost 4,000.

This is being interpreted as a steady trickle of
nationalists returning to the historical policy of
abstaining.

If this is the case, SF must consider an election pact with
the SDLP and their leader Mark Durkan to maximise the
nationalist vote.

Tactical voting by Unionists could see some SF seats fall
to the DUP or UUP as happened in West Belfast in 2003 when
Diane Dodds won an Assembly seat.

Without election pacts in either community, between 16 to
24 of the existing 108 seats could change hands either
through republican abstentionism or Unionist infighting.

The really interesting scenario is created if in the March
election, Catholics form a pro-deal Pan Nationalist Front,
while Protestants plump for a pro-deal Unionist Coalition.
That would guarantee a tight finish.

December 5, 2006
________________

This article appeared in the December 4, 2006 edition of
the Irish Daily Star. http://www.thestar.ie/

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=717656

Opin: Why Sir Reg Does Not Relish A Split

Barry White
05 December 2006

He's somewhat out of the loop, Sir Reg Empey, but I think
he had something very useful to say about the state of
unionism when he refused to enjoy the prospect of the DUP
splitting apart over power-sharing with Sinn Fein.

While others in the UUP may be rubbing their hands with
glee, to see Ian Paisley perhaps suffering the same slow
political death as David Trimble, Sir Reg (inset) is
worried about the consequences for unionism in general. "I
don't think it is actually going to help if the DUP do
become so split they become incoherent," he said.

The old salami slicer could soon be at work on the unionist
vote, just as it did after the Good Friday Agreement, when
the UUP saw their support go down, just as that of the
independents, the PUP's and DUP's, went up. Trimble never
got into the business of selling the Agreement, because it
was so ambiguous, so he was always fighting for survival.

As the UUP tore itself apart, the DUP were able to
consolidate their position, leading the UUP by 25% to 22%
in the 2003 Assembly election and finally ending up 33% to
17% winners in the Westminster election last year. They
were the undisputed champions, largely eliminating the
independents, as well as the UUP, but now they had to lead.

Never been tested

We're still learning about their negotiating tactics, but
now they're coming to the crunch. They've achieved a lot
more than the UUP, in terms of movement from Sinn Fein, but
whether they can carry the party in a power-sharing deal is
still uncertain. While they want more and more time, to
test the republican will to support policing and justice,
Sinn Fein insists it needs to know that the St Andrews
target of 2008 for transfer of powers will be met.

That's where we are, at an impasse, with the leadership in
both parties unable to break free - if they wanted - from
their never-never pasts. They can't let the other side -
Ian Paisley, jr, calls Sinn Fein "the enemy" - win even the
slightest advantage, so they're stuck.

Sinn Fein can weather any storm, or U-turn, simply because
it is the most switched-on, disciplined, PR-conscious
party, but no one is sure that the DUP can do the same,
since it has never been tested. There are two wings, the
fundamentalists/hardliners and the pragmatists/modernisers,
who are only held together by Ian Paisley, his church, and
a basic "no surrender" unionism.

But is that enough for the DUP to sustain its dominant
electoral position? Already Bob McCartney is snapping at
its heels, with his indestructible logic, unrelated to
real-world conditions, and it is not impossible that the
UUP might make a comeback, if the DUP can't speak with one
voice.

Just supposing that by the end of January there is enough
of a deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein for the Government
to go ahead with the election on March 7. (If there is no
deal, surely they wouldn't allow the vote to polarise
further around the two extremes?)

Minority cause

As the election played out, the strains within the DUP
would be enormous, risking the possibility of pro and anti-
St Andrews candidates, reminiscent of Trimble's problems.
The unionist vote could fragment, just as it did in June
1998, and Sinn Fein could finish top of the poll. A Sinn
Fein First Minister?

That's what I think Sir Reg was getting at, in his warnings
about unionism becoming "incoherent" or split to the point
that no one could lead it. Soon it could become a minority
cause, even if its combined vote represented a majority.
What sort of a union would it try to maintain - and where
would it find its friends, in London or Dublin?

Yes, the context in which the parties have been operating
is changing all the time, and the DUP will have to learn to
cope with it. In the past, the border was firm and fixed,
separating a prosperous UK from a church-dominated, hard-up
Republic, but now all the old differences hardly exist,
except constitutionally.

Peter Hain has introduced the idea of an all-island
economy, and now all that remains is to make it happen, by
having a common 12.5% corporation tax and merging more of
our interests in industrial development and tourism, as
well as health and education, etc. Dublin's £70m investment
in improving northern roads raised barely a ripple, when
once there would have been howls of unionist protest.

How to go with this flow, and yet to retain historic and
emotional ties to Britain, is the real challenge for
unionists of all descriptions. We're heading into even more
difficult, and transitional, times than ever - and, if it's
time we need to adjust, maybe the unionists' best friends
could be in Dublin. London doesn't seem to care what
happens here, so long as we are less of a drain on the
Exchequer, but the southern establishment would do almost
anything to avoid having to include Sinn Fein, with its
lefty, Cuban-style economics, in the next coalition
government.

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

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/opinion/story.jsp?story=717632

Opin: The Apostles Who Would Be Paisley

Gail Walker
05 December 2006

Hardly was the ink dry on my view a few weeks ago that Iris
Robinson's recent biography was, among other things, a
positioning of herself as a potential party leader, than
others in the DUP appeared to be taking up 'positions'
themselves.

The Press statement issued by the enigmatic 'Twelve
Apostles' on the day Dr Paisley declined (or did he?) to
take up a 'position' - that of First Minister - certainly
struck the assembled media as the first signs of public
disarray at the very top of a party renowned for strictly-
enforced discipline. While it seems order has been
restored, after several key meetings to do just that, there
remains the feeling that some well-known figures in the
leadership may just have succeeded in sending the
appropriate message out to the party faithful.

The message can be summed up in one short phrase: 'I'm
Harder Than Big Ian.' Though none of them seems keen to try
that line out on the octogenarian leader himself. Whether
anyone actually believes that is the case, or whether
anyone even believes such a thing is possible, is not
really the point.

No rational person expects any of the pretenders to the
throne to make a push while the Doctor is still, as they
say, 'fit for purpose'.

But surely the jostling has begun in earnest now. Even Dr
Paisley's own offspring and namesake was moved to don a
quite splendid brown tweed three-piece for a TV interview
on Sunday. Iris may have been the first to stick the elbow
in to the ribs of her colleagues. It remains to be seen
who'll be the last.

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

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,1963721,00.html

Healing Old Wounds

A proposed medical school could lead the way to cross-
border cooperation in Northern Ireland

Freya McClements
Tuesday December 5, 2006
The Guardian

For almost 40 years, the world has observed the city of
Derry through a television screen. From the grainy black-
and-white images of the riots that marked the start of the
Troubles in Northern Ireland to the pictures of the row of
coffins after Bloody Sunday, Derry's recent history has
been one of internecine strife that has left its mark on
the city and its people.

These days, the television cameras may have gone, but Derry
still struggles to overcome the legacy that has left the
north-west in desperate need of economic and political
investment. However, hope is at hand in the form of a
proposed cross-border medical school for the city's
university, which supporters believe will act as a catalyst
for the economic regeneration of the region.

Significantly, the graduate-entry Ulster-Connacht Medical
School is to be based on a cross-border link between the
Magee campus of the University of Ulster in Derry and the
National University of Ireland, Galway. For a long time,
cross-border cooperation was regarded as a political hot
potato, more likely to kill off rather than seal any
potential deal. Yet for the medical school's supporters it
is one of the most positive aspects of the plan.

"We have to disregard the border and consider the needs of
the region as a whole," says Professor Bernie Hannigan, pro
vice-chancellor for research and innovation at the
University of Ulster. "If you consider the population base
in an area that is widely dispersed, the population of the
northern side would not be sufficient to support a medical
school, but if you take the patient base for the whole of
the north-western region it becomes a viable proposition
... Students will be trained to meet the healthcare needs
of that dispersed region."

Professor Gerry Loftus, dean of medical and health sciences
at NUI Galway is as convinced of the plan's merits as his
northern colleague. "It will have a big impact on the
region in terms of improving healthcare and economic
development. We're very keen to push cross-border
cooperation - there's something in it for all of us."

Last week, the plan received a huge boost with the
publication of the Fottrell report into medical education,
in which the Irish government committed to making 60
additional places available for postgraduate medical
education. The hope in Derry, explains Professor Jim Allen,
provost and pro vice-chancellor at Magee, is that some of
these places will go to Galway. "If they get the numbers in
Galway, hopefully the UK government, or the relevant
department here, will make a similar number of places
available and kickstart the programme."

Magee has come a long way in the 20 years or so since it
joined the University of Ulster with only 300 students.
Just as the Victorian building that once housed the college
has become surrounded by futuristic glass and steel
constructions, and the library replaced by a hi-tech
learning resource centre, so too have the expectations of
the campus and the city evolved. Derry is a modern,
forward-thinking regional capital with a vibrant and
cutting-edge university at its heart.

The medical school is just part of ambitious plans to
expand teaching provision in Magee's in areas of
excellence, including the creative and performing arts,
intelligent systems, professional legal education and
training, public administration and management, and within
life and health sciences, business studies and the arts.

Medical professionals, business interests, Derry city
council, and politicians north and south of the border are
among those who have voiced their support for the plans,
which they believe have the power to change the region for
the better.

Indeed, Allen believes the plans complement the current
emphasis on urban regeneration in Derry. "There is ample
evidence of the economic impact of a university to a
region, and if we can grow here at Magee it will have a
significant economic impact on the north-west. This isn't
just about the economic regeneration of the area, but the
social and cultural impact as well.

"There is an enormous body of evidence that suggests
graduates tend to want to stay around the area where they
graduated, so in terms of the quality of medical care in
the whole north-west of the island of Ireland, it would be
fantastic. This region has traditionally been under-
provided for in terms of healthcare and education, and
there would be enormous benefits in cross-border
cooperation in these areas."

Whether the programme gets the green light comes down to
finance. As well as the initial start-up costs, the
university must secure annual funding of £10m if the
medical school is to become a reality. It is an ambitious
target, made more difficult by the current political
situation. The violence of the Troubles may be gone, but
Northern Ireland continues to operate in political limbo as
parties negotiate over the restoration of a devolved
government.

Those involved in the medical school project insist it
should go ahead regardless of any political activity - or
inactivity - but it will be much harder to interest
Westminster in the needs of a distant region than to
convince a Stormont parliament.

"Ultimately, funding is dependent on central government,"
says Allen, "and at this point in time it hasn't been
forthcoming. We don't believe they're trying to stop it,
just that funding hasn't been made available. Our attitude
is that, irrespective of the political landscape, if
government is serious about investing for economic growth
in the north-west, the university's development plans
should be taken seriously. Whether an assembly comes into
existence or not, we hope the government will still see the
sense in investing in growth in this area."

Another key figure who maintains the plans should go ahead
regardless of politics is the SDLP leader and local MP,
Mark Durkan. He has long been a supporter of a medical
school in Derry. "We want to see progress made on its own
terms and merits, whether the assembly is restored or
whether we stay stuck without the institutions."

With a target date for the first intake of students set at
October 2008, Durkan is hopeful the medical school can
become a reality. "The government has always moved slower
as regards investing in the north-west than it does with
anywhere else, but I believe that with the backing of a
well-developed case, and with clear professional
endorsement from people in the primary care end, it is
becoming harder for people in government to just dismiss
this.

"I believe the Department of Health is now having to
reconsider previous assessments on whether existing medical
provision is enough, and I look forward to lobbying both
the Irish and the British governments

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

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/6207868.stm

NI House Prices Rising By A Third

House prices in Northern Ireland are rising by almost a
third every year, according to the latest values survey.

The cost of houses in some areas has increased by more than
65% in the past 12 months.

The University of Ulster report said Lisburn was now the
highest priced area in Northern Ireland, with the city's
average house price almost £227,000.

The survey comes as the SDLP warn about a major increase in
house repossessions.

The report said the average house price in Lisburn was now
almost £227,000.

In Craigavon and Armagh, the annual increase was almost
50%, mid and south Down saw a rise of 45%.

The slowest growth - just under 18% - was in the Coleraine,
Limavady and North Coast area.

The latest University of Ulster quarterly house price index
said the average house price in Northern Ireland was now
£180,128 - up by 32.1% on the year before.

Authors, Professor Alastair Adair, Professor Stanley
McGreal and Louise Brown - said the new levels of house
price inflation posed significant questions.

Prof McGreal said: "The rate of annual increase at over 30%
has pushed the local housing market to new dimensions which
could not have been predicted

"The big questions are whether this is a spike, how long
can such rates of increase continue and what are the long-
term implications for the housing market"."

Meanwhile, SDLP assembly member Patsy McGlone has asked for
a meeting with the Council of Mortgage Lenders over the
"130% increase in the number of house repossessions in the
last five years".

"In 2001, there were a total of 425 house repossessions in
the north. This has risen to 973 in 2006 to date," he said.

"The huge increase in house repossessions is extremely
worrying and will have serious long term consequences."

----
AVERAGE REGIONAL PRICES

N Ireland £180,128
Belfast £172,209
North Down £193,197
Lisburn £226,984
East Antrim £140,882
L'derry/Strabane £147,053
Antrim/Ballymena £171,248
Coleraine/Limavady/N Coast £200,550
Enniskillen/Fermanagh/ S Tyrone £202,965
Mid-Ulster £181,078
Mid & South Down £207,506
Craigavon/Armagh £176,145
----

He said that "with exorbitant house prices and some
mortgage lenders prepared to offer up to 5.2 times the
combined income of the house buyers, compared to 2.1 10
years ago" would lead to financial crises for many young
families.

"Many are just teetering on the edge of losing their
house," said Mr McGlone.

In Belfast the overall average price of a house was
£172,209, a rise of more than 29% over a year.

The highest priced city location was south Belfast with an
average of £208,270, followed by east Belfast with an
average price of £192,811.

The average price in west Belfast rose to £143,575 while
the north Belfast average price was £129,570.

In Lisburn there was a 42.8% gain over the year, with the
average house there now costing £226,984.

In North Down, the overall average price of £193,197
represented an increase of almost 22.3%.

Market rises

For the East Antrim market the overall average price of
£140,882 reflected a growth of 28.9%.

In Antrim/Ballymena the overall average house price rose by
21.5% to £171,248.

In Coleraine, Limavady and the North Coast, the growth was
17.8%% taking the average price just over the £200,000 mark
for the first time (£200,550).

In Derry/Strabane a rise of 23.2% brought the average house
price to £147,053.

The Mid-Ulster market average price was £181,087, up 26.3%
over a year, while in Enniskillen/ Fermanagh/ South Tyrone
the average sale price exceeded £200,000 (£209,965), up
25.7% across the year.

In Craigavon/Armagh the annual increase was 49% taking the
overall average price to £176,145.

The Mid & South Down markets performed strongly increasing
the average home price over the year to £207,506,
reflecting an unprecedented annual increase of 45%.

Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/12/05 09:28:59 GMT
© BBC MMVI

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/1205/breaking39.htm

Irish Happier But More Tired, Says EU Survey

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Irish people are happier than most other Europeans but feel
tired and worn out more regularly, according new
Eurobarometer survey on mental well-being.

The study - published by the European Commission today -
shows that 82 per cent of Irish people claimed to be happy
all or most of the time.

This was 17 per cent higher than the EU average and ranked
Ireland second only to the Dutch in terms of personal
happiness.

But only 30 per cent of Irish respondents claimed they
rarely or never felt tired or worn out - which was below
the EU average of 34 per cent.

And when Irish people do feel depressed, the survey shows
that they are more likely than any other EU nationality to
turn to their GP rather than to family for help.

Of those who admitted seeking help from a professional over
a psychological or emotional health problem, 91 per cent of
Irish people said they visited a GP.

The survey was commissioned to inform debate on a European
mental health strategy.

"The importance of mental health needs to be better
recognised. For years, the magnitude of problem has been
overshadowed by other public health matters but good mental
health of the population is a precondition for the EU's
success in the knowledge economy", said Markos Kyprianou,
European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.

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

http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1205/1165221421297.html

US Businessman Disputes $70,000 For Irish Party

Seán O'Driscoll in New York

The owner of a luxury holiday business will launch a court
appeal today to compel a US executive to pay up the last
$70,000 (€52,569) allegedly owing from his lavish $610,000
family reunion in Ireland.

Robert Greifeld, the chief executive of the Nasdaq stock
exchange, brought 16 adults and seven children to stay for
a week at Luttrellstown Castle in Dublin. He claims that he
was overcharged by $70,000 and is refusing the pay the
money for the trip, which included 32 actors in medieval
dress, banquets of wild boar, helicopter rides, a marquee
for Irish dancing and lessons in falconry, archery and
jousting.

The August 2004 trip also included four butlers who led
guests to horse-drawn carriages, goose hunts and Dublin
masseuses on hand to attend for guests.

However, Tours of Enchantment creator Gregory Patrick said
yesterday that he had three "very solid" grounds for
appeals and that his lawyer will be vigorously fighting for
the outstanding $70,000.

After a lower court dismissed Mr Patrick's case, he said he
believed a higher court in Elizabeth, New Jersey would see
that Tours of Enchantment had kept exact records of the
trip, even down to the €62 spent on glasses frames for one
of the guests, a 15-year-old boy. Mr Patrick said he
employed a courier for two days to find the right type of
frames in Dublin city but the effort of finding the glasses
was not properly seen in the itemised bill. Other expenses
included €28,000 for Mr Greifeld snr's transatlantic voyage
on the Queen Mary IIand even €100 for a leprechaun costume
for an actor performing at the castle.

Speaking at his Houston, Texas headquarters yesterday, Mr
Patrick said the case was a "David versus Goliath struggle"
to win the money from Mr Greifeld (48), who earns $4
million a year as Nasdaq chief. Most of the money was
already placed on Tours of Enchantment credit cards and has
been paid off but Mr Patrick is holding souvenir DVD tapes
of the trip until Mr Greifeld pays up in full.

"With someone that prestigious, both in terms of the size
of the contract and his status as one of America's most
powerful businessmen, we would do everything in our power
to accommodate him but we can only go so far," he said.

Mr Greifeld's firm had initially hoped that the case could
go to mediation and that a Dublin chartered accountant
could be called in to look over the figures and come up
with an agreed sum.

However, with the case heading for the appeal court today,
costs are mounting on both sides. Mr Patrick has spent at
least $50,000 on the case while Mr Greifeld is estimated to
have spent over $100,000.

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

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/476325p-400709c.html

Born To Run Around The World

When Springsteen plays Dublin, the road rises to meet him

Fans in Europe, at least, seem to get what Bruce is doing.
Above, the Boss and the Seeger Sessions Band's Charles
Giordano.

DUBLIN - It's the weekend before Thanksgiving and Bruce
Springsteen is wrapping up his "Seeger Sessions" tour, a
fireworks display of quintessentially American music, in a
city 3,000 miles and one ocean away from the nearest corner
of America.

Why? Simple. Springsteen probably wouldn't put it this way,
but basically, more people over here seem to get it.

No, Springsteen is not an exile, driven like Josephine
Baker or the Golden Gate Quartet to find personal and
artistic freedom abroad. He could put his E Street Band
back together tomorrow and sell out American stadiums by
nightfall.

But "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions," a wonderful
record by any measure, met a relatively indifferent
reception in the States last spring. It has sold under
750,000 copies, modest by Bruce standards though certainly
no flop, and his U.S. tour included the unusual sight of
empty seats.

Here, there is not a ticket in sight for any of his three
nights at The Point, a converted railroad station. The
scalpers are here, but they aren't much help. A man who
flew in from Boston says he missed the first show because
he couldn't find anyone selling.

Now it's true that potato for potato, Ireland may be the
most musical country on Earth. But European audiences in
general have often shown greater respect and affection for
the range of music Springsteen explores.

Unlike many U.S. audiences, they don't seem to feel
entitled to hear "Born to Run" at every show. They're just
as happy with "Old Dan Tucker," a fine old man who "combed
his hair with a wagon wheel and died with a toothache in
his heel."

"Old Dan Tucker" was written in the 19th century as a
lively banjo number for blackface minstrel shows. The music
came from Africa, Ireland and all points in between, and
the song is kin to the likes of "Zip Coon" and "Jump Jim
Crow."

It could have been written only in America, where it was
first published in 1843.

At The Point, 8,500 Irishmen and women hear three chords
from Mark Clifford's banjo and sing the whole first chorus
of "Old Dan Tucker" while Springsteen stands behind his
microphone, beaming.

It's a good moment in a show that will deliver more.
Springsteen has been on the road with the 17-piece Seeger
Sessions Band for more than six months, and what sometimes
sounded like delightful jam sessions in May has tightened
up. The four-piece horn section talks to the banjo, the
guitars, the accordion, the standup bass, the pedal steel
and a half-dozen vocalists.

Unchanged is the music itself, equal parts New Orleans jazz
and back-porch Saturday night, with folk tunes, Irish airs,
gospel and a double shot of rock 'n' roll weaving in and
out.

"Open All Night," from Springsteen's 1982 "Nebraska" album
that foreshadowed "The Seeger Sessions," has grown into a
jive workout that takes a break for dueling quartets of
male and female scat singers.

"Blinded by the Light," a Dylanesque rocker, takes on a
country flavor the first night and gets a little jazzier
the third. It's that rare reinvention that matches or
betters the original.

The anchor songs of these shows, including "John Henry,"
"Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep," "Jacob's Ladder" and "Pay Me My
Money Down," come from different corners of America to
address the fundamental matters Springsteen tackles in his
own songs: work, virtue, adversity, faith, community,
trouble, hope.

More to the point, they have all the exuberance he brings
to "Badlands" or "Promised Land," which makes it more
puzzling that a lot of American fans didn't even seem to
listen.

Maybe they assumed a "Seeger" record must be folk music and
decided to wait for his next E Street record - and there's
nothing wrong with preferring one style of music to another
when you're talking about the guy who did "Out on the
Street," "Johnny 99," "Independence Day," "Thunder Road,"
"Atlantic City" and "The Rising."

There is, however, a minority of fans who want to hear only
"The River" or "Born in the U.S.A.," so they go to shows
and either leave their seats or chat with friends if Bruce
dares to play, say, "Mansion on the Hill."

The annoyance this causes their fellow fans has over the
years trickled up to Springsteen himself, who on his past
couple of tours has told fans early in the evening that he
would appreciate their shutting up and listening when the
music is playing.

No such warning is needed here at The Point. There are a
few whistles and bellows of "We love you, Bruce!" between
songs, but no one yells "Glory Days!" as he starts
strumming "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live."

These fans sing the chorus of "My Oklahoma Home," another
pure American song with droll lines like "Everything but my
mortgage blown away" as enthusiastically as they would sing
"Hungry Heart." There is not a murmur when he sings the
anti-war ballad "Mrs. McGrath" and almost whispers "When
the Saints Go Marching In."

When he lifts his hand at the end of "Pay Me My Money
Down," 8,500 people spontaneously hold the final note of
their last chorus. At the very least, these folks are
paying attention.

They're also, clearly, ready to go where Springsteen wants
to take them, whether it's Thunder Road or a whole mapful
of other musical paths.

Before the Saturday Point show, a group of Bruce fans are
gathered in the bar, discussing "Seeger" as fluently as
other fans discuss "Darkness."

One woman, a 40ish blond named Claire, suggests that part
of the affection for this tour comes from the Irish roots
in much of the music. A song he wrote to close the show,
"The American Land," is so Celtic in melody that it could
have been lifted from a Christy Moore or Clancy Brothers
session.

She also suggests there's something in Dublin itself.

"Twenty years ago," she says, "this was nothing like you're
seeing today, with the malls and the fancy shops.

"I grew up just outside the city. We didn't have indoor
plumbing or running water. No telephone. Americans would
look around here today and think it's always been like it
is now, like it is in America. But it wasn't. So I think we
appreciate things a little more, and the kind of songs
Bruce is singing now, about the basic struggles, we may
relate to a little better."

As it happens, three new Springsteen coffee-table books
tend to reinforce Claire's point.

"Greetings From E Street" by Robert Santelli (Chronicle,
$35) tracks his career from the days when he was making
music but not money. Seeing Springsteen in bars and tour
motels is a good reminder that he didn't come from the
mansion on the hill. Most of the places he writes about,
he's been.

"Born to Run: The Unseen Photos" by Eric Meola (Insight,
$39.95) focuses on that breakthrough 1975 album, with a
sheaf of publicity photos of this scruffy rock 'n' roll kid
with a torn T-shirt and an Elvis button.

"Bruce Springsteen on Tour" by Bruce biographer Dave Marsh
(Bloomsbury, $39.95) tracks where he's been onstage and,
more importantly, what he did there. Powerful as the
anthemic "Born in the U.S.A." tour was, it was just one
style, one message. Those who ignore the others, Marsh
suggests, cheat themselves.

In Dublin, where the signature industry is still Guinness
beer, they're drinking "The Seeger Sessions" in.

They cheer when he sings about how the Irish helped create
America, which in Springsteen's songs is a place that has
never lost its promise even if it has sometimes lost its
compass.

"We'll be back," he tells the audience, though what that
means with Springsteen - when, who, where - is a question
whose answer he may not know yet. It's further on up the
road.

What we do know is that all three shows here were filmed,
meaning that at the very least, something too much of
America missed has not been lost.

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

http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/477110p-401425c.html

Irish Immigrants Tell Their Stories

By Bob Kappstatter

Frank Bergin of Sunnyside

Frank Bergin, 82, of Sunnyside, who came to New York
several months before the stock market crash in 1929, is
one of 35 Irish immigrants profiled in the new book "While
Mem'ry Brings Us Back Again," published by the Aisling
Irish Center.

Bergin, originally from Cork, Ireland, describes coming to
America as well as his service in World War II, in the
memoir detailing the Irish immigration experience.

In the war, Bergin fought in Alsace to clear out the German
army in Operation Northwind.

"I was shot on March 4, 1945. My outfit was approaching the
German-French border and, after 70 days in combat, we were
clearing the town of Stiring-Wendel, in sight of
Saarbrucken," he recounts. "The bullet went right through
my wrist and came out the other side as big as an egg. The
shattered bone looked as if it had been hit by a hammer. I
was quite an attraction for the local kids for some time."

Bergin spent two months in a hospital in Nice, France. Four
days after he returned to duty, the war ended. His unit's
departure train was delayed so that they could hear the
announcement of the Germans' unconditional surrender.

Bergin joined the Irish Business Organization of New York
in 1977 and ultimately served as its president. He still
works selling Florida real estate for All Nations Realty in
Kew Gardens.

The book, put together by Frances Browner, an organizer at
the Aisling Irish Community Center, which serves the Irish-
American community along the Bronx-Yonkers border, was
officially launched last week at the Irish Consulate in
Manhattan.

It describes the heartbreak of leaving family and friends -
sometimes forever - first impressions of America, first
jobs at Schrafft's restaurants, the New York Telephone Co.
and B. Altman.

Among the stories are those of Jimmy Clarke, who worked for
the Transit Authority for 37 years; bandleader and Vietnam
vet Sean Fleming; Frances Browner's uncle, Michael Browner,
a retired University of Miami English professor and father
of Carol Browner, an EPA director under the Clinton
administration; and 94-year-old entertainer Joe Cunningham,
who recounted hearing the news that the great Irish leader
Michael Collins had been assassinated.

Frances Browner said the idea for the book came from a
creative writing workshop she ran at the Aisling Center's
Friday "Young at Heart" group, with members writing their
memories of coming to the U.S. and building their lives
here.

The book is available for a donation of $20 plus $5.95
shipping & handling, by sending a check to Aisling Center,
990 McLean Ave., Yonkers, NY 10704. The proceeds will
support the center's community outreach programs.

Originally published on December 5, 2006

----
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