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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)
December 28, 2006
SF: We Want A Fresh Start
News About Ireland & The Irish
BT 12/28/06 McGuinness: We Want A Fresh Start
IN 12/28/06 Tears As Father And Daughter Laid To Rest
IN 12/28/06 Ballymena Racist Crimes Go Unsolved
BT 12/28/06 Breakfast On Pluto Voted 1 Of Year's Worst Films
TRAGEDY: Jim-Joe McGuigan’s mother Eileen carries his
coffin at yesterday’s funeral PICTURE: Colm Lenaghan
(Poster’s Note: To make donations to the McGuigan Family
send your checks to:
Father Aidan Troy CP
Holy Cross Monastery
432 Crumlin Road Belfast, BT14 7GE
N. Ireland
Jay)
*********************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2108403.ece
McGuinness: We Want A Fresh Start
[Published: Thursday 28, December 2006 - 08:55]
By Ashleigh Wallace
Sinn Fein wants to see the New Year mark a new beginning in
its relationship with the DUP in a bid to secure power-
sharing, the party's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness
said last night.
He said Sinn Fein was working with both the British and
Irish Governments over the Christmas period in an effort to
kick-start power-sharing.
Revealing "considerable progress" has been made over the
last few days, including contact with the two premiers
yesterday afternoon, Mr McGuinness said: "This work will
continue in the coming days to try and ensure that
agreement can be made with the DUP to get the power-sharing
institutions back up and running as quickly as possible.
"The Sinn Fein leadership has continued to work at this
over Christmas because we want to see the New Year mark a
new beginning in the relationship between our party and the
DUP."
The DUP has said there will be no power-sharing with Sinn
Fein until republicans back the police and support the
institutions of law and order.
So far Sinn Fein has not set a date for the special party
conference which it has to call to gain backing from its
membership for support of the police.
The party faces a level of internal opposition to the idea
of endorsing the police.
Mr McGuinness gave no indication in his statement about
whether the party was closer to a date for the all-
important conference.
c Belfast Telegraph
*********************
http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=544728
Tears As Father And Daughter Laid To Rest
By Marie Louise McCrory West Belfast Correspondent
There were emotional scenes in west Belfast yesterday at
the funeral of a father and his eight-year-old daughter
killed in an car crash four days before Christmas.
James Joseph McGuigan (30) and his daughter Lorna died
instantly on Friday when the Ford Escort he was driving hit
a tree on the Ballyhill Road on the outskirts of north
Belfast at around 9am.
His other daughters Stacey and Saoirse, aged four and five,
were also seriously injured and have remained in a critical
condition in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Mr McGuigan, known as Jim-Joe, was originally from Lenadoon
in west Belfast but had been living in Ardoyne in the north
of the city in recent years with his partner Tina and their
children.
Hundreds of mourners packed St Oliver Plunkett Church in
Lenadoon for Requiem Mass for the pair.
Lorna's small white coffin was carried into the church
first by family members, followed by her father's.
Both were taken past a Christmas tree in the entrance
towards the altar where they were laid side-by-side before
a crib.
Pupils from Holy Cross primary school - where Lorna had
attended - were at the Mass in their uniforms.
During the offertory procession, the children played Silent
Night on tin whistles.
Mass was celebrated by Fr Patrick Devlin, assisted by Fr
Aidan Troy, from Holy Cross parish in Ardoyne.
Fr Devlin said Mr McGuigan and his daughter had been
"together in life in a very special way''.
"They were inseparable in life and we pray they will be
inseparable in death,'' he said.
Fr Devlin said Mr McGuigan's mother Eileen had spoken of
her son "with simple faith and immense love".
"Jim-Joe was described to me as lovable and kind,'' he
said.
"A character. Exceptionally playful. Very kind and indeed
big-hearted. Jim-Joe was very generous.''
He said "our little Lorna'' had been like "a doll with her
fairy blonde hair and big blue eyes".
"A very gifted child, a talented child, interested in
everything - animals, art, dancing and singing,'' he said.
"She brought a lot of joy, happiness and fun to her
family's life. She wanted to learn Irish dancing. She asked
her granny Eileen to teach her.
"A soft-natured child. A gentle child. Always jumping
around and laughing. Extremely grateful. Extremely polite.
"Her mum is broken-hearted. It is extremely sad to be in
this situation.''
Fr Devlin also offered prayers for Stacey and Saoirse
McGuigan.
"I am pleased to say the news from the hospital is good
this morning," he said.
"Each day, each hour, they are making improvements.
"Your prayers are still asked so their recovery will be
speedy."
*********************
http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=544736
Racist Crimes Go Unsolved
By Staff Reporter
POLICE in Ballymena failed to solve any of the 17 racist
crimes reported in the Co Antrim town in the first six
months of the financial year.
Between April and September no hate crimes were solved.
Nearly a quarter of such cases were cleared during the same
period last year.
Police said all the incidents were fully investigated by
their hate crime unit but problems were encountered such as
a lack of forensic evidence or witnesses.
In the same period the proportion of reported sectarian
crimes solved also dropped to eight per cent compared to 15
per cent for the same period last year.
Police said that often in cases of racist and sectarian
crime officers were dealing with broken windows and this
type of vandalism was difficult to solve.
The overall clearance rate for all types of crime in
Ballymena in the six-month period was 17 per cent, down
from 28 per cent last year.
But there was some good news for Ballymena police as the
total recorded crime fell from 2,245 to 2,235.
*********************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/article2108416.ece
Belfast-Shot Movie Voted One Of Year's Worst Film Releases
[Published: Thursday 28, December 2006 - 09:21]
By Claire Regan
Breakfast On Pluto, which was filmed in and around Belfast,
has been voted one of the worst movies released in 2006.
The Neil Jordan-directed movie garnered the unenviable
accolade in a run-down by internet search engine MSN of its
top 12 movie turkeys of the year.
The film, based on Patrick McCabe's controversial novel of
the same name, was filmed in Glenavy and Belfast in late
2004. Starring acting heavyweights such as Liam Neeson,
Stephen Rea, Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson, it
received favour- able reviews on release this year.
Murphy's portrayal of Patrick Braden, who leaves the
fictional town of Tyreelin in Ireland to become a
transvestite cabaret singer in 1970s London, was
particularly lauded by the critics.
But MSN reviewers were left distinctly unimpressed and
placed it firmly in the top 12 worst of the year.
"Cillian Murphy showed massive promise in Batman Begins
last year. And, to be fair, many were touched by his
embodiment of a hard-done-by Irish trans- vestite here.
"But by the end of the near- 140-minute run-time, we were
half-asleep," its review said.
Reeling In The Year: 2006 On Film also had bad news for
fledgling Bangor actor Jamie Dornan after Marie Antoinette,
in which he made his big screen debut, was also hailed one
of the worst of the year.
The production, in which the Co Down singer/songwriter and
model appeared alongside Kirsten Dunst, was branded "an
unbearably dull period drama" .
"Where some critics were praising its elaborate sets, we
were screaming at the screen for Kirsten Dunst to just say
the cake line then get executed so we can all go home," the
MSN critic said.
Breakfast On Pluto and Marie Antoinette were placed
alongside Get Rich Or Die Tryin', Big Momma's House 2, Aeon
Flux, Reeker, Garfield 2, Quentin Tarantino's Hostel, The
Guardian, Barnyard, The Original Party Animals, Scenes Of A
Sexual Nature and The Devil Wears Prada in the 'worst'
list. Get Rich Or Die Tryin' was also made by an Irish
director, Jim Sheridan.
There was better news for British film-maker Paul
Greengrass who saw United 93 placed in the top 12 movies of
the year. The English director is best known in Ulster as
the director of Bloody Sunday (2002), an acclaimed
documentary-drama surrounding the deaths of 13 marchers in
Londonderry on January 30, 1972.
In United 93, Greengrass concentrated on events on board a
plane hijacked by terrorists in the US on September 11,
2001.
Box office smash Borat unsurprisingly also won a place in
the top 12 movie offerings of 2006, alongside The Queen,
Casino Royale, The Departed, Brokeback Mountain, Syriana,
Little Miss Sunshine, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth,
Children of Men, Tsotsi and Brick.
12 worst movies of 2006
Breakfast On Pluto
Marie Antoinette
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Big Momma's House 2
Aeon Flux
Reeker
Garfield 2
Hostel
The Guardian
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
Scenes of a Sexual Nature
The Devil Wears Prada
12 best movies of 2006
United 93
Borat
The Queen
Casino Royale
The Departed
Brokeback Mountain
Syriana
Little Miss Sunshine
An Inconvenient Truth
Children of Men
Tsotsi
Brick
c Belfast Telegraph
----
To Subscribe to Irish Aires Google News List, click Here.
To Unsub from Irish Aires Google News List, click Here
For options visit: http://groups.google.com/group/IrishAiresNews
Or get full news from Irish Aires Yahoo Group, Click here
To Get RSS Feed for Irish Aires News click HERE
(Paste http://irishaires.blogspot.com/atom.xml into a News Reader)
To December Index
To Index of Monthly Archives
To Searches & Sources of Other Irish News
BT 12/28/06 McGuinness: We Want A Fresh Start
IN 12/28/06 Tears As Father And Daughter Laid To Rest
IN 12/28/06 Ballymena Racist Crimes Go Unsolved
BT 12/28/06 Breakfast On Pluto Voted 1 Of Year's Worst Films
TRAGEDY: Jim-Joe McGuigan’s mother Eileen carries his
coffin at yesterday’s funeral PICTURE: Colm Lenaghan
(Poster’s Note: To make donations to the McGuigan Family
send your checks to:
Father Aidan Troy CP
Holy Cross Monastery
432 Crumlin Road Belfast, BT14 7GE
N. Ireland
Jay)
*********************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/article2108403.ece
McGuinness: We Want A Fresh Start
[Published: Thursday 28, December 2006 - 08:55]
By Ashleigh Wallace
Sinn Fein wants to see the New Year mark a new beginning in
its relationship with the DUP in a bid to secure power-
sharing, the party's chief negotiator Martin McGuinness
said last night.
He said Sinn Fein was working with both the British and
Irish Governments over the Christmas period in an effort to
kick-start power-sharing.
Revealing "considerable progress" has been made over the
last few days, including contact with the two premiers
yesterday afternoon, Mr McGuinness said: "This work will
continue in the coming days to try and ensure that
agreement can be made with the DUP to get the power-sharing
institutions back up and running as quickly as possible.
"The Sinn Fein leadership has continued to work at this
over Christmas because we want to see the New Year mark a
new beginning in the relationship between our party and the
DUP."
The DUP has said there will be no power-sharing with Sinn
Fein until republicans back the police and support the
institutions of law and order.
So far Sinn Fein has not set a date for the special party
conference which it has to call to gain backing from its
membership for support of the police.
The party faces a level of internal opposition to the idea
of endorsing the police.
Mr McGuinness gave no indication in his statement about
whether the party was closer to a date for the all-
important conference.
c Belfast Telegraph
*********************
http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=544728
Tears As Father And Daughter Laid To Rest
By Marie Louise McCrory West Belfast Correspondent
There were emotional scenes in west Belfast yesterday at
the funeral of a father and his eight-year-old daughter
killed in an car crash four days before Christmas.
James Joseph McGuigan (30) and his daughter Lorna died
instantly on Friday when the Ford Escort he was driving hit
a tree on the Ballyhill Road on the outskirts of north
Belfast at around 9am.
His other daughters Stacey and Saoirse, aged four and five,
were also seriously injured and have remained in a critical
condition in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.
Mr McGuigan, known as Jim-Joe, was originally from Lenadoon
in west Belfast but had been living in Ardoyne in the north
of the city in recent years with his partner Tina and their
children.
Hundreds of mourners packed St Oliver Plunkett Church in
Lenadoon for Requiem Mass for the pair.
Lorna's small white coffin was carried into the church
first by family members, followed by her father's.
Both were taken past a Christmas tree in the entrance
towards the altar where they were laid side-by-side before
a crib.
Pupils from Holy Cross primary school - where Lorna had
attended - were at the Mass in their uniforms.
During the offertory procession, the children played Silent
Night on tin whistles.
Mass was celebrated by Fr Patrick Devlin, assisted by Fr
Aidan Troy, from Holy Cross parish in Ardoyne.
Fr Devlin said Mr McGuigan and his daughter had been
"together in life in a very special way''.
"They were inseparable in life and we pray they will be
inseparable in death,'' he said.
Fr Devlin said Mr McGuigan's mother Eileen had spoken of
her son "with simple faith and immense love".
"Jim-Joe was described to me as lovable and kind,'' he
said.
"A character. Exceptionally playful. Very kind and indeed
big-hearted. Jim-Joe was very generous.''
He said "our little Lorna'' had been like "a doll with her
fairy blonde hair and big blue eyes".
"A very gifted child, a talented child, interested in
everything - animals, art, dancing and singing,'' he said.
"She brought a lot of joy, happiness and fun to her
family's life. She wanted to learn Irish dancing. She asked
her granny Eileen to teach her.
"A soft-natured child. A gentle child. Always jumping
around and laughing. Extremely grateful. Extremely polite.
"Her mum is broken-hearted. It is extremely sad to be in
this situation.''
Fr Devlin also offered prayers for Stacey and Saoirse
McGuigan.
"I am pleased to say the news from the hospital is good
this morning," he said.
"Each day, each hour, they are making improvements.
"Your prayers are still asked so their recovery will be
speedy."
*********************
http://www.irishnews.com/access/daily/current.asp?SID=544736
Racist Crimes Go Unsolved
By Staff Reporter
POLICE in Ballymena failed to solve any of the 17 racist
crimes reported in the Co Antrim town in the first six
months of the financial year.
Between April and September no hate crimes were solved.
Nearly a quarter of such cases were cleared during the same
period last year.
Police said all the incidents were fully investigated by
their hate crime unit but problems were encountered such as
a lack of forensic evidence or witnesses.
In the same period the proportion of reported sectarian
crimes solved also dropped to eight per cent compared to 15
per cent for the same period last year.
Police said that often in cases of racist and sectarian
crime officers were dealing with broken windows and this
type of vandalism was difficult to solve.
The overall clearance rate for all types of crime in
Ballymena in the six-month period was 17 per cent, down
from 28 per cent last year.
But there was some good news for Ballymena police as the
total recorded crime fell from 2,245 to 2,235.
*********************
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/film-tv/news/article2108416.ece
Belfast-Shot Movie Voted One Of Year's Worst Film Releases
[Published: Thursday 28, December 2006 - 09:21]
By Claire Regan
Breakfast On Pluto, which was filmed in and around Belfast,
has been voted one of the worst movies released in 2006.
The Neil Jordan-directed movie garnered the unenviable
accolade in a run-down by internet search engine MSN of its
top 12 movie turkeys of the year.
The film, based on Patrick McCabe's controversial novel of
the same name, was filmed in Glenavy and Belfast in late
2004. Starring acting heavyweights such as Liam Neeson,
Stephen Rea, Cillian Murphy and Brendan Gleeson, it
received favour- able reviews on release this year.
Murphy's portrayal of Patrick Braden, who leaves the
fictional town of Tyreelin in Ireland to become a
transvestite cabaret singer in 1970s London, was
particularly lauded by the critics.
But MSN reviewers were left distinctly unimpressed and
placed it firmly in the top 12 worst of the year.
"Cillian Murphy showed massive promise in Batman Begins
last year. And, to be fair, many were touched by his
embodiment of a hard-done-by Irish trans- vestite here.
"But by the end of the near- 140-minute run-time, we were
half-asleep," its review said.
Reeling In The Year: 2006 On Film also had bad news for
fledgling Bangor actor Jamie Dornan after Marie Antoinette,
in which he made his big screen debut, was also hailed one
of the worst of the year.
The production, in which the Co Down singer/songwriter and
model appeared alongside Kirsten Dunst, was branded "an
unbearably dull period drama" .
"Where some critics were praising its elaborate sets, we
were screaming at the screen for Kirsten Dunst to just say
the cake line then get executed so we can all go home," the
MSN critic said.
Breakfast On Pluto and Marie Antoinette were placed
alongside Get Rich Or Die Tryin', Big Momma's House 2, Aeon
Flux, Reeker, Garfield 2, Quentin Tarantino's Hostel, The
Guardian, Barnyard, The Original Party Animals, Scenes Of A
Sexual Nature and The Devil Wears Prada in the 'worst'
list. Get Rich Or Die Tryin' was also made by an Irish
director, Jim Sheridan.
There was better news for British film-maker Paul
Greengrass who saw United 93 placed in the top 12 movies of
the year. The English director is best known in Ulster as
the director of Bloody Sunday (2002), an acclaimed
documentary-drama surrounding the deaths of 13 marchers in
Londonderry on January 30, 1972.
In United 93, Greengrass concentrated on events on board a
plane hijacked by terrorists in the US on September 11,
2001.
Box office smash Borat unsurprisingly also won a place in
the top 12 movie offerings of 2006, alongside The Queen,
Casino Royale, The Departed, Brokeback Mountain, Syriana,
Little Miss Sunshine, Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth,
Children of Men, Tsotsi and Brick.
12 worst movies of 2006
Breakfast On Pluto
Marie Antoinette
Get Rich or Die Tryin'
Big Momma's House 2
Aeon Flux
Reeker
Garfield 2
Hostel
The Guardian
Barnyard: The Original Party Animals
Scenes of a Sexual Nature
The Devil Wears Prada
12 best movies of 2006
United 93
Borat
The Queen
Casino Royale
The Departed
Brokeback Mountain
Syriana
Little Miss Sunshine
An Inconvenient Truth
Children of Men
Tsotsi
Brick
c Belfast Telegraph
----
To Subscribe to Irish Aires Google News List, click Here.
To Unsub from Irish Aires Google News List, click Here
For options visit: http://groups.google.com/group/IrishAiresNews
Or get full news from Irish Aires Yahoo Group, Click here
To Get RSS Feed for Irish Aires News click HERE
(Paste http://irishaires.blogspot.com/atom.xml into a News Reader)
To December Index
To Index of Monthly Archives
To Searches & Sources of Other Irish News
