| News from Ireland
By Frank Shouldice
Setbacks Send Sinn Féin Reeling
Having been at the center of the peace process and made huge electoral
gains north and south of the border, the year has begun disastrously for
Sinn Féin. A series of unrelated events has put the party under intense
scrutiny for its policy and attitude towards crime and paramilitary violence.
Public interest in the case of the so-called ‘Colombia Three’ simply
evaporated when it was learned that three Irish Republicans facing long
sentences for allegedly assisting left-wing FARC rebels in Colombia were
no longer in custody. Their whereabouts are still unknown. The case had
created an international headache for Sinn Féin, particularly in Washington,
where the Bush Administration shows little enthusiasm for associates of
FARC.
If the party needed to move on, much worse was to follow. Police investigations
into criminal operations run by the IRA are underway and various discoveries
have tainted Sinn Féin by association. Minister for Justice Michael McDowell,
an outspoken adversary of Sinn Féin, accused its Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness
and Martin Ferris TD (parliamentary deputy) of being members of the IRA
Army Council. All three refute this allegation.
In December the peace process stalled on decommissioning and crime issues.
Shortly afterwards the Northern Bank in Belfast was cleared out in a £27
million heist. Without presenting any evidence Hugh Orde, chief constable
of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), claimed the robbery was
an IRA operation.
Relations between the Dublin government and Sinn Féin deteriorated when
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern intimated that Sinn Féin leadership knew in advance
about the raid. He added that IRA punishment beatings, held in check during
negotiations, had since resumed in Belfast.
Adams and McGuinness reacted angrily to Ahern’s intimation that they
knew anything about the IRA robbery. Sinn Féin might have been able to counter
the PSNI but the brutal murder of Robert McCartney in a Belfast bar added
significantly to their difficulties. McCartney, a father of two from a family
of Sinn Féin supporters, was knifed to death following an argument with
local IRA men. Witnesses were intimidated from giving evidence but sisters
of the dead man have courageously spoken out to demand justice. The IRA
denies involvement.
Days later a major money laundering operation was cracked open by the
Criminal Assets Bureau. Some £2 million, possibly part of the Northern Bank
haul, was recovered from a farmhouse in Cork. Significant amounts of cash
were seized in other raids around the country with suspects arrested on
charges of IRA membership. At the same time the Special Criminal Court in
Dublin jailed five men for four years for IRA membership after being caught
in possession of weapons, fake gardai uniforms and Sinn Féin promotional
material.
Sinn Féin has tried to distance itself from IRA activity in general and
these events in particular. However as we go to press, its response to so
many charges of criminality has not satisfied political parties, north or
south. Until the party’s stance on criminality and violence is credibly
clarified, the peace process is bound to stay on hold for some time.
McAleese Makes Public Apology
President of Ireland Mary McAleese apologized to Ulster Unionists for
remarks she made during a radio interview. Speaking on the 60th anniversary
of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, McAleese suggested
that Nazis had cultivated hatred of Jews by promoting sectarianism at an
early age.
She said the Nazis had given “to their children an irrational hatred
of Jews in the same way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their
children an irrational hatred, for example, of Catholics; in the same way
that people give to their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of
those who are of different color and all of those things.”
Her comments provoked outrage among Unionists, and the Orange Order canceled
a scheduled meeting with McAleese. Realizing her faux pas the President
attempted to make a full apology. “What I said I undoubtedly said clumsily,”
she admitted. “I should have finished out the example . . . It was never
my intention to simply blame one side of the community in Northern Ireland.”
She accepted criticism that she should have referred to both Catholics and
Protestants on the matter of sectarian prejudice. “That is what I should
have done if my head had been screwed on properly and clearly I made a mistake
for which I am desperately sorry.”
Burke Sent to Jail
Ray Burke, once a leading figure in the Fianna Fáil party, was sentenced
to six months’ imprisonment for tax offenses. The north Dublin politician,
formerly a close associate of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, failed to make tax
returns on undeclared income of more than 100,000 euros over a ten-year
period from 1982-91.
Burke’s fall from grace began when he appeared before a state tribunal
investigating illegal payments-to-politicians. He was found to have received
a number of illicit payments, although prior to the tribunal he persistently
denied any wrongdoing, even when he vehemently resigned his Dáil (Irish
parliament) seat in October 1997.
The 61-year-old Dubliner held a number of key posts in government, including
portfolios at the Departments of Finance and Foreign Affairs. In his circuit
court ruling, Judge Desmond Hogan noted that Burke had been a legislator
involved in passing the 1983 Finance Act “under whose provisions he is now
prosecuted.”
The maximum sentence for tax offenses is five years. But Judge Hogan
deemed a six-month verdict was sufficient. He indicated that Burke is now
tax compliant, has already paid penalties to the Revenue Commissioners,
and was reported to be in ill health. The first ex-government minister to
be jailed on criminal charges, Burke was taken to Arbour Hill Prison. An
application for the state to pay his tribunal legal costs was refused, leaving
the once powerful politician owing fees in the region of 10 million euros.
Kenny Addresses Student Shortfall
James C. Kenny, U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, spoke at several Irish universities
to promote the J-1 summer visa program. J-1 was a traditional favorite for
Irish students as it permitted visa holders to live and work legally in
the U.S. for up to four months. However, a combination of factors has prompted
a spectacular decline in numbers. USIT student travel agency in Dublin reported
a drop in applications from 6,500 to 2,800 last year.
“By the end of the J-1 season [last year] we were pretty disappointed,”
said Ambassador Kenny. “What we hope to do is get the numbers back up to
where they were. I hope that we can make it easier and more welcoming for
people to come experience [the U.S.] because I’m telling you it is a hugely
important issue for us in America.”
Students cite a variety of reasons for turning away from the program.
Ireland’s improved economy means it is just as easy to find summer work
at home. Other destinations, such as Australia and continental Europe, are
also attracting students in greater numbers. Significantly, some students
have opted out because of U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
because of stringent new security measures for applicants. J-1 students
must have an interview at the U.S. embassy in Dublin (for which they are
charged 100 euros) even though they are only applying for a summer visa.
Mandatory fingerprinting at airports has discouraged others, while restrictions
on final-year students also reduced the number.
As part of a recruitment drive, Ambassador Kenny conducted a series of
seminars at leading third-level colleges in Dublin and Cork. The seminars
were well attended, but the ambassador’s success in reversing such a strong
decline will not be measurable until later this year.
Possible End to Artists' Tax Haven
A review of tax legislation for artists living in Ireland has been called
for by an inter-party finance committee. Oireachtas committee chairman Sean
Fleming highlighted figures from the Revenue Commissioners showing that
28 artists who earned 62 million euros between them in 2001 claimed tax
exemption for that year.
Tax breaks were introduced by former Taoiseach (prime minister) Charles
Haughey in an effort to assist artists on low incomes. Some 1,323 artists
currently benefit from the scheme, the majority of whom exist on modest
means. However, the finance committee suggests that the scheme is open to
abuse when highly successful artists, such as rock stars or bestselling
novelists, remain out of the tax net even when living as millionaires. “This
must stop,” warned the chairman. Based on the committee’s recommendations,
a cap will be placed on earnings, so that artists whose incomes exceed that
limit will be subject to tax.
Save the TARA-SKRYNE Valley
The Hill of Tara in Co. Meath, dates back over 5000 years to the Neolithic
age and is acknowledged as the traditional seat of the High Kings of Ireland.
However, its immeasurable importance seems lost on the Irish government
which has approved a scheme to divide the Tara/Skryne valley with the M3
motorway. Members of the Save Tara/Skryne Valley Campaign, pictured above,
are calling on the government to re-examine the decision. To sign a petition
opposing the M3, log on to
www.taraskryne.org.
ESAT Young Scientist
Patrick Collison, from Nenagh, Co. Tipperary was named the ESAT Young
Scientist of the Year. Runner-up last year, the 16-year-old Collison, studying
at Castletroy College, Limerick, developed CROMA, a new computer programming
language particularly suited for use on the web. As part of his prize Collison
will represent Ireland at the European Union Contest for Young Scientists
in Moscow in September. Patrick’s younger brother, John, placed third in
the junior section of the contest.
News In Brief
TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern led a 200-strong trade delegation to China in
an effort to increase trade and develop investment opportunities between
the two countries.
Contacts between Dublin and Beijing have increased significantly since
1998, and last year Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and vice-premier Huang Ju
visited Ireland. Irish businesses foresee expanded opportunities in the
steady market growth of China. Last year Ireland imported 2.3 billion euros
worth of goods from China and exported goods worth 577 million euros. Most
exports were from Irish-based multinationals, and the focus of this trade
mission was to raise the export market for indigenous Irish companies .
. .
CORK City illuminated the new year with a huge fireworks display to launch
its program as European Capital of Culture. Organizers have planned a diverse
range of activities, performances and exhibitions with a vast array of local,
national and international attractions. To mark the accession of 12 new
member states to the EU, organizers will dedicate each month to an accession
state. Cork’s city center has been transformed under a massive 198-million
euros investment scheme. Patrick Street and the quays along the River Lee
have been extensively upgraded as part of preparations for what promises
to be a very busy year in what locals call “the real capital”. . .
MALLOW, Co. Cork will soon operate the only sugar processing factory
in the Republic of Ireland. Dr. Sean Brady, chief executive of Irish Sugar,
announced that the Carlow town plant, the oldest sugar factory in the country,
would cease production in March with the loss of over 300 jobs. The company
took its decision on the basis of upcoming EU reforms which they predict
will adversely affect sugar production in Ireland. However, critics say
that the decision should have been deferred until those reforms were finalized.
The Carlow sugar plant has been in operation for almost 80 years . .
.
MOUNTJOY Jail is set to close when a new prison is constructed north
of Dublin by 2008. The government purchased a 150-acre site in Thorntown,
on the outskirts of Ashbourne, Co. Meath for 30 million euros and plans
to defray the cost of the transfer by selling land on which the old prison
is built.
Mountjoy has been the subject of sustained criticism as an outdated Victorian
facility creaking from inadequate facilities and overcrowding. There is
speculation that the Central Mental Institution in Dundrum will also switch
to the new facility. On hearing of both projects, Thorntown residents were
a little less enthusiastic . . .
COLM Murphy, the only person convicted in connection with the 1998 Omagh
bombing, was released pending retrial after winning his case at the Court
of Criminal Appeal in Dublin.
The three-judge court upheld two legal challenges – possible contamination
of gardai (police) evidence, and prejudice because of Murphy’s prior convictions
– and ruled that his conviction for the Co. Tyrone bombing was “unsafe.”
A date for retrial has yet to be set. Twenty-nine people, including a pregnant
woman with unborn twins, were killed by the Omagh blast when the “Real IRA”
detonated a bomb in the town center . . .
THE government’s digital research center in The Liberties area of Dublin
suffered a blow when the prestigious MediaLab Europe announced it would
close, with the loss of 50 jobs. MediaLab was set up five years ago in a
partnership between the Irish government and Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. A company statement cited difficulty in attracting corporate
sponsorship as the main reason for its failure. “MediaLab Europe was a risk
that was worth taking but just didn’t work out,” said Noel Dempsey, Minister
for Communications. The Digital Hub project is situated in The Liberties
near the Guinness brewery at St. James. The Hub has attracted about 40 research
companies and will now seek a replacement tenant for MediaLab . . .
BUNDORAN and Buncrana are shortlisted as possible sites for a proposed
aquarium in Co. Donegal. The County Council has plans to build a 6 million
euros facility modeled on the successful Dingle Ocean World Centre in Co.
Kerry. The Council conducted a feasibility study, which endorsed the plan’s
profitability with a projected 100,000 visitors every year.
Irish Times to Move
The Irish Times is set to relocate from D’Olier Street in Dubin city
center to a more modern eight-story glass building on nearby Tara Street.
It will be a big change to the city’s landscape, as the Times has occupied
its triangular brick premises since 1895. The newspaper moved its printing
facility to Citywest on the outskirts of Dublin a couple of years ago.
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