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News From Ireland  Fianna
Fáil Form Coalition to Stay in Power
Fianna Fáil remains the dominant party in government following
May's general election. Although junior partners the Progressive Democrats
(PDs) fared badly at the polls – which cost PD party leader Michael
McDowell his seat – Fianna Fáil returned 78 seats to form
a coalition with the support of two surviving PD deputies and the resurgent
Green Party, which secured six seats.
In return, the Green Party was rewarded with cabinet portfolios at the
Department of the Environment (John Gormley) and the Dept. of Communications,
Energy and Natural Resources (Eamon Ryan).
Under Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern the government will also
rely on the support of several independent deputies.
Fine Gael performed well at the polls, gaining 51 seats but the Labour
Party, under leader Pat Rabbitte, slumped to 20 seats. Sinn Féin
failed to follow up its success in the Northern Ireland elections and
landed just four seats.
In weeks following the election Mayo independent TD (deputy) Beverley
Cooper-Flynn looks set to bolster Fianna Fáil's Dáil (parliamentary)
representation by rejoining the party. Cooper Flynn had been ejected from
Fianna Fáil following revelations that while working for National
Irish Bank (NIB) she advised some customers to avoid paying tax by investing
in offshore bank accounts. Cooper-Flynn responded to the revelations by
taking legal action against state broadcaster RTE who reported the story.
She sued for defamation but lost her case. She appealed the verdict and
lost again, which left her facing debts of 2.8 million euros in legal
fees and penalties. Initially Cooper-Flynn intimated she could not pay
these debts. However, were she declared a bankrupt she would have been
obliged to relinquish her Dáil seat so she settled with RTE for
1.25 million euros. By reaching an out-of-court settlement with the state
broadcaster she avoided the possibility of losing her Dáil seat.
Prior to settling, the Taoiseach told reporters that the Mayo deputy
would have "legitimate expectation" of promotion to ministerial
office. His comments aroused strong criticism that an elected politician
could be rewarded with promotion to cabinet level despite having been
exposed circumventing the tax laws of the state. NI Secretary Takes Up
Post
Following Gordon Brown's accession to leadership of the British Labour
Party, Peter Hain was replaced as Northern Ireland Secretary by Shaun
Woodward. The 48-year-old defected from the Conservative Party and since
crossing to Labour has been a strong supporter to outgoing Prime Minister
Tony Blair.
Woodward's appointment to Belfast came as no surprise. He served as a
junior minister to Peter Hain from May 2005 to June 2006 and takes up
his position intent on restoring full devolution under the terms of the
Good Friday Agreement. The irony is that should the NI Secretary achieve
those aims by May 2008 he would effectively do himself out of a job as
local government in Northern Ireland would make the Secretary's role redundant,
reverting power to the NI Assembly under the First Minister (Rev. Ian
Paisley) and Deputy First Minister (Martin McGuinness).
"My job is to ensure that we continue the work of taking local democracy
back to the people of Northern Ireland and that we do the second phase
of devolution, working with the First Minister and Deputy First Minister,"
announced Woodward when named to the post. "It's a huge honor and
privilege and it's a real thrill for me to go back to Northern Ireland
where I started my ministerial career."
Conlon Haunted By Imprisonment
Gerry Conlon, one of the so-called Guildford Four, remains haunted by
the miscarriage of justice that sent him to jail for 15 years. Conlon
and three others were wrongfully imprisoned for an IRA bomb attack in
Britain and although freed on October 19, 1989, he continues to struggle
with the psychological impact of wrongful incarceration.
Conlon, now 53, and Paddy Hill, who suffered a similar fate as one of
the ‘Birmingham Six,' have contributed to the Miscarriages Of Justice
Organization (MOJO) to help produce a documentary on the plight of those
who suffer false imprisonment.
Both men feel that victims of a miscarriage of justice require specific
counseling and psychiatric aftercare. "There are supports there for
guilty prisoners but not for victims of miscarriages of justice,"
Conlon told The Irish Times.
In 2005 British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a public apology to the
Guildford Four and promised that all their counseling needs would be fully
assisted. However, none of the four men received any help and only last
year Conlon began to attend a trauma counselor for the first time.
"His team are used to dealing with soldiers and victims of crashes.
Mostly it's post-traumatic stress brought on by a single moment of barbarity
or savagery but they haven't come up against someone like me before,"
reflected Conlon.
"I don't know what kind of recovery I'll have," he added. "You
might never live a normal life, but the key thing is living in hope. It's
funny, the things that serve you well in prison are still what serve you
well outside – living in hope."
The Mojo documentary is due to be screened this summer at the Galway Film
Fléadh.
Census Shows Marked Change
Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate significant
changes in Irish society between the years 2002-06. The most notable shift
has been a rapid increase in the number of foreign nationals now living
in Ireland. In that four-year period the number of foreign nationals (aged
over 15 years) almost doubled from 190,000 to 367,000. Foreign nationals
now comprise one in nine adults living in the state.
The vast majority of foreign nationals have taken up employment –
in the same four-year period almost half of all new jobs were filled by
non-Irish employees.
The CSO study also reveals a changed role for women in Irish society.
Women now comprise 40 percent of the national workforce, and far fewer
women stay at home to raise children or family. Increased prosperity is
underlined by an estimated 1.96 million cars on Irish roads, but the population
is also getting older with an average age of 35.6 years.
Norwegian Wins Literary Award
On May 14, Lord Mayor of Dublin, Vincent Jackson, announced that Per
Petterson, the Norwegian author of Out Stealing Horses, was the recipient
of the 12th International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Selected by a panel
of five international judges, Out Stealing Horses was the only translated
work on the shortlist this year. It was translated from the Norwegian
into English by Anne Born, who will receive 25,000 euros of the 100,000-euro
prize. The award is the world's largest literary prize for a single work
of fiction published in English.
Per Petterson is the author of five novels including To Siberia and In
the Wake. Out Stealing Horses relates the life of a young Norwegian man
named Trond. The novel follows Trond's move to an isolated part of Norway
to live in solitude after the death of his wife. - Bridget English
Left: The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Vincent Jackson presents Per
Petterson with his award, with Miro Palas, Chairman of IMPAC Europe.
Guinness Reviews Its Dublin Brewery
Diageo, the company that owns Guinness, is reviewing operations at the
famous St. James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin. The company would not
confirm it was considering a move to a greenfield site and
said the review was at a “very early stage.”
Based on property values in Dublin, the 64-acre St. James location would
be worth in the region of one billion euros. However, the cultural value
of the brewery is more difficult to evaluate and the historic significance
of the site where Arthur Guinness started the company in 1759 remains
synonymous with the city.
Any sale of the property would be highly unpopular, although Guinness
faces a decline in sales of its traditional product in Ireland. David
Gosnell, managing director for global supply at Diageo, said the review
would take another year to complete. “Diageo fully recognizes the
huge importance of St. James’s Gate in the history of Guinness and
Dublin city, and this important aspect of our brand and heritage will
be fully embraced in the assessment.”
Guinness is now brewed in some 50 locations around the world, but the
Dublin brewery produces about 500 million liters of stout annually. The
famous brewery, south of the River Liffey near Phoenix Park, is the most
popular tourist attraction in the country.
News in Brief
A SLOWDOWN in Ireland’s housing market is expected to have a direct
impact on the exchequer, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI)
has warned. State finances have become dependent on tax returns from construction
but the demand for housing is finally leveling off. A modest slowdown
will mean the deficit to public finances will exceed 620 million euros
this year and about 1 billion euros next year.
After several years of record growth there has been a 20 percent drop
in applications for planning permission for new apartments. Housing prices
have also slipped by three percent this year, making the average price
paid nationally for a property just over 300,000 euros. After years of
boom, some commentators are predicting a sharp decline in property values,
and the prospect of a sharp turnaround is testing consumer confidence
in property investment . . .
ROTIMI Adebari became the first black mayor to be elected in Ireland
when he took up office at the town council in Portlaoise, Co. Laois. “I
say to my fellow immigrants, ‘The sky’s the limit,’”
he said at an emotional ceremony attended by consular staff from the U.S.,
Indian and South African embassies. “Ireland is not just the country
of a thousand welcomes but a country of equal opportunity.”
Fleeing religious persecution in Nigeria, Adebari came to Ireland seven
years ago with his wife and two children. He entered the electoral system
as a councillor and was elected as an independent in 2004. “I want
to encourage immigrants to be a force in their communities, to engage
with their communities, and people will get to know you,” he said.
“Their perception of you will change just like that, and that’s
what happened to me” . . .
IRELAND has one of the highest rates of overseas adoptions in Europe,
according to a new study by researchers at Trinity College Dublin. The
study shows that up to 500 adoptions from overseas agencies take place
each year. The overseas rate is about ten times higher than the adoption
rate of Irish-born children . . .
THE Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Dublin reports that outward-bound
traffic from Ireland exceeded inward-bound for the first time. In the
period from January to March this year 1.5 million people made visits
abroad while 1.4 million passengers visited Ireland. This represents an
increase of 17 percent on outgoing traffic. Heavy congestion at Dublin
airport has raised the urgency of building a second passenger terminal
at the facility . . .
THE Department of Education reports that the one-teacher primary school,
for so long a feature of rural life, is in gradual decline. Two of 12
remaining schools closed down in Shannonbridge, Co. Offaly and Lanesboro,
Co. Longford because of a shortage of pupils. The population shift towards
towns and cities means few such schools will survive for lack of numbers.
Ten one-teacher schools continue to operate in Doonbeg, Co. Clare, Carna,
Co. Galway, Abbeyfeale and Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, Ballina and Claremorris,
Co. Mayo, Mantua, Co. Roscommon, Ballymote, Co. Sligo, Letterkenny and
offshore on Tory Island, Co. Donegal. |
