Adams and the Speaker’s Lunch

While Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams will definitely not be supping at the White House this year, the question of whether he attends the Speaker’s lunch on St. Patrick’s Day is still up in the air.

Traditionally the Northern Ireland party leaders are all invited to the lunch, hosted by House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Traditionally, too, the president usually attends as do a slew of powerful politicians from all parties.

How Hastert will handle the Sinn Fein invite on this occasion is not known yet. After all, it is not the White House, and Adams will be in Washington at the time and meeting leading politicians from all parties.

Indeed, he is slated to attend the American Ireland Fund dinner the night before. So how will all this be worked out? 

Our guess is that Adams’ supporters will prevail and he will attend the Hastert lunch -which is the right course of action.

How About An Irish Pope?

After a Polish Pope, why not an Irish one? Well, the odds may be rather long, but if we include those of Irish descent around the globe the odds shorten considerably.

According to Paddy Power bookmakers, there are three candidates of Irish descent in the running, and all are quoted at 20/1. They are Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of England, and Boston’s own Sean Patrick O’Malley.

If you want even longer odds, two Australian cardinals, Edward Clancy and Edward Cassidy, are way up there at 66/1, right up with Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin who is quoted at the same price.

The favorite is Diongi Tettamanzi of Italy who is at 5/2 just ahead of Nigeria’s Francis Arinze who is 11/4. Chances are, however, that many of the favorites will fall by the wayside when the actual voting begins. 

It is rare for the favorite candidates to get the vote once the conclave starts. Indeed, the famous phrase that he who enters the conclave as Pope reemerges as a cardinal has stood the test of time.

Hey, who knows, years ago you would have laughed out of town at the suggestion of a Polish Pope. Now a Black Nigerian cardinal is clearly in the running. How the world has changed.

An Irish Pope On Screen

There will be one Irish Pope, however, in the coming months — even if it is only on film. Oscar nominated filmmaker Noel Pearson has received the go ahead for his new movie which is based on an Irishman named Keough becoming pope.

Pearson has been trying for some time to have this movie made and has finally secured the financing. It certainly is an intriguing premise and one that will draw a lot of attention when it is completed.

Pearson is making a welcome return to the silver screen. He kickstarted the Irish film industry along with director Jim Sheridan with their 1989 Oscar winning movie My Left Foot.

Since then Pearson has produced many of Brian Friel’s plays, including the hugely successful Dancing at Lughnasa on Broadway. His return to the screen will be eagerly awaited.

Why Sinn Fein Vote Stays Up

Opponents of Sinn Fein must be asking what they have to do to bring down the party’s popularity rating in the Irish Republic.

Last week’s Irish Independent poll showed that the party retained 9% support, just one point lower than a previous poll despite the mother of all setbacks over the past few months.

The breakdown in the peace process, the Northern Bank Raid, the slaying of Robert McCartney by IRA members were all incidents which got almost universal negative publicity for the party.

Despite that, and a significant fall in the popularity of party leader Gerry Adams, down to just 31% approval, the core Sinn Fein vote has stayed remarkably steady.

Part of it could be down to one of the immutable laws of Irish politics. When Sinn Fein is down the extraordinary overkill and gloating that takes place by their opponents is such their core support bounces back up again.

Old Rules Thrown Out

Journalism in Ireland north and south has undergone a transformation in recent times, with the naming of names becoming ever more widespread despite any evidence against the people concerned.

Under Irish law, until a suspect is charged there can be little said about his or her identity in order not to prejudice the potential jury. 

However, in the past few weeks all the major suspects in the money laundering controversy have been named in newspapers, as have the suspected killers of Robert McCartney, the Belfast man killed in a savage brawl in a Belfast bar. The gory details of most of those cases have also been carried.

The new rules reflect an ever-growing impatience with the restrictive libel laws in Ireland. Now Minister for Justice Michael McDowell is apparently preparing to loosen the laws of libel in return for newspapers policing themselves with a press council. Also, a press ombudsman or complaints commissioner will be named.