Fitt’s Finagling

I met the late SDLP founder Gerry Fitt once. In 1979 I did a TV show in Belfast with him, Reverend Ian Paisley, Jim Molyneaux and, I think, the then leader of the Alliance Party.

It was about the efforts of the Irish National Caucus to promote an “Irish Peace Forum” in Washington, hosted by the Ad Hoc Congressional Committee for Irish Affairs, “to which all parties could come without preconditions or compromise.”

Fitt and the others attacked the concept of the forum, and attacked me and the Irish National Caucus.

After the show, Paisley hurried off so as not to have to shake my hand (although in later years he has shaken my hand several times). When I shook Fitt’s hand he beamed, leaned into me and said, “Ah, Jaysus, Sean, it’s great to meet you. You are doing great work in Washington”

I laughed and said to him, “Gerry, why didn’t you say that on TV?” He smiled, did his trademark shrug and said, “You know how it is here.” He then winked and ambled off.

May he rest in peace.

Father Sean McManus
President, Irish National Caucus
Washington, D.C.

Where’s Inniskeen?

I would just like to point out to reporter Mairead Carey that she would be a long time finding any bombs in Inniskeen, Co. Louth, as she inaccurately stated in her article on “Dissidents Say They’ll Fight” in the August 10-16 issue.

Because, Mairead, Inniskeen has always been and always will be in Co. Monaghan! God bless Patrick Kavanagh, he is surely turning in his grave.

Fionnuala Monahan
Inniskeen, Co. Monaghan Ireland

What Don’t We Know?

The latest priestly scandal reported by the Irish Voice in last week’s issue suggests the only reason it came to light was because of Father Joseph Hughes’ sheer excess. It can only make one wonder how many less excessive clerical abuses, financial or sexual, still escape public attention.

Any insider will concede that church financial controls are laughable. Nothing is going to change until the laity make the clergy and hierarchy accountable.

Meanwhile, such clerical audacity will continue because, as conservatives always remind us, the church is not a democracy. But this is what you get.

Phil Ryan
Kingston, New York

Free Market Rules

The response to Hurricane Katrina clearly illustrates the priorities of Bush’s “free-market” dominated USA.

Mostly poor people without transport or medical insurance were left to fend for themselves. The authorities seemed more concerned about desperate people taking food from shops than rescuing those who were dying on flooded streets or baking highways.

Meanwhile, oil companies are taking advantage of the tragedy by hiking petrol prices.

Dessie Ellis
Dublin, Ireland

Defending Gaelic

I’m replying to John Spain’s rant against Gaelic in the Irish Voice of June 22-28. He wrote, “If you are Irish American, you are absolved from this question,” (i.e., how much Irish can you speak?) As a fluent Irish speaker born and raised in Albany, New York, I choose not to be absolved.

I have met quite a few people from the Republic of Ireland who bear some resentment for having to learn Irish in school, and even more who don’t see much place for the language in their adult lives.

But the level of rancor Mr. Spain displays indicates something more. I have found that people from the general population of the Republic who show this much animosity usually fall into one of three categories.

First there are the West Britons. They are out there, and I suspect there are more of them than are commonly recognized.

These are citizens of the Irish Republic who secretly crave reunification with the United Kingdom, and they show up in the most unusual places. I once knew an elderly native Irish speaker from the westernmost end of the Dingle Peninsula who admitted to me (only after he knew me for several years) that he was really a royalist.

Since such feelings cannot be openly expressed in the Irish Republic, West Britons do the next best thing. They attack the Irish language and other cultural institutions.

Like Mr. Spain they focus on silly things, such as the money the Irish government spends on Teilifis na Gaelige, blithely overlooking the fact that the British spend three or four times as much on Welsh language TV.

Or they raise non-issues like road signs in Irish. Every summer, loads of foreign tourists travel out from the Danish capital, and they all seem to find their way back in spite of the fact that the signs are pointing them towards Kobenhavn. Nor do tourists in Austria think the road signs to Wien are really abbreviated directions to a hot dog stand.

The second group is more insidious. While far more common elsewhere in Europe, Ireland too has a growing population of post-Christian Eurotrash.

As secularists and atheists, such people have a problem dealing with a language where the names of God and Mary show up several times in each conversation. Their crass materialism also prevents them from assigning value to anything that can’t readily be converted to euros or sterling. And finally, they are often deeply suspicious of any expression of nationalism or patriotism.

But I suspect Mr. Spain’s problems are much simpler. He just had a very hard time with Irish back in school.

He probably suffered under the system a generation or more ago when the language was very poorly taught, with undue emphasis on adherence to the artificial standard grammar, which is often a burden even on native Irish speakers. And now he may entertain delusions that his lack of success in learning Irish may have thwarted him from a brilliant career in science or academia.

Mr. Spain should really get out there and see how Irish is being taught these days, as a living language with the emphasis on communication. Maybe he should attend an intensive weekend course for adults.

In fact, what really might open his mind would be to attend one of the weekends offered here in North America (mostly on the East Coast, including Canada.)

In the Hudson Valley, only about 100 miles north of New York City, he would find groups of up to 100 or more, mostly Americans, who meet several times a year to study and practice Irish. For more information on these, check the website www.daltai.com.

Nil an Ghaeilge marbh anseo, ar chor ar bith.

Walter Stock
Glendale, New York

A National Disgrace

I am shocked by the reaction of the U.S. government to the disaster in New Orleans. It is a national embarrassment that a cherished part of our country is now equivalent to the Third World.

I supported President Bush in his efforts in Iraq, but now I can see how our own country has suffered as a result. It took days to restore some semblance of order in New Orleans, but yet we can send thousands upon thousands of troops to Iraq in a heartbeat.

President Bush talks about defending the homeland, but he’s left us defenseless. That is now obvious.

Maybe all the Irish people who criticized Bush about the war on terror in the pages of the Irish Voice were correct in their analysis after all. The Bush administration has let all of us down, led first and foremost by our desperate fellow citizens in New Orleans.

John T. Tighe
Dorchester, Massachusetts