| A political struggle  Seán
MacBride had many roles in life from IRA chief of staff to founder member
of Amnesty International. Rí-rá looks at an account of the
Nobel-winning politician and reviews the best of the rest.
The memoir of Seán MacBride — founder member of Amnesty International,
former chief of staff of the IRA and son of Maud Gonne — has just
been published.
That Day’s Struggle tells the story of MacBride’s life from
his childhood to the collapse of the inter-party government over the Mother
and Child Scheme in 1951.
 The book presents
a first-hand account of MacBride’s early life in Paris, his return
to Ireland and his friends in the Republican movement. One of the childhood
memories recounted relates to his role in helping Maud Gonne escape from
London to Dublin by disguising himself as an old woman — thus escaping
the clutches of Scotland Yard detectives.
Shortly after MacBride moved to Ireland he joined the Fianna boy scout
organisation — a training ground for the IRA. By 1921, the teenaged
MacBride was a member of the B Company, 3rd Battalion of the IRA. In March
that year he was part of a group which was fired upon by the Black and
Tans on Sandwith Street in Dublin. When a friend was shot dead in the
exchanges MacBride said that it was “the first time that I had been
really that close to death”.
After the War of Independence MacBride was asked by Michael Collins to
accompany him with the negotiating team to London. Most of his time was
taken up running despatches from London to Dublin many of which he delivered
directly to Eamon de Valera. MacBride was completely opposed to the Treaty
for a number of reasons. He had been opposed to the truce believing “we
could have got much more if we had waited”. Secondly he felt that
“the imposition of alliegance to the crown would never be acceptable
and should never be accepted”. Thirdly the Treaty would probably
involve the partition of the country, which again should never have been
accepted.
MacBride’s experiences either in jail or on the run are recounted
and we are treated to his reminiscences concerning incidents in which
he was involved.
He was chief of staff of the IRA for a period in the 1930s during which
time he argued for greater involvement by Republicans in constitutional
politics.
In 1946 he was co-founder of a new political party, Clann na Poblachta,
whose slogan was Put Them Out. Following the 1948 election, Clann na Poblachta
joined the first inter-party government with Fine Gael, the Labour Party
and two other small parties. Seán MacBride was appointed Minister
for External Affairs and his protégé Noel Browne Minister
for Health.
A bitter falling out with Dr Browne over the Mother and Child Scheme ensued
which led to the collapse of the government.
In his memoir MacBride writes that while Noel Browne “was extemely
clever in fashioning an issue in which he could have really swept the
country .. because of his irresponsible way of handling it and because
of the childishly crude methods which he used from time to time he destroyed
the strength of the issue which he had fashioned”.
Following his career in domestic politics MacBride played an important
role globally. He was a founder member of Amnesty International and chairman
of the International Executive from 1961 until 1974. He was appointed
secretary general of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva
and remained in the post from 1963 until 1970.
Very close to his heart was the work of the International Peace Bureau
also in Geneva. He became chairman from 1968 until 1974 and president
of the Executive from 1974 until his death.
In 1974, Seán MacBride was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo
and in 1977 he won the Lenin Peace Prize. He died in 1988.
That Day’s Struggle by Seán MacBride is published by Curragh
Press, price £17.50.
Gerry McAvoy/Pete Crisp
Riding Shotgun
 Gerry McAvoy was the bass
player for the Irish blues legend Rory Gallagher from 1971- 1991 —
the only constant factor on all 14 of Rory’s solo albums which sold
over 30million copies worldwide. No-one knew Rory better or was closer
to him throughout this most creative period of his life before serious
illness blighted his career.
Riding Shotgun is the story of Gerry McAvoy’s life before, with
and since Rory Gallagher. But it’s also a story about a group of
young musicians growing up amid the madness that was Belfast during the
Troubles and how out of that cauldron of violence and hatred emerged a
group of performers who were to take the world by storm and launch an
Irish assault on popular music that continues to this day. It’s
the story of how, amid the hype and insincerity of the music business,
a softly-spoken and intensely shy Corkman could become a legend: A folk
hero to whom all modern Irish musicians — from Bono to Boyzone —
acknowledge a debt of gratitude.
Based on over 100 hours of personal recollections and interviews with
many of Rory’s friends and colleagues in Britain and Ireland and
illustrated throughout with dozens of unique previously unseen photographs
from Gerry’s personal collection Riding Shotgun is a sometimes hillarious
account of what it was really like to be a musician in one of the ’70s
biggest rock bands. It’s also quite possibly the nearest we will
ever get to unravelling the complex character that was and remains Rory
Gallagher.
Pete Crisp is a freelance writer and journalist. A lifelong Rory Gallagher
fan he saw Rory and his band play live on a number of occasions. He also
plays bass guitar in a pub rock band. He lives in Kent with his three
children.
Sarah Pat O’Brien
Rooms Of Dust
 Sarah Pat O’Brien’s
father walked out of her life when she was seven years old. All that remained
were dreams of where he might be and the hope that he would one day return
to rescue his family from the poverty, disease and discrimination they
suffered. But he never came back and like so many before them they left
Dublin for Britain and the promise of a better life.
Years later, when Sarah Pat had children of her own, shadowy memories
drove her to trace her father. A long and painful search revealed he was
a soldier, a boxer, a poet and a bigamist. Patrick O’Brien had built
for himself not only a new life but a new family with a wife and son.
But who was the real Patrick O’Brien? Philanderer, liar, bully or
loving, sophisticated, indulgent father.
Through the eyes of a child, bewildered and betrayed Sarah Pat O’Brien
tells the story of her quest for her father and for herself. Beautifully
written with searing honesty and lyrical humour Rooms Of Dust is am exceptional
memoir about forging one’s own identity from the heartache of the
past.
Carole Radziwill
What Remains
 What Remains is a
vivid and haunting memoir about a girl from a working-class town who becomes
an award-winning television producer and marries a prince : Anthony Radziwill
— one of a long line of Polish royals and nephew of President John
F. Kennedy.
Carole Radziwill’s story is part fairytale, part tragedy. She tells
both with great candour and wit. Carole grew up in a small suburb with
a large, eccentric cast of characters. She spent her childhood summers
with her grandparents and an odd assortment of aunts and uncles in their
poorly-plumbed A-frame on the banks of a muddy creek in upstate New York.
At the age of 19 Carole struck out for New York City to find a different
life. Her career at ABC News led her to the refugee camps of Cambodia,
to a bunker in Tel Aviv and to the scene of the Menendez murders. Her
marriage led her into the old world of European nobility and the newer
world of American aristocracy.
What Remains begins with loss and returns to loss. A small plane plunges
into the ocean, carrying John Kennedy, Anthony’s cousin and Carolyn
Bessete Kennedy, Carole’s closest friend. Three weeks later Anthony
dies of cancer. The summer of the plane crash the four friends were meant
to be cherishing Anthony’s last days. Instead, Carole and Anthony
mourned John and Carolyn even as Carole planned her husband’s memorial.
Sean Campbell & Gerry Smyth
Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock
 Music has played
an important role throughout the island of Ireland since ancient times
and it continues to represent one of the principal cultural avenues for
the expression and exploration of contemporary Irish identities.
Beautiful Day: Forty Years of Irish Rock tells the story of modern Ireland
from the perspective of the music produced across the island during a
period of rapid, decisive change.
The volume is made up of an introductory essay followed by short essays
on 41 songs (one from each year between 1964 and 2004) interspersed with
photographic images relating to individual performers, songs and/or cultural
context.
This book places representative material by a variety of artists —including
U2, The Boomtown Rats, The Corrs, Thin Lizzy, Van Morrisson, and Sinéad
O’Connor — in their musical, cultural and historical contexts
while also introducing a
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