Ireland's Eye

County news from Ireland

Ireland's Eye

June 4, 2008

Scientologists Targeted

A DUBLIN Scientologist has defended his religion and criticized those who have held continual protests outside the Church of Scientology in recent months.

An opposition group called Anonymous has demonstrated outside the center, which is located on Middle Abbey Street, once a month since the start of the year. The protests are part of a global campaign to highlight various controversial elements of the religion.

However, Finglas man and Scientology follower Gerard Ryan said the demonstrations were “mad and laughable.”

“We believe in freedom of speech and respect that as part of a democracy people should be allowed to protest,” he said.

However, Ryan took issue with some of the comments directed by the protestors to people entering and leaving the center.

He added that some of the protesters wear masks, which a number of members of the church find unsettling.

“The situation is slightly intimidating for the women and children who visit the center,” Ryan explained. “You’d question why, if they really have something to say, they have to say it from behind a mask.

“I guess our religion is easy to attack as it is relatively new and we have quite an unusual creed and practice — therefore we are obviously weird,” he added sarcastically.

“I guess these protests will continue until the numbers drop, which seems to be happening every month. At the busiest time during the last demonstration, there may have been 12 people protesting at the most.”

Ryan, an architect by trade, said the protests are the only time in his 20 years as a Scientologist that he has been targeted because of his religious beliefs.

“Some people have the wrong idea about our religion,” he said.

“My wife isn’t a Scientologist, we don’t enforce it on anyone. The church would also prefer if its members were adults as this religion is also quite an intellectual pursuit.”

The Middle Abbey Street office is the only Irish center for Scientologists. The religion has just a few hundred followers in Ireland. However, the church has accumulated millions of followers worldwide since it was founded in 1955 by science fiction writer Ron Hubbard. Famous followers include Hollywood actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta.

The group Anonymous is understood to be made up of a mixture of anti-cult activists, college students, corporate professionals and former Scientologists.

According to a spokesperson, the group is “united in recognition of the malign nature of the Church of Scientology, the danger it poses to society and the necessity for action.”

Dublin People

Doggie Style

A FASHION show with a difference took place at a pet store on the Ennis Road. Dogs strutted their stuff on the catwalk at Petmania wearing a selection of the hottest doggie fashions, including Munster rugby jerseys and Limerick GAA jerseys.

A range of stylish leads and collars — a must for the fashion conscious canine — were on display. The show featured a mix of local Limerick dogs and dogs from Limerick Animal Welfare who can be adopted by families. The store recently launched a cat and dog adoption drive in association with the animal welfare charity.

“Mummy’s spoiled little boy” features on one of the t-shirts and for dogs who like a bit of bling there is always the pink or blue diamante collars.

Shane O’Keeffe, Petmania managing director said, “Petmania’s first annual Petmaniac Fashion Show was a fantastic event for all families. We’ got some top-class dog-models for the fashion show, the most stylish event we’ve hosted at Petmania to date.”

Limerick Leader

Gaelic Text

A NEW phone from Samsung is set to revolutionize the mobile phone business in Donegal. The Samsung Tocco is the first handset available worldwide that allows the user to choose an Irish language option with predictive text.

Due to launch in Ireland on July 1, Samsung are leading the way by embracing the large numbers of Irish speakers in the country. The phone is already attracting attention.

Gary Twohig, country manager of Samsung Mobile Ireland, explained, “Samsung are committed to the Irish market, and what better way to demonstrate this then launching our latest model with the Irish language available on it. We are now living in a modern, confident Ireland. To reflect this we decided to launch the Irish language on our leading edge touch screen device, Tocco”

He added, “This is something that has never been done before, and is a direct reflection of the increased popularity in Irish. Even non-Irish figures, like Des Bishop, are learning it!”

And it looks as though the market is set to improve steadily, with Samsung indicating that Irish will be an option in a number of new models in the future.

Twohig noted, “The decision to offer an Irish language option handset is something that we have been looking at for some time and it definitely won’t be a one off! While we won’t necessarily be launching this feature with every new phone, we will be adding it as a premium feature for key launches.”

Specific software was created for the phone for Ireland which incorporates the Irish language, with 44,000 plus words on the device which are being translated into Irish.

Samsung worked with an Irish translation company with three translators working on the project, all of them have degrees in the Irish language and over 20 years of experience in Irish translation.

Donegal Democrat

Gay Support

A MEETING aimed at boosting confidence in the North’s policing institutions is to take place between the Policing Board and Strabane and Lifford’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Group.

The meeting is one of a series being held by the Policing Board’s LGBT Reference Group which is aiming to gauge the gay community’s opinion on policing in the North.

Head of Strabane’s LGBT group Stephen Birkett said it is vital that members use the opportunity to voice any concerns they had.

“This is a really important meeting because the LGBT community have a tendency not to go to the police in situations when heterosexuals would do,” he said.

“Older people remember the time when any male homosexual behavior was an imprisonable offence. Many still fear that if they admit to the police that they are gay, the police will treat them like a criminal.

“Of course younger LGBT have no knowledge of the days when the very fact that you were gay made you a criminal in police eyes so you might wonder what stops them going to the police?

“It’s not that local reluctance to cooperate with the police, but a genuine fear of the consequences of doing so. Many gay people still believe that individual officers will look upon them as inferior because of who they are. A much greater fear is that if the police take action on their complaint they will be exposed as gay to people who don’t know they are or made the focus for further homophobic attacks.

“The police have improved enormously since the bad old days of the RUC anti-gay campaigns and the PSNI is making a real effort to reach out to the LGBT community. However it’s not perfect and there is no doubt that some individual officers do still need education about the sensitivities of our community.”

Strabane Chronicle

Death Star

AN English filmmaker is embarking on a search with a difference –- he is looking for an elderly Mayo person who will be an active participant in a documentary on their own death.

The celebrated Paul Watson, who directed some of the most iconic English documentaries of the 1970s and 1980s, arrived in North Mayo last month to begin work on a film that will chronicle the life and death of an elderly person.

Watson said he wanted to meet someone who was capable of confronting their own mortality in a frank and insightful manner.

“I want to meet a man who has worked out a few secrets of life. A brave person, coming to terms with the end -– the very thing we all know will happen to us,” he said.

Watson intends to profile the individual as he comes to terms with impending death. He will then film the wake and funeral.

“Irish people have a unique way of marking the death of a person and I want to be able to record that. The Irish have the ability to live life always aware that death has a place in life, a way of looking at life in its totality,” he said.

Watson is seeking a volunteer for his proposed film, and he intends spending some weeks in Mayo where he will contact local people and priests with a view to finding a suitable candidate.

“I am looking for the privilege of understanding someone’s life. Tell people there is someone here prepared to chronicle a life.”

Western People

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