Savita’s death is a tragedy - shouting and debating over the loss of beautiful life

Savita Halappanavar

I was on the Al Jazeera channel on Monday discussing the death of Savita Halappanavar in Ireland.

I was struck by how, in all the shouting and debating, the soul and spirit of the young Indian woman has been lost already.

Savita died in a Galway hospital after doctors refused her request for an abortion on her fetus who they agreed was not going to live. They allegedly told her that because Ireland was a “Catholic country” she would have to wait for the heartbeat to cease.

She spent three days in terrible agony, then contracted septic shock and died.

On the show I was on the usual sides were in opposition -- those who blamed the lack of an abortion on her dying fetus as the reason why she died, and the pro-life gurus claiming that she would have died anyway from septic shock. I was there to give the American reaction.

Few referred to the fact that the death of Savita, the 31-year-old beautiful Indian woman who worked as a dentist in Ireland, is firstly an unbelievable personal tragedy.

Amidst all the recrimination and argument as to how and why she died, it appears to me the human story has been lost.

Al Jazeera played a captivating video of Savita showing off her Indian dance moves. She had the looks of a Bollywood film star and the moves of a natural dancer.

In real life this wonderful and warm Indian professional was an emigrant to Ireland, worked as a dentist in Westport, Co. Mayo and was beloved in her community. Her husband worked in Galway at an American multinational there.

She led the way teaching Indian dance to local Mayo youngsters, and was arranging the events connected with her local Indian festival when she became ill.

In the early weeks of her pregnancy her husband’s family visited, thrilled to bits at the new grandchild. One can only imagine the happy occasion, especially in a culture that adores children.

The parents were hardly back in India, however, when the complications began.

At 17 weeks pregnant, Savita was rushed to Galway Hospital with complications. We all know most of what happened next.

But what stands out in my mind is that when she asked for a termination of a fetus that could not be saved, she was told “no” and that “this is a Catholic country.”

If that is true, what kind of ignorance fueled that type of response? The woman was in excruciating pain and her doctors refused to act.

So this lovely young woman sent three days in absolute agony, a fact not disputed by anyone in this case, while doctors fulfilled some magical religious custom.

And she died and left a heartbroken husband and family behind her. Not only has her husband Praveen lost his wife but also his new baby who no doubt he was thrilled to await.

Hopefully others will not lose sight of the wonderful human life that has been lost.

Savita has now become another statistic that will fuel the incendiary abortion debate. There is no issue I know of more strongly argued and more vehemently than the issue of abortion.

Alas, Savita now becomes part of that ongoing global battle. Her story appeared on Page 3 of The New York Times this week and has sparked worldwide coverage.

But we should never forget her to be a wonderful professional woman, a wife and someone beloved by her family.

That is the real tragedy here.

‘Celtic Comeback’ or same old failures for Ireland and Enda Kenny? -- Time cover story and Irish Times lead columnist strongly disagree

Enda Kenny on the cover of Time

Landing the cover of the European edition of Time magazine this week is a landmark achievement by Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

But more importantly, Time magazine’s imprimatur for the “Celtic Comeback” as it headlined the piece, is a powerful weapon for Kenny to swipe his critics with.

Like most Time cover stories it is a fluff piece on the Irish leader who comes across as pleasant and incisive about what he has to do.

“I see returns in the signs of confidence,” Kenny said.

“People tell me their own stories, about how they have come through great difficulty. But now they have a new sense of values and they see new horizons opening up.”
Kenny described the Celtic Tiger boom as false years that were “built on the veneer of endless wealth without hard work.”

The Time piece will help Kenny battle those critics who have been growing in numbers in recent months as emigration spiked and bad times continued.

He is heading into a ball-buster of a budget in December which will hit the middle class very hard indeed.

They are already beleaguered and increasingly hostile.

Now comes a new cloud on the horizon in the context of alleged political corruption

Last week there were strident calls for the resignation of Health Minister James Reilly, after news of alleged sweetheart deals for a property tycoon in his constituency surfaced. There was also outrage after another Minister Phil Hogan was alleged to have blocked a Traveller family from getting a house in a development in his constituency

That is poisonous stuff given Ireland’s recent history and led to an extraordinary attack by FIntan O’Toole, Ireland’s leading columnist, who writes for the Irish Times on the ethics of Kenny’s government.

O’Toole claimed Fine Gael had taken on the same wide boy and coercive politics that their hated predecessors Fianna Fail had.
He wrote:

“For Fine Gael, the formula makes complete sense. It has replaced Fianna Fáil as the chief operator of The Machine, the system of clientelist politics that has held power since the 19th century. It can stay in office for a very long time by becoming as adept and unashamed in its manipulation of the levers of power as the party it looked on for so long with all the envy of a shy, spotty youth watching the slick rogue getting all the girls. The jilted lad would console himself by raging that the rogue was a bad character. But secretly he dreamed of being the rogue himself.

“And now he is. Fine Gael has been given control of The Machine and is testing out what it can do. Oooh, look, says James Reilly, pull this handle and it can deliver primary care centers for me and my buddies! That’s nothing, says Phil Hogan, if you pull this switch, you can stop Traveller families moving in to a housing estate in your constituency. Feck your civic democracy, I’ve a Merc outside.”

Kenny can at least point to international opinion that he doing the right thing. Suffice to say that like many leaders, (see Tony Blair) Enda Kenny is probably appreciated more outside his country as the Time cover shows than  he is inside it.

Which version is correct, the Time magazine praise or Fintan O’Toole’s hard-hitting critique?

That will play out in the months and years ahead.

Latest "Get Gerry Adams effort" is led by deeply troubled woman -- Dolours Price has long history of mental illness after force-feeding

Political activist and former volunteer for the Provisional IRA Dolours Price
(Photo: Pacemaker)

Long ago and far away there seems little doubt that Gerry Adams was a senior figure in the IRA in West Belfast.

How could he not be? His neighborhood was under siege from the British Army and every able-bodied man back in the days when the Troubles were at their height was involved.

What is interesting about recent attempts to get Adams to admit the past is how the context is never given.

Decades of  complete Unionist misrule led to a tinder-box situation after civil rights marchers were batoned and beaten off the streets in 1968 and 1969.

It all  inevitably exploded and then all hell broke loose when the British Army was called in to defend the indefensible status quo we had Bloody Sunday and a fully fledged IRA campaign. That was the Northern Ireland that Gerry Adams grew up in

Dolours Price, now Gerry Adams chief accuser was caught up in it too, coming from a strong Republican family.

In March 1973 she was arrested on board a plane going to Ireland just as a 300 pound bomb detonated at the Old Bailey courts and one person was killed and many injured Her sister Marian was arrested alongside her.

Her time in prison did not go well. She and her sister went on a hunger strike and were force- fed for 200 days an horrific experience which has caused much of the mental trauma she experiences today.

Almost 40 years on, Dolours Price the former wife of actor Stephen Rea, is sadly still suffering the effects.

“She had a history of psychiatric problems and substance abuse,” said journalist Ed Moloney.

“She has been diagnosed with PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder], had been hospitalized repeatedly, and....(is)  taking strong psychotropic drugs.

Indeed, on the day she spoke to [The Irish News] she was on day leave from St Patrick’s psychiatric hospital in Dublin.” Moloney said referring to the controversial interview she gave  to that newspaper where she first alleged Adams sent informers to their death.

She is unrepentant about her past and makes no bones that she wants to destroy Adams and the process if she can.

The Irish Sunday Times quoted her this weekend  saying she defended her acts while in the IRA and actually enjoyed them. “It was an exciting time, there was no real order or structure to everyday life, the war had taken away all normal routine ... I should be ashamed to admit there was fun in it in those days,” she said.

The same Sunday Times article notes that in 2001, Price was found guilty  in a Dublin court of stealing prescriptions. “She seems to have an alcohol problem but is taking steps to address it,” said Judge Thomas Fitzpatrick .

Five years later Price was disallowed access to Maghaberry prison, where she was visiting a dissident republican prisoner “She was verbally abusive and threatening and was in no condition to be allowed into the visiting area,” said a senior Prison Service source.

She has also received three convictions for theft in recent years and has attempted suicide.

Little wonder Adams does not feel it is politic to pursue her accusations against him in court.

Last weekend he stated: “I am not of a mind to trail Dolours Price through the courts . . . she is unwell.”

Those who are putting her up to the statements she is making, given that she is a seriously ill woman have a lot to answer for it seems to me.

She should be allowed time and space to try and recuperate from her many problems It is sad to see her used as a “Get Gerry Adams” vehicle by sections of the media.

Irish government cuts to the disabled show they are badly out of touch -- Will they now tackle the unions and the welfare entitlements?

Group of disabled Irish people protest proposed government cuts

DUBLIN: I drove past Leinster House, the Irish parliament building in Dublin, last week and saw an extraordinary sight.

Protesting outside were scores of disabled people, many without arms and legs, because the government had stated they were cutting the budget for their helpers. The protestors were almost outnumbered by the media.

The airwaves were full of their plaintive complaints that their caregivers were being laid off because of budget cuts.

The images and interviews were horrible for the government and they quickly reversed the cuts. But it left a trail of damage behind.

The immediate question was what kind of government could do such a thing to the most vulnerable of all in their community?

They will argue differently of course, that they have no choice given the demand by European authorities that they slash their budgets.

Yet the few million or so in cuts that would sever help to the disabled hardly seem worth the human cost. The government seemed unable to comprehend how bad the optics from the cuts to the most vulnerable would be.

The fact is that the disabled looked like an easy target and the Irish government has yet to confront the elephants in the room when they talk about cutting.

The Croke Park agreement, which set benchmark increases for public union workers who mostly have government jobs, remains the most controversial deal that this Fine Gael/Labour government is abiding by.

It freezes massive amounts of money and sets them aside for public union workers pay increases and increased government benefits.

The deal was struck by the previous government during the Celtic Tiger and all seemed fine at the time as it allowed the government workers to share the wealth with the private sector, which was booming.

That day is long gone and private sector workers have had their benefits slashed and pensions decimated.

Yet the government has refused to touch the public union contracts with the government workers agreed under the Croke Park deal. The Labour Party is deeply entrenched with public unions, which makes it even more difficult to tackle them. But the pressure is mounting, especially as $3 billion dollars in further cuts have to be made.

Ireland’s very generous welfare allowances have also been left untouched. The Sunday Business Post this weekend reported that the IMF has told the Irish government must target those welfare deals such as extra money for every child you have.

Does the Irish government have the stomach to tangle with the public unions and the welfare entitlement programs?

Certainly, given the disastrous experience of how they handled the cuts to the most vulnerable in wheelchairs there is no guarantee they will handle it effectively.

If they do not they may face an election a lot sooner than they would wish.

Why are the English cheering for the Irish at the Olympics? -- All changed utterly as old foe embraces Irish competitors

Irish Olympic team greeted with a warm reception in London

Des Cahill, an Irish sports commentator, put the cat among the pigeons yesterday when he tweeted “The English public are giving massive support to all the Irish athletes at the Olympics. It’s embarrassing, knowing it is not done in reverse.”

His tweet drew a massive response. His point was clear. At every competition where an Irish athlete was participating, the English fans cheered and clapped loudly, second only to their support of their own athletes.

It was clear from the opening ceremony that the English crowd heartily approved of the Irish team as they walked into the stadium. The US, British, and Irish teams got the largest cheers according to media who were there.

What is going on?

As Des Cahill pointed out, it is highly unlikely that the Irish, if they were hosting, would cheer as loudly for the British.

I guess it has to do with conqueror and conquered but also with more recent events which have taken the edge off the sad history.

Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Ireland last year was truly a watershed. Her conciliatory actions there and the massive approval of the Irish people registered heavily in Britain, where she is seen as the ultimate class act by many.

The fact that The Troubles are over and that Londoners, in particular, no longer go around worrying that they will be targets of an IRA bombing, also improves relations dramatically.

When the violence stopped, the healing began and the relationship now is on far more equal terms.

Many Irish for their part proclaim they are still anti-British, but after seeing the work that men like Tony Blair did to make the peace process happen, not to mention the apology for Bloody Sunday and the Famine, it is hard to hold that grudge much longer.

Besides, there has been been so much intermingling over the years that the shared ethnicity is a binding factor.

Take soccer legend Wayne Rooney, born of Irish Catholic stock in Liverpool. Take Tony Blair whose childhood holidays were spent in Donegal with relatives, or take Danny Boyle, whose mother is from Galway, who pulled off the massive Olympic opening ceremony, as examples.

It is a very healthy and welcome sign that the British are cheering for the Irish in London and it is no exaggeration to say that the day will come soon when it is reciprocated in Ireland.

That is how it should be for two countries who have been so intertwined in a negative way for so long but who are now learning how to live together so much better.

The Olympics and the reception for the Irish is another step forward in the right direction.

New IRA group a bad joke but no one is laughing - Delusion of grandeur that they can end peace process

A new IRA group wants to threaten the peace process.

Yesterday the widely respected Guardian newspaper led with a story that an organization calling itself the IRA, composed of different factions of dissidents, has come together and is intent on threatening the Irish peace process.

The group is a sick joke.

The new grouping, which simply calls themselves the IRA, came together in Derry and told a Guardian journalist that a new and combined campaign against British rule would begin.

To which I say horse droppings.

For over a decade various dissident groups have tried to reignite war in Northern Ireland and failed spectacularly.

The war is over, the troubles are part of history, the new political order has the overwhelming support of the majority of all the people of Ireland.

Clearly some of the dissident groups have developed delusions of grandeur that they can change all the facts on the ground.

Maybe these new Desperate Dans need reality checks, or should try Viagra to prove their manhood if they need to threaten to kill fellow nationalists as well as unionists to prove their macho muscle.

Someone needs to tell the new and disimproved version of the IRA that they are fighting a lost war, that the train left the station some time around 1998 with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

The GFA is an attempt to find an agreed Ireland where every group and party can find access to power and be part of.

The power sharing government of Northern Ireland has smany problems but when you consder the alternative – IE this new “IRA” then you realize we have a lot to be thankful for.

Gerry Kelly former IRA leader and now a Northern Ireland Minister puts it best.

“This is further evidence that they have no strategy and their aims are as clear as mud. RAAD, for example, have claimed to be an anti-drugs group who have now joined a larger ‘dissident’ group with different aims. This move appears to be more to do with egos and personal fiefdoms than anything else.

“That is not to say that they cannot be dangerous,” Gerry Kelly cautioned.

“They have in the past killed people, the majority of whom have been from the nationalist community. However, these actions can take us nowhere.

"Meanwhile, they are happy to risk the lives and liberty of young, impressionable people to achieve nothing.

“There is no community support for these groups. They need to desist and they need to realise that they cannot achieve a united Ireland in this way

Amen to all that.

In NYC Martin McGuinness talks Queen Elizabeth and peace in our time -- Sinn Fein leader recalls historic handshake and how old enemies change

Martin McGuinness

Peace comes dropping slow in Northern Ireland.

In New York this week, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness recalled how just very recently hardline unionist Willie McCrea finally greeted him with a “hello” and recognized his existence—after 30 years or so of sharing the political space, first as enemies, now as government partners.

"That shows how the peace process has advanced nowadays," McGuinness said in an interview at our office.

Facts on the ground, communities working together, North and South, in ways that would never have been possible during the bad old days. New roads, new hospitals, and new business connections are all cementing the most successful peace process of the modern era.

Then of course there was the meeting and handshake between the former IRA commander and the Commander of the British Armed Forces, Queen Elizabeth, in Belfast recently.

“Haven’t washed my hand since,” McGuinness joked before getting serious.

He told the Queen that he acknowledged the hurt that the death of Lord Mountbatten, her relative and close confidante, who was blown up by the IRA in 1979, had caused her.

He didn’t try to slide the Mountbatten issue to one side or to elide the deep harm done in her majesty’s name to generations of nationalists.

It was an extraordinary moment he said, one that he had prepared for since the Queen made a major effort during her visit to the Irish Republic last year.

The debates in Northern Ireland these days are more likely about water rates than The Troubles. The fact that McGuinness was away from the North during the height of the Orange marching scene sends its own signal of normality.

We noted that all was changed, utterly illustrated by the fact that Lennox the dog who was condemned to die hogged the headlines over the July 12th build up.

The protestors outside the British and Irish consulates in New York last week were for Lennox, not the IRA, or attacking British perfidy.

Such is the new Northern Ireland that Martin McGuinness now jointly oversees with Peter Robinson the DUP leader.

It is a different landscape where much work needs to be done but the future looks bright indeed.

To insiders, McGuinness being greeted by Willie McCrea was every bit as big a deal as shaking hands with the Queen. Peace will continue to fall slowly but surely on the land.

Queen Elizabeth has met bloody dictators and has blood on her own hands -- Alleging meeting Sinn Fein is dreadful for her is ridiculous

Queen Elizabeth will meet with Martin McGuinness later this week.

Queen Elizabeth once met with Idi Amin, the butcher of Africa, who is believed to have been responsible for 300,000 deaths in his native Uganda.

She said nary a word at this meeting about the alleged atrocities, stories of which were circulating at the time, in 1971.

Contrary to popular revisionism, Nelson Mandela was not leader of a peace loving organization called the ANC when he met Queen Elizabeth. Indeed the ANC had quite a reputation for ruthless violence at its height.

Those are just two of the leaders Queen Elizabeth has met who had blood on their hands.

Some would argue that Elizabeth herself, both historically and during her reign, had a fair amount of the red stuff spattered on her royal arms as well, given the many nasty colonial fights her country entered into in her name.

All of which is to debunk the shrieks of horror and awe in Britain and partly in Ireland now that the Queen will meet Martin McGuinness this week.

Even the Guardian that naturally Republican minded newspaper (in the British sense) newspaper had sympathy for the Queen’s plight.

The Sunday Times had its usual monarchical nonsense. Their editorial stated “Grit your Teeth Maam” and said that the queen “has to do so many unpalatable things for the good of her subjects”.

Don’t you love that word subjects? Not citizens? We in America fought a successful war to escape that designation.

The Martin McGuinness quarrel with the Queen was quite naturally that designation and that he and 500,000 other Irish were made unwilling subjects of the Queen by the utterly unjustified partition of Ireland in 1921.

That quarrel has been resolved and a fair-minded solution all around found for the present and most likely any future changes will be done peacefully.

So quite naturally, as representative of his people freely elected, Martin McGuinness should meet the queen. Both McGuinness and the Queen suffered grievous losses in the years of “The Troubles”.
It is a sure sign of the New Ireland that they can now meet as equals, both representing their people, though one is elected and one is not.

She should be happy to greet him as a symbol of the New Ireland where peace and equality will reign
It is nothing more dramatic or different than that – the British media notwithstanding.

Ireland’s “Yes” vote on Europe means Germany must act

"Yes" vote on Fiscal Treaty keeps Ireland in the game

A “Yes” vote  on the European treaty has kept Ireland in the game a senior Irish government official told me yesterday.

“This is as much about psychology as any reality about the treaty” he said, pointing out that a “No” vote would have slammed the door in several European capitals on Irish efforts to have the Anglo Irish bank debt renegotiated.

It is easy to see that reality. With Germany, in particular, assailed on all sides these days, a “No” vote in Ireland would have been a very unwelcome development in a very bad week for the Euro project.

Now Ireland can at least point to its success in passing a pro-European referendum despite a massive anti Europe mood across the country and indeed the continent.

It allows the Germans in particular more breathing space while they consider the overwhelming question that needs to be addressed.

Is the EU about full federal monetary union where like in the US the federal government bails out individual states if that is called for, or is it just a loose and increasingly unworkable arrangement between states with vastly different economic profiles?

It needs to be the former for the Euro to have any chance to survive, but whether Frau Merkel sees it that way remains the one overwhelming question.

Yesterday’s win in the Irish referendum shows that the Irish for one, continue to believe in the European project but the future still lies with the big boys of Europe, especially the Germans, who are failing to act decisively as Europe teeters on the brink.

The bad news on the American economy yesterday merely highlights the need for quick and decisive action in Europe. The last time Europe dithered like this the Second World War ensued as Hitler swept to power. We could be  looking at an economic equivalent if the Germans do not act soon.

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams as Ireland’s next Prime Minister? -- New poll makes it a possibility after the next election

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams

Gerry Adams as Ireland’s next prime minister may not be as fanciful as many think.

The real prospect of Sinn Fein leading the next Irish government is now apparent.

The latest opinion poll in the Irish Times shows Sinn Fein leaping to 24 per cent support with fellow opposition members Fianna Fail at 17 per cent and independents at 15 per cent.

Gerry Adams is now the most popular party leader after an eight point jump put him ahead of Enda Kenny
That combined total of opposition votes puts them at 56 per cent, well ahead of the governing coalition of Fine Gael and Labor who amass only 42 per cent of the vote.

It is clear that Sinn Fein are having the Labour party for lunch, the Labourites are down to 10 per cent with the vast majority of their voters shifting to Sinn Fein.

Even Fianna Fail, architects of the economic mess, are making a comeback because they are in opposition

It is inevitable in a massive economic downturn that the government parties take the heat. But the Labour Party is especially being decimated.

It is always thus it seems. Minority parties in governments --see Liberal Party in England, are usually the ones who take the brunt of the criticism.

The poll is yet another milestone for Sinn Fein who have commenced an inexorable march towards power in Ireland North and South.

While the shadow of the North’s war loomed large even in the recent presidential election, as time passes such concerns will disappear.

The next election is not due until about 2015, by which time Sinn Fein will have had several years to consolidate power.

They happen to be very good at that and are finally luring good young candidates in the Irish Republic to match the calibre of their leaders in Northern Ireland.

The European treaty poll this week should pass, according to all the experts and polls but one wonders if there is not a hidden no vote lurking in the undergrowth.

Certainly, given the statistics of this latest poll, if anti-government voters turn out in numbers they could easily defeat it.

There will be many nervous faces until the votes are counted.

Corrupt politicians always ruled Ireland

Garrett Fitzgerald

I hold no brief for Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern, but the fact that he was found guilty of corruption by a tribunal, not a court, does weigh in my opinion of him.

Allegations not proven in court but made in the course of an inquiry, where the defendant has no day in court to mount a defense, weaken the very nature of justice.

Was Ahern corrupt?  Very likely, but we’ll never know as a jury of his peers has never considered the matter.

The Irish tribunals were a farce. Many believe they were conceived in order to give politicians who ordered them up enough time in power to get their jobs done, money stolen and only worry about the consequences later.

But the fact is that Ahern was a symptom, not the root of corruption in Ireland. The father of the Irish state Eamon de Valera stole the money he raised in America from Irish expats and used it to start the Irish Press Newspaper Group, which became the basis of his family fortune.

The One True Holy and Apostolic Ireland de Valera created was where God and Mammon lived side by side, pockets got filled and souls got saved or discarded by whatever means necessary as long as the power elite in business, church and politics got theirs.

It was to hell, or America or Britain, with the rest of the suffering idiots formerly called the citizenry.

Some politicians held up as beacon lights of probity proved not to be.

There are few more revered in retrospect than former Taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald, yet consider the following from the RTE website in 1999:

“Former Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald has confirmed that AIB and Ansbacher wrote off debts of almost £200,000 that he owed them six years ago. He was in financial difficulties at the time because of the collapse of the aircraft leasing company, GPA, in which he was a shareholder. Dr. FitzGerald was quoted in today’s Examiner newspaper as pointing out that the write off occurred after he had left politics. He insisted that no favors were asked or given.”

I find the last line especially hilarious. No favors were given? What is a £200,000 write off in 1999 -- close to $600,000 in today’s money?

Now if you replaced the name FitzGerald with Ahern there would be consternation and  damnation all over the place. At last! Proof that Bertie had his hand in the till!

Yet there was no investigation of FitzGerald’s miraculous loan write off, no calls for an inquiry.

When it comes to corruption in Ireland no one was clean or safe. Not the founder of the state de Valera, the most “honest” politician FitzGerald, or the longest serving taoiseach Ahern.

Add in the various golden circles that surrounded most of the Irish political leaders and you have a fair old recipe for corruption and graft on a massive scale.

Ahern did powerful work on the Irish peace process which is why I will always temper my criticism of him.

In a corrupt society he was just one of many. The hands in the till fumbling for the greasy pence were at it long before he began. He just happened to get caught.

President Xi Jinping’s visit to Ireland then China’s deep connection with the Shannon region

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping accepts a piece of bog oak from Shannon Development CEO Vincent Cunnane

One of the most unusual stories involving Ireland and China unfolded in the Shannon region recently.

On the afternoon of February 18. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the future premier of China, spent several hours at the Shannon Development Zone paying homage to the region that inspired the Chinese economic miracle.

Yes, you read that right. The next leader of what many consider will be the most powerful superpower of all in this century made clear that the inspirational example of Shannon and its economic development
zone had been a major factor in the rise of China.

Shannon Development pioneered the set-aside economic zones, the creation of the first ever duty free and, not to be forgotten, the invention of Irish Coffee.

Last week in New York, Shannon Development CEO Vincent Cunnane recounted how the rural corner of Ireland became an inspiration to Communist China.

Back in the 1980s as China emerged from the dreadful excesses of the Mao era, leaders began searching the world for an economic model.

Deng Xiaoping, a huge reforming figure, sent Jiang Zemin (who was to become president from 1993 to 2002) and a team on a world tour to investigate new models of economic development.
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The Chinese landed in Shannon and were blown away by the duty free zone and how it worked. As Cunnane points out, the zone was a perfect example for the Chinese as they could not turn the entire country into an economic powerhouse overnight, but they could see how specially selected economic zones could work for them.

As Irish Times journalist Conor O’Clery noted, “The place that apparently impressed (the Chinese) the most was the Shannon industrial duty free zone. I’m told they were also very impressed with the informality of their Irish hosts, who took them to Durty Nellies pub afterwards for a sing-song – which may explain the warmth with which the Taoiseach (President) Bertie Ahern was greeted by President Jiang in Beijing in 1998.”

The Chinese government subsequently opened four special economic zones in 1980 on the Shannon model which were extremely successful in attracting foreign investment, stimulating trade and invigorating growth. There are now more than 9,000 such zones all over the country.

In the past 20 years, powerful Chinese leaders have come to Clare and studied Shannon Development. 
They included President Jiang Zemin; Premier Zhu Rongji; Premier Wen Jiabao; Vice Premier Huang Ju and Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan.

Xi was just the latest in a group of leaders to undertake what has become a pilgrimage for Chinese leaders. Cunnane believes that China will now become a major player for Ireland’s economic recovery, and that Shannon will lead the way.

It is a believe it or not story, but one that now looks like it will have a happy ending.

The real truth about the Boston College taped IRA interviews

Gerry Adams (Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland)

There is clear evidence that journalist Ed Moloney and researcher Anthony McIntyre knew full well before the Boston College IRA project began that they could not guarantee confidentiality or legal indemnity to the IRA members who participated in the oral history project.

Moloney and McIntyre are now trying to sue to stop the tapes from being handed over to the Police Service of Northern Ireland after a Boston judge found that Boston College had to surrender the interviews.

The judge found that they may contain information that police in Northern Ireland want to follow up with regarding crimes committed by the IRA.

McIntyre is on the record as saying that they had complete certainty from Boston College that the interview participants, all former IRA members or Loyalist members, had indemnity.
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Here is what McIntyre told a radio interviewer: “The assurances from Boston College were very firm."

“In 2000, when the project was first mentioned, I asked specifically, what would be the arrangements?

“I was told by the Boston College representative, whom I met in Belfast, that under no circumstances would they accept archival material into their library to form part of their archive if there was any possibility, the remotest possibility, of legal repercussions, for those who had donated their interviews.

“And they were very specific about this. The Loyalist researcher also asked them the same thing. And he was told it was firewalled against any legal incursion from the British.

“[Q:] Did you have that in writing? Did you have legal assurances?

“[McIntyre:] We had a contract in writing, a Donation Agreement, which was given to the people concerned, the people who were doing the interviews, which explicitly stated that they, at all times, would be in control of the release of the information and only they, and no one else, could release it prior to the death.”

How then does this gel with a Boston College affidavit introduced in the court which directly denies this statement?

The affidavit states, "Prior to the commencement of the project, Robert K. O’Neill, the Burns librarian (where the tapes were to be housed) cautioned Moloney that although he had not spoken yet with Boston College’s counsel, the library could not guarantee the confidentiality of the interviews in the face of a court order.”

Here is a fax from O’Neill to Moloney sent in May of 2000:

“A further affidavit states . . . each interviewee of the project was to be given a contract guaranteeing confidentiality ‘to the extent that American law allows.’”
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And here is what Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College says:

“I think that our good friends in Ireland seem to lack a fundamental understanding of the American legal process. We fought the fight and the fight was lost. And our hope is that the second round of the fight may prove differently.

“I think what hasn’t been stated here is that when this agreement was reached, an agreement was signed between Boston College and Ed Moloney that stated that each interviewee is to be given a contract guaranteeing confidentiality to the extent that American law allows.

“That seems to be forgotten by Mr. McIntyre and Mr. Moloney. That they were told to tell the interviewees that the confidentiality would be given to the extent that American law allows…

“The (donation) agreement between Moloney and McIntyre is bound by an earlier agreement, Agreement ‘A,’ which states each interviewee is to be given a contract guaranteeing confidentiality to the extent American law allows.”

So Boston College is clear on that, and Moloney and McIntyre, either through legal inexperience or not checking properly, continued with the interviews on shaky legal grounds, which have now precipitated an almighty furor.

As I have written before, the Boston College project was deeply flawed form the start.

Both Moloney and McIntyre are arch critics of Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, and the only people interviewed were of the same opinion.

The lack of academic objectivity to begin with should have been clear to anyone who cared to check, as Boston College should have.

Now Moloney and McIntyre are defending the indefensible. They initiated a “Get Gerry Adams” project, roped in a gullible Boston College and it has now blown up in their faces.

Moloney and McIntyre can point the finger of blame not at Boston College or the courts but squarely where it belongs -- at themselves.

Owen Patterson- a different kind of Northern Ireland secretary

Owen Paterson

Owen Paterson recently took part in a 1,000-mile horse race across Mongolia.

It is hardly the resume item you would expect to see on a Northern Ireland secretary’s bio, but Paterson, 55, is hardly the conventional type of politician.

He rarely beats about the bush even when on the defensive, which his government was last month after it announced that it would not hold a new public inquiry into the Pat Finucane murder back in 1989.

Finucane’s widow Geraldine essentially stormed out after British Prime Minister David Cameron said no to the public inquiry into a murder for which the order, many believe, came from the very top of the British government back in 1989.

Over breakfast in Manhattan last week, Paterson says he accepts the finding of earlier tribunals that there was collusion -- a chilling admission in itself when you think about it -- but says a new public inquiry would not clear up the matter.

He points out that many of the original actors have now died, and that a lengthy but incomplete public inquiry would not necessarily help bring about the truth.

Instead his government has proposed that Sir Desmond de Silva QC, highly praised for his pursuance of UN war crime prosecutions in Sierra Leone, "carry out an independent review to produce a full public account of any state involvement -- the army, the (then) Royal Ulster Constabulary, the security service or other U.K. government body.”
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The Finucane family finds this unsatisfactory. Paterson says he is sorry, but that is what his government will do.

He points out that good faith has been established by the Saville Inquiry, widely praised for its finding on Bloody Sunday, and that his government is keen as anyone to put the murky past behind them in Northern Ireland.

Bottom line, however, is we can hardly expect the full truth anytime soon on how high up the Finucane murder order came from.

Paterson is refreshingly blunt for a politician, and greatly favors a bigger focus on economic issues in Northern Ireland and the future role he may play.

He notes the fact that 70% of the Northern Irish workforce is dependent on government for their jobs.  It is an insane figure, and Paterson has made no bones about making his own strong feelings on the topic known.

Paterson says that corporation tax reduction in the North, such as the rate that applies in the Irish Republic, is a key aim in order to attract more investment.

He had recently saved the bacon of the vital U.S. air link from Belfast to Newark after Continental threatened to pull out.

 Continental were set to withdraw because of high passenger taxes, but Paterson persuaded his friend George Osborne, the chancellor of the Exchequer, to cut a special deal.

“Continental were quite clear on the air passenger -- as long as it stayed at £60 it was costing them millions every year. They made it clear they couldn’t go on indefinitely absorbing the costs of the flight,” Paterson said.

Paterson succeeded in cutting it to  £12, thereby preserving a vital link.

He is also not afraid to take on politicians’ pay. Paterson also wants to confront what he calls “double jobbing” by some politicians who hold seats in both Westminster and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He told the Conservative Party conference, "I don't believe anybody can be a full-time MP and a full-time Assembly Member, and so I will give you this commitment today -- by agreement if possible, but by law if necessary -- we will end double-jobbing."

On the dissident IRA threat, Paterson points out that they continue to have very little popular support. Their latest bombings in Derry, apparently aimed at the fact that the city won the U.K. City of Culture award for 2013, brought out citizens on the street protesting against the dissidents.

"It is quite extraordinary when you think how that city is coming together united behind the City of Culture coming along soon, that this tiny number of unrepresented people can do such a crazily reckless thing,” Paterson said.

He has put together another package of $300 million to tackle the continuing dissident threat.

Paterson knows there is much work to be done before Northern Ireland can truly be a normal society, but his ability to take on some sacred cows just might move that process along.

Sensational end to Irish presidency race as Martin McGuinness and Sean Gallagher get down and dirty

McGuinness and Gallagher stand off

If you haven't seen it, I urge you to watch the accompanying YouTube video of the key moment in the Irish presidential race.

It is when Martin McGuinness delivers a hay-maker to front runner Sean Gallagher which has thrown the Irish presidential race into severe doubt once again.

Amazingly, what the Sinn Fein candidate accused Gallagher of was nothing criminal or even underhand.

It was of receiving a check for a fundraiser for the then Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen.

In the context of the time in 2008, it was a completely unremarkable act

It is the context of today which has produced a media frenzy.

The Fianna Fail brand in Ireland nowadays is as popular as Gadaffi in Libya.

The financial collapse brought with it a withering indictment of their pay to play and see no evil mindset.

It made many of their insiders rich and impoverished so many now who are left to pay the debts.

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Sean Gallagher is a former party member who had successfully distanced himself from the Fianna Fail brand throughout the election.

But McGuinness charged that he had accepted checks on their behalf up to three years ago despite Gallagher's pledges that he had not.

Gallagher has denied he took the check but the damage was done in terms of igniting a media frenzy.

He has claimed a Sinn Fein conspiracy to tear him down. They have claimed he was hiding his Fianna Fail past and misleading people about it.

Gallagher's cause was not helped by another moment in the final debate when a woman in the audience slated his explanation of how a check that was supposed to end up in his company's bank account was assigned elsewhere.

The clear underlying accusation was tax evasion.

So Gallagher was suddenly firefighting massive flames on two fronts.

Yet he is still a likely winner.

He held a 15 point lead in polls going into the final weekend over Michael D. Higgins in second place.

Whether that size of a lead could evaporate overnight remains the unknown question.

My guess is it won't-- but it may be a very close run thing.

Either way an extraordinary end to an incredible presidential campaign.

End to ETA war in Basque country a great boost for Sinn Fein and Irish peace process strategy

Arnaldo Otegi and Gerry Adams, 2007

The debate about Sinn Fein and their role in Irish politics will continue long beyond this current presidential election in Ireland.

But there is no question that they have now helped create another major opportunity for peace in the long running guerrilla war in Basque country on the French/Spanish border.

ETA, the IRA equivalent, have announced an end to their armed campaign after meeting with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and several other peacemakers, including former Irish leader Bertie Ahern and former UN Secretary Genera Kofi Annan.

It seems the lessons of the Irish peace process are many and varied and that its positive impact is still being seen worldwide.

ETA tried and failed to end their campaign several times, but this time it seems final. Their political wing Batasuna has been ineffective, unlike Sinn Fein in convincing ETA to take that last vital step.

That now appears to have changed

There is great credit due to all concerned.

Gerry Adams has welcomed the ETA announcement that they will end their armed conflict in Spain.

"I welcome the decisive and positive terms of ETA’s response to Monday’s ‘Declaration’ in Donostia-San Sebastian by the International Conference group.

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Dana’s husband claims someone tried to kill her in tire blow out
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“Following our deliberations the International Group expressed the opinion that ‘it is possible to end, the last armed confrontation in Europe’.

“We called upon ETA to “make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict.

“I believe that their statement today meets that requirement and I would urge the governments of Spain and France to welcome it and agree to talks exclusively to deal with the consequences of the conflict.

“These next steps should be about promoting reconciliation, addressing the issue of victims and recognizing that a serious effort has to be made to heal personal and social wounds.

“There are other issues which will need to be addressed and which can act as confidence-building measures within the process.

“For example, among these are the issue of prisoners and of demilitarizing the environment and of respecting and acknowledging the democratic rights of all political parties and treating them as equals.

“At a time when Batasuna is banned and leaders like Arnaldo Otegi, who is totally committed in my view to peace, are imprisoned, the use of confidence-building measures by the Spanish state is very important.”

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Martin McGuinness insists he is a ‘peacemaker to be trusted’

Wacky Irish presidential race gets even stranger


Dana’s husband claims someone tried to kill her in tire blow out
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Wacky Irish presidential race gets even stranger -- murder, pedophiles,terrorists-- read all about it

The wacky and weird Irish presidential race just got a whole Twilight Zone twist when the husband of Dana, alias Rosemary Scallon, a former gospel singer once based in America, claimed she had been the target of an assassination attempt.

Driving back to Dublin from the West of Ireland on Tuesday, a tire on the car blew out, and the couple narrowly escaped injury.

It was subsequently discovered the tire had fifteen knife puncture wounds and police were investigating and treating it as a crime.

Earlier in the campaign, Dana, who was running on a family values platform, became embroiled in a very sordid family feud when it was alleged by her sister based in Iowa, that Dana had covered up the sexual abuse of her sister's daughter by her brother. Lawyers have become involved in a very nasty situation.

Dana has slumped in the polls, not surprisingly. Meanwhile, David Norris, the gay senator who once led the polls by a handsome margin, has also taken a nose dive after letters he wrote defending his former Israeli-based lover convicted of statutory rape of a young Palestinian boy became public.

Norris tanked in the polls, withdrew and then, amazingly re-entered at the 11th hour.

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Sean Gallagher under fire for Fianna Fail fundraiser, illegal loan


Martin McGuinness - the choice for Ireland’s presidential election

The Irish presidential campaign - last two men standing?
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Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland, also entered the contest with high hopes, but soon found himself confronted on several occasions by families of Irish police and army members killed by the IRA. The made-for-TV confrontations resurrected the bad old days when the IRA campaign caused great grief in the Irish Republic and he seemed to to be slumping in the polls.

Then there is the question of the health of Michael D. Higgins, former government minister and Labor Party luminary who has led the race since the Norris demise.

On several debates the 70-year-old Higgins has appeared tired and his hands have been shaking. This has led to speculation that he would have difficulty completing a seven-year term.

Meanwhile Gay Mitchell, the main government party candidate, has been so unimpressive on the stump that he will be lucky to breast the ten percent mark, some 30 points in popularity behind his party

With the favorites falling like ninepins, the unlikely beneficiary has been Sean Gallagher, a reality TV show star and businessman who was considered a 40 to one outsider when the race started. Young and vigorous, Gallagher has sent a strong American-type message of building business links and helping create jobs.

In the last poll he jumped an astonishing 18 points to lead the field by twelve with just a week left for campaigning.

But this has been a race so full of surprises, spectacular flameouts and now an alleged assassination attempt that no one is writing the final script just yet.

Dallas at its height would have nothing on this race!

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Sean Gallagher under fire for Fianna Fail fundraiser, illegal loan


Martin McGuinness - the choice for Ireland’s presidential election


The Irish presidential campaign - last two men standing?
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'Occupy Dame Street' protesters are speaking truth - Irish Central Bank caused economic collapse - VIDEO

Speaker takes the stage on Dame Street

Now that the occupied Wall Street protest has spread to Ireland there is no doubt that further demonstrations will take place in Dublin given the size of the crowd who attended the first weekend.

There is no question that Ireland has suffered more than its share of economic misery in the past two years and the large number of demonstrators who showed up on the weekend clearly reflect that.

The choice of the Central Bank building in Dame Street is particularly important it was Central Bank mismanagement that triggered the original crisis.

They appear to have had no clue that the economy was dramatically overheating and that the construction industry in particular was entering a massive bubble phase.

The fact that Anglo-Irish Bank was allowed to lend so recklessly and that other banks soon tried to emulate them in a cascading house of cards is at the core of the Irish financial scandal.
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The Central Bank proves itself utterly inadequate in its most important role overseeing and managing the economy , the bank regulator who was given the direct oversight was a complete joke and seemed to have no idea what was really going on in the Irish banking system.

Now the 'Occupy Dame Street' people are on their doorstep, laying the blame precisely where it should have been placed, but never was.

The Irish crisis is unbelievable in terms of the impact it has had on the country there.

Last year 40,000 people emigrated to the 4 corners of the world and a recent poll in The Irish Times indicated that 66 per cent of Irish people did not expect the emigrants to return in any major numbers.

One can only imagine the sadness in the many homes as families bid farewell to cherished sons and daughters as they experience how deep that wound of forced emigration is.

What is hardest to understand is how unnecessary it really is.

Economies like Canada and Australia did not founder because they had strict regulation of banks and competent oversight of the institutions.

Ireland had none of the above.

The protesters at Dame Street are sending a powerful message that is also timely.

A further €3.7 billion will be cut from the Irish economy and taxpayers pockets in the next few months. The hard pressed taxpayer is being squeezed like a dry lemon.

By pointing the finger of blame at those who allowed the financial Armageddon to occur, the Occupy Dame street people are doing the entire nation a service.

The Irish Times speaks to the protesters: