An education in the Irish language is needed.. for the bigots –
Teaching of the Irish language – either at a proposed school or in classes for beginners – poses no threat to anyone
Supporters attend an Irish language protest at Stormont in 2021. Picture by Mark Marlow
By The Irish News
October 04, 2024 at 6:00am BST
IT is clear that attempts by loyalist elements to intimidate Irish language enthusiasts as they maintain a low-key presence outside what are perceived as nationalist districts are escalating and have reached disturbing levels.
The launch of a six-month Irish conversation class for beginners in the mainly unionist village of Castlerock in Co Derry was a small but positive step which should have been welcomed as an example of cultural diversity.
Both Causeway Coast and Glens Council, who own the Peter Thompson Community Centre, and the course organisers are believed to have been made aware of the sinister intervention, and police have confirmed that an investigation is under way.
It follows the bizarre recent engagement between the DUP education minister Paul Givan and the Loyalist Communities Council, which includes representatives of paramilitary groups, when plans for a small new Irish language primary school in east Belfast were discussed.
The proposed Scoil na Seolta is not due to receive public funding and its construction on a vacant site on Montgomery Road, a main thoroughfare, has been granted full planning permission by Belfast City Council.
Instead, it has since emerged that one participant somehow felt it was appropriate to raise issues relating to Scoil na Seolta, claiming that it was causing “causing polarity and volatility in the community”.
Despite the approval secured through the council’s standard processes, it was suggested that the project had “no meaningful support from the local unionist and loyalist population, and no consultation had taken place with local residents”.
The Department of Education has not indicated the response from the minister but it is perplexing that the LCC was able to put its confrontational views on Scoil na Seolta to him in the first place.
Linda Ervine, who happens to come from a Protestant and unionist background, has been coordinating the establishment of the Irish medium school, and has demonstrated that all the related official guidelines have been fully observed.
Scoil na Seolta and the Castlerock class are perfectly normal and straightforward projects which do not deserve to be treated with any kind of hostility by loyalist figures.
It must be hoped that our politicians from all backgrounds give their public support to the children and adults involved, and firmly oppose any hint that Irish speakers might be forced out of unionist districts.
By SeaanUiNeill on 2 October 2024Earlier this year Leo Varadkar was invited to the Keough School of Global Affairs, at Notre Dame University foe a public discussion of Irish current affairs specifically on current changes in Irish civic life and the political future of the island of Ireland.The Keough-Naughton Institute is a multidisciplinary global research hub “bringing Ireland to Notre Dame, Notre Dame to Ireland and Ireland to the world”. The institute characteristically hosts programs and events to highlight how Ireland’s uniqueness speaks to the universal human experience.Talking about the invitation in advance Varadkar said“I am looking forward to visiting the University of Notre Dame, an institution which is a bridge between Ireland and America,……..I am particularly interested in the research the Keough-Naughton Institute is partnering on the future of the island, and I look forward to discussing that and how the relationship between Ireland and the United States can develop in a time of great change in our world.”The visit took place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 (Friday) in the Hesburgh Centre Auditorium on the University of Notre Dame Campus. Varadkar used the invitation to launch a new inititive over reunification. Significantly this initiative included a call on all parties contesting the next Dáil general election to pledge in their manifestos to make Irish unity “an objective, not just an aspiration” and in addition, that a party consensus should be agreed to establish “a New Ireland Forum Mark II”, modelled on the project developed in 1983 by Fine Gael taoiseach Garret FitzGerald advised by the then SDLP leader John Hume. The original Project brought political and academic figures together to examine systematically different ways of bringing a “lasting peace and stability” to a new Ireland. t and was chaired by the president of University College Galway, Colm Ó hEocha. A report was produced in May 1984 that recommended three models: a unitary state, a federal-confederal state, or joint British-Irish authority over Northern Ireland. While none of its recommendations were finally adopted aspects of what had been discussed formed the basis of discussions that a decade and a half later bore fruit in the Belfast Agreement. The New Ireland Forum was itself arguably the single most significant initiative that intellectually primed the thinking behind the Agreement itselfThe Irish Times report described his thinkingVaradkar said his speech a new Forum setting out to examine the difficult issues around reunification “would tease out some of the details about what a proposal on unification would look like and study how we would merge the two systems – judicial, education, welfare and health.”Varadkar favours a New Ireland Forum Mark II rather than the citizens’ assemblies that have been frequently used in the Republic over the last decade to tease out contentious issues.“This isn’t the topic where you pick a hundred citizens, randomly selected. There would be real difficulties, because a minority would come from the North and a minority, again, would come from a Protestant/unionist/loyalist background.“I think they would feel crowded out,” said Varadkar, adding that the forum model would be able to include political parties and civic groups with a “better chance of producing a report and teasing out some of the issues”.His call for a unified policy on the reunification of the island of Ireland comes after his earlier call in June for dedicated funding to be set aside from current budget surpluses in Ireland to pay for the transition to a reunified island. He was speaking at the Ireland’s Future event the SSE Arena, the site of Bill Clinton’s year 2000 welcome to the Belfast Agreement
Halloween originated in Ireland as the Celtic festival of Samhain, which is why so many Halloween traditions – regardless of where you are in the world – are Irish!
Dressing up for Halloween is just one of the traditions from the Celtic festival of Samhain that persist today during Halloween. Getty
The Celts believed that on the eve of Halloween, dead spirits would visit the mortal world. They lit bonfires to keep evil spirits away and dressed in disguises.
Although our Halloween is less about dead spirits and more about having fun and dressing up, there are some traditional aspects of an Irish Halloween that we have kept going.
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Here’s a list of some ancient, and some more recent, Halloween traditions from Ireland that have stuck over the years:
The Bonfire
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A bonfire for Halloween (Getty Images)
Samhain was seen as the end of summer but also the beginning of another year. It was also the one day of the year when spirits could walk the earth. The community would gather together and light huge fires to ward off bad fortune for the coming year and any evil spirits.
Some believe that people extinguished their fires in the hearth at home before they left and would reignite them using an ember from the bonfire, for good luck. The day after the bonfire the ashes were spread across the fields to further ward off bad luck for the farmers for the coming year.
It was also traditionally believed that the bonfire encouraged dreams, especially of your future husband or wife. It was said that if you drop a cutting of your hair into the embers of the fire the identity of your first husband would be revealed.
A jack-o-lantern made from a turnip (Getty Images)
There are two schools of thought on why the Irish carried Jack-o-lantern. One is that the tradition is an ancient Celtic tradition. In order to carry home an ember from the communal bonfire, the people would hollow out a turnip so they could walk home with the fire still burning.
The other version is a little more spooky. The other story is that Jack-o-lanterns date back to the 18th century. It is named after an Irish blacksmith, called Jack, who colluded with the Devil and was denied entry into Heaven. Jack was condemned to walk the earth for eternity but asked the Devil for some light. He was given a burning coal that burnt into a turnip that he had hollowed out. Some Irish believe that hanging a lantern in their front window would keep Jack’s wandering soul away.
When the Scot-Irish emigrated to America, they adapted the tradition and used pumpkins instead as it is more difficult to find turnips.
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Costumes
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(RollingNews.ie)
The community would gather around the bonfire and many would be dressed up in elaborate animal skins and heads.
The idea was that the evil spirits would be scared off by the fires. Then if the spirits happened to be wandering the earth and bumped into one of the Celts they might think were spirits themselves, because of their disguises, and let them go free. This is where our tradition of dressing up comes from.
Trick or Treating
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(Getty Images)
Trick or treat originated centuries ago. In Ireland, the poor would go from door to door to rich people’s homes and ask for food, kindling, or money. They would then use what they collected for their celebrations on Halloween.
Colcannon
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(Getty Images)
This is the traditional dinner to have on Halloween night before you head out for an evening of fun and mischief. It is a simple dish made with boiled potatoes, curly kale (a type of cabbage), and raw onions.
Traditionally coins were wrapped in pieces of clean paper and slipped into children’s colcannon for them to find and keep. Sometimes people also hide a ring in the colcannon. Whoever finds the ring will be married within the year.
Halloween Colcannon Recipe (Serves 4)
Ingredients:
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 tbsp. milk or unsweetened/plain soy milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 cups chopped cabbage or kale
2 tbsp. butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped onions or green onions
Method:
Cook potatoes in a pot of boiling water until tender. Drain, reserving water. Place the hot potatoes in a large bowl.
Add chopped cabbage to the reserved potato water. Cook 6-8 minutes or until tender.
Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter or margarine.
When they are cool enough to handle, mash potatoes with a hand masher or fork.
Add the fried onions and cabbage.
Add milk, salt, and pepper and beat until fluffy.
Barmbrack
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(Getty Images)
From the Irish name “Bairín Breac,” this is a traditional Irish Halloween cake which essentially a sweet bread with fruit through it as well as some other treats. Shop-bought barmbracks still contain and ring but if you make it at home and add your own treats it’s even more fun.
Each member of the family gets a slice and each prize has a different meaning:
The rag – your financial future is doubtful
The coin – you will have a prosperous year
The ring – impending romance or continued happiness
The thimble – you’ll never marry
Halloween Barmbrack Recipe
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chopped dried mixed fruit
1 1/2 cups hot brewed tea
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon marmalade
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Method:
Soak the dried fruit in the hot tea for 2 hours, then drain and gently squeeze out excess tea.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch Bundt pan. Stir together the flour cinnamon, nutmeg, and baking soda; set aside.
Beat the egg, sugar, marmalade, orange zest, and tea-soaked fruit until well combined. Gently fold in the flour until just combined, then pour into the prepared Bundt pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the pan for 2 hours before removing. Continue to cool to room temperature on a wire rack. Press the objects of choice into the cake through the bottom before serving.
Snap apple
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(Getty Images)
There are many games that are played on Halloween night and snap apple or bobbing for apples is one of them.
An apple is suspended from a string and the children are blindfolded and their arms tied behind their backs. The first child to get a decent bite of the apple gets a prize. Bobbing for apples is when some apples are dropped into a basin of water and the children have to go in headfirst and try to get a bite.
The apples are associated with love and fertility. It is said that whoever gets the first bite will be first to marry. It was also thought that if the girls put the apple they bit, while bobbing, under their pillow that night, they would dream of their future lover.
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Shaving the friar
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(Getty Images)
This old game was particularly popular in County Meath. A pile of ash was put down in the shape of a cone with a piece of wood sticking out of the top. Then each player takes turns trying to digger the largest amount of ash without the pile collapsing.
All the while competitors chant:
“Shave the poor Friar to make him a liar; Cut off his beard to make him afeard; If the Friar will fall, my poor back pays for all!”
Blindfolded cabbage picking
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(Getty Images)
Blindfolded local girls would go out into the field and pull up the first cabbage they stumbled upon. If the cabbage had a lot of clay attached to the roots their future lover would have money. If the girl ate the cabbage the nature of their future husband would be revealed, bitter or sweet.
Anti-Fairy Measures
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(Getty Images)
Fairies and goblins were believed to collect souls as they trawl the earth on Halloween night. The story goes that if you threw dust from under your feet at the fairy they would release any souls they kept captive. However, over the years this legend was changed.
Farm animals would be anointed with holy water to keep them safe through the night. If animals showed ill health on Halloween they would be spat at to try to ward off the evil spirits.
A Court of Appeal has effectively shut down Britain’s ‘truth’ body after it ruled that parts of Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) are not compatible with human rights law.
The body was established under the previous London government as part of a bid to shut down investigations into British war crimes in the north of Ireland.
It has been rejected by the overwhelming majority of families who were left bereaved by the conflict, as well as the advocacy groups and justice campaigns who have supported them.
While the British government has pledged to repeal and replace the underpinning ‘legacy’ legislation, it has remained ambivalent about scrapping the ICRIR itself.
However, the Court of Appeal judgement on the legacy act was issued on Friday and comes as a potentially final, fatal blow to the ICRIR.
Several victims and relatives had launched legal action challenging the act and the High Court later found the commission did not contravene human rights laws.
The Court of Appeal, which delivered its judgment on Friday, found the commission is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in respect of the power held by the British government to withhold sensitive information from families.
Relatives of those killed have welcomed the court judgment.
Martina Dillon’s husband Seamus was shot dead by a loyalist death squad near Dungannon in County Tyrone in December 1997. Earlier this year an inquest into his death was halted due to the act. Mrs Dillon described the outcome as a victory.
“Today was a brilliant day for victims,” she said. “We’ve won. We’ve won what we wanted.”
Mrs Dillon, who has campaigned tirelessly on behalf of her murdered husband, called for the chief commissioner of the ICRIR, Declan Morgan, to resign.
“We’re asking him to now step down and for the government to give us back our inquest and give them as soon as possible,” she said.
“Let the victims speak. Let us be heard. Let the truth finally come out.”
The campaigning widow also called on the British government to restart her husband’s inquest.
“Let the victims speak, let us be heard, let the truth finally come out,” she demanded.
Her lawyer Gavin Booth, of Phoenix Law, called for the ICRIR to be scrapped.
“It’s time for the ICRIR to go and it’s time for the Secretary of State to go back to the drawing board.
“He should immediately renew his election manifesto pledge where he said he would repeal and replace – and so now it’s time to repeal the act in full and give victims what they want and that is their inquests, inquiries and investigations.”
He added: “There’s only so much you can put lipstick on a pig, it’s time for that body to go. It’s been defunct from the start,.
“You know, there’s a lot of window dressing going on in terms of this body, but the reality is this body does not work, and it’s not capable of carrying out what our victims need in order to establish truth. There has been nothing wrong with the courts that we’ve had to date, and we want those days back.”
Before the hearing several human rights groups held a protest, including Relatives for Justice, the Pat Finucane Centre and Justice for the Forgotten.
Outside the courts, family members laid out shoes and other belongings of loved ones ahead of the court hearing, labelled an “In Their Footsteps” memorial.
North Belfast MP John Finucane, whose family last week were told there would be a public inquiry into the murder of his father in their home in 1989, said that there was no confidence in current methods of dealing with legacy cases.
“It’s very moving and it’s very poignant and dignified that families come here today, it shows how important it is for them,” Mr Finucane said.
“That’s what we’re really here about, a stark reminder that we are here for so many people that did lose their lives, and we are here to ensure that they get a proper crack at justice.
“It’s very clear that there is no confidence whatsoever in the proposals and mechanisms that have been imposed on families by a Tory government who didn’t listen to anybody on this island or beyond.
“The families have been at this for decades, for generations, it’s cruel, unnecessary and I think it’s very important that we all stand in solidarity in one voice to say that we want to deal with our past.”
Grainne Teggart from Amnesty International added: “This is a great day for victims. The judges have spoken loud and clear today – the core parts of the ICRIR are unlawful. We call on the Secretary of State to follow through with their commitment to repeal the Troubles Act in full without qualification, and to give back victims the legacy processes that were in place prior.
“We also need, as a matter of urgency, new legislation to replace the Troubles Act that will finally vindicate their rights.”
Absurd for Paul Givan to meet LCC over Irish school … imagine outrage if Sinn Fein met with Saoradh to talk policy
David Campbell
Suzanne Breen
Yesterday at 08:00
A bunch of men representing other men involved in drug-dealing, intimidation and extortion tell a government minister that a school shouldn’t be built.
In any normal society, a group like the Loyalist Communities Council wouldn’t be entertained by those in power. If they somehow managed to wangle their way into a room, they’d be swiftly shown the door once it was established who they were. But, hey-ho, this is Northern Ireland, and we do things differently here.
There aren’t enough adjectives in the dictionary to convey how absurd it is that Paul Givan met LCC representatives to discuss any educational matter.
Under-achievement by working-class Protestant boys must be addressed, but the representatives of the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando aren’t the first people who spring to mind when the issue is on the agenda.
I must have missed all their expert research and papers on the subject over the years.
The LCC appears to have been emboldened after their audience with Givan. They contacted the media to reveal how they’d told the minister to halt plans to build an integrated Irish language school in east Belfast.
Here’s the reality that is as farcical as it is foolish: the hard men of loyalist paramilitarism feel ‘threatened’ by a few dozen kids between the ages of three and 11.
What will the youngsters hoping to start in Scoil na Seolta be doing? They’ll be learning to count. They’ll be singing the Alphabet Song. They’ll be dancing and painting and playing.
The older ones will be engaging in those dangerous activities of arithmetic, reading and learning a musical instrument. All this will be done through the medium of Irish. The only thing outrageous is that anybody objects to it.
Belfast City Council gave the green light for the temporary nursery, primary school and play area on the Montgomery Road in June.
Eleven councillors voted to grant planning permission and five — all DUP — voted against it.
The school is self-funding. It isn’t relying on a penny from the Department of Education. It has received over 100 expressions of interest from parents in recent weeks.
The LCC has no business sticking its nose in what Scoil na Seolta does or doesn’t do. It is not a legitimate stakeholder in educational matters.
Let’s imagine what would happen if a Sinn Fein minister did the equivalent of what a DUP minister did this week.
John O’Dowd meets Saoradh to discuss infrastructure issues, and the dissident republican group issues a statement afterwards advising him against the development of a part of the A5 project.
Caoimhe Archibald has a tete-a-tete on household rates with the political representatives of the New IRA who then tell the media which bills she shouldn’t be raising.
There would be absolute outrage from the DUP and its supporters if any Sinn Fein minister went down that path. Indeed, it could well place the very continuation of the power-sharing institutions under threat.
The LCC was set up almost a decade ago to assist loyalist paramilitaries to leave the stage. It has been an abject failure.
Far from disbanding and demobilising, recruitment has continued. These organisations still have thousands of members.
The DUP is sticking to its political guns on the LCC. East Belfast MLA David Brooks told the education committee he wouldn’t be apologising when unionists “are expected to sit in chambers with people from a republican background who have a history of violence”.
DUP MLA David Brooks
The key is that h-word: history. Brooks pointed to Sinn Fein MLAs Gerry Kelly and Pat Sheehan. Neither were choirboys during the conflict. But the IRA’s war is over three decades ago. Loyalist paramilitaries are active in the here and now.
I like and respect Paul Givan. He is the most capable member of the DUP’s Stormont team. In March, he engaged in his own bridge-building with a cèilidh and a cúpla focal at Irish medium primary school Gaelscoil Aodha Rua in Dungannon. Yet sometimes it feels like it’s one step forward and two back with the DUP.
Emma Little-Pengelly
Liaising with the LCC is not restricted to Givan. Edwin Poots — accompanied by Ian Paisley — met the loyalist organisation after becoming leader in June 2021. Arlene Foster had done the same four months earlier. Emma Little-Pengelly defended such meetings last year. Jeffrey Donaldson briefed the LCC on his deal to restore devolution in January.
Arlene Foster
The doors of some in high political office are open to the group, but it can’t be allowed to win on Scoil na Seolta. We all must show up for the kids, and stand against those who represent the thugs and bullyboys.
By SeaanUiNeill on 2 October 2024Earlier this year Leo Varadkar was invited to the 
