Paul Kelly has an uncomfortable question for the GAA.
So, Boris Johnson has finally achieved his lifetime ambition and made it to Number 10. “The end of the beginning” as his hero, Winston Churchill, once said. Or could it possibly be the other way around? Brexit is now in full-throttle Cronus mode and has clearly demonstrated that the truth is irrelevant when you’re chained to an antiquated and highly flawed ideology; the good old days when the sun never set on the British Empire. If devouring its own children in order to maintain the status quo is what it takes, then so be it. Former US president Bill Clinton summed it up perfectly to RTE’s Tommie Gorman in June. Expressing his concerns about those at the vanguard portraying the pursuit of a hard Brexit as a means of “liberating the United Kingdom” Clinton warned they may be: … consigning one of the world’s greatest nations in human history to a smaller role just so that people who have historically been in control can stay there. As much as we like to tut-tut at Boris, Rees-Mogg, Gove et al pining for a simpler time when Paddy knew his place, with regard to blind devotion to an archaic creed are we really in a position to cast the first stone? Take, for example, the GAA; arguably the final bastion in Irish society but an organization whose stubborn resistance to change rivals that of the Vatican. If the top table is unwilling to discuss a recent suggestion from Jarlath Burns (touted by many as a potential Uachtaran CLG) in relation to removing anthems and flags from GAA events in an attempt to welcome those of a different persuasion, are they (and thus by default, we) not handcuffed to an equally outdated doctrine also? What flew in 1884 doesn’t necessarily fly in 2019. What was written during a time of war doesn’t necessarily apply during a time of peace. All philosophies have a sell-by date. I believe this is what hurling pundit Donal Og Cusack was driving at with his ” … last remnants of British culture on these islands …” comment made during a recent post-match analysis in which he defended coaches criticized for exploring alternative tactics. For many the GAA is about identity; for others it’s simply chasing a ball around a field. I’d suspect the silent majority fall somewhere in between. Of course the GAA takes on different meanings depending on geography and I fully appreciate that carrying a hurley in Ballymena isn’t the same as carrying a hurley in Ballyhaunis. Placing less emphasis on historical and cultural aspects may be anathema to some; it was to me until recently. But I believe it’s time for what former Crossmaglen Rangers and Armagh footballer John McEntee described in his Irish News column as ‘uncomfortable conversations’. This thinking will no doubt meet with fierce resistance in some quarters but our rich culture, one which transcends burning tyres and pallets, isn’t jeopardized one iota by holding such discussions. One would think this is a more pressing matter for GAA president John Horan than introducing a ridiculous and totally unnecessary back-pass rule. ⏭ Paul Kelly is a Tuam based writer.
Brian Feeney. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, August 21, 2019.
One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason, why there is so much confusion about what’s going to happen in the UK at Halloween is because the media takes the statements of the British government and its ministers seriously.
All governments lie, but this British government’s current position is based entirely on one big lie, namely that it’s possible to make a deal with Brussels before October 31. It isn’t. All ministers know that, and so do all journalists, nevertheless they tie themselves in knots analyzing a delusion.
Yet, because it’s the government and prime minister who keep making mendacious claims the media, and especially the BBC, feel obliged to take them seriously. Everything becomes clear if you turn every pronouncement on its head, especially the pronouncements of the EU-illiterates in the Cabinet like Dominic Raab and Stephen Barclay.
Take [consider] the leaked document about impending catastrophe when there’s no deal. We’re told by Michael Gove, a man adept at twisting himself into a pretzel to avoid a straight answer, that it’s ‘old’. The contemptible DUP, a party which has never uttered a single word of its own devising on Brexit, immediately parroted, ‘it’s old’. It’s not, unless you count three weeks as old. Everything will be in order in 70 days time, so the stuff in ‘Operation Yellowhammer’ won’t apply. Oh yes it will because, guess what, everything will not be in order in 70 days. See? Just turn everything Johnson and his team of nodding dogs say on its head. After all, he hand-picked them to be nodding dogs.
There’ll be a deal by Halloween. No, there won’t. There can’t be. Here’s why. The British have made no proposals. The European Council hasn’t given its negotiators a new mandate, nor will
Johnson’s forthcoming trips to Berlin and Paris (the only forthcoming thing about him) will be hyped in the British media. He’ll tell Johnny Foreigner to back off or there’ll be no deal. Huh. Translate as, ‘give me what I want or I’ll jump out the window.’ Remember Theresa May sent the EU-illiterate David Davis round European capitals in 2017 and…nathin [nothing]. Individual EU leaders don’t negotiate, but even if they did Macron is contemptuous of Johnson and openly exasperated with the British, so… nathin [nothing].
The simple truth is this. There are only two options: no were cobbled together they couldn’t agree on whether to have Brexit or what kind of Brexit they want to have.
Johnson can get away with all the lies and delusions because the opposition to him is pathetic. They have no leader, certainly not Jeremy Corbyn who doesn’t know what he wants himself. Some want a second referendum, others want a new deal, but what kind? Some just want to bring down Johnson, but then what?
For Johnson by contrast it’s simple. He only wants one thing – an election – because his present position in parliament is unsustainable. In effect he has no majority so he must get one, do or die. Nothing else matters.
Sinn Féin has said that the handling of a strongly opposed bonfire built
by nationalist youths which led to a riot in the New Lodge area of
Belfast last week was wrong and that ‘lessons needed to be learned’.
The PSNI laid siege to the bonfire site for ten hours last Thursday, but
the operation was stymied by one youth who climbed to the top and
remained there for several hours. Having arrived in what had appeared to
be overwhelming numbers in the early morning, the PSNI eventually
withdrew as clashes with the youths began to intensify.
The bonfire, held on the anniversary of the introduction of internment
without trial of republicans in 1971, was eventually lit at midnight as
planned. In recent years, it has become associated with anti-social
activity and sectarian symbols which mimic those seen on loyalist
bonfires in July.
Coming in the week of the anniversary of very serious rioting, there was
relief that the PSNI operation, which had threatened to explode into
serious violence, had ended relatively peacefully. A claim by a PSNI
spokesperson that breakaway IRA groups were involved in the bonfire was
widely dismissed as an attempt to justify their withdrawal.
Unionists and right-wing nationalists expressed dismay at the decision
of the PSNI to withdraw after a media campaign expressed support for the
use of extreme violence by the force, regardless of the consequences.
Interviewed by Connla Young of the Irish News, one of the youths
involved said the bonfire had been an act of defiance as well as
commemoration. He stayed on top during the siege which began at 5am and
said he would have remained there until midnight.
“Republicans still need to be remembered, to this day there are still
people in jail,” he said. “I feel like I am standing up for the
republican movement, there are people who have abandoned the republican
agenda.”
He accepted there were divided opinions on the bonfire. He said it had
been constructed to avoid endangering nearby flats.
“The community does support the bonfire, I know not everyone supports
it,” he said.
But Gerry Adams insisted the bonfire was “nothing at all to do with
internment” and said any attempt to portray it as an act of republican
resistance was “total nonsense”.
Referring to those involved, the former Sinn Féin leader said: “The
hooliganism needs to stop, the thuggery needs to stop and this community
needs to be given breathing space.”
After a party document was leaked to the media, Sinn Féin denied it had
sought to manipulate tensions in the New Lodge to win votes. The
prepared document called for party members to distribute thousands of
leaflets condemning the bonfire builders’ “invasion” as part of a
vote-building campaign.
Mr Adams said he understood the rationale PSNI had given for withdrawing
from the area on Thursday, given “public safety” issues were at play.
But he said the situation should never have reached that stage and the
bonfire should not have been allowed to have been built in the first
place.
“People here deserved to be policed properly on terms which would be
acceptable,” he said. “No harm to the people of the Malone Road [a
wealthy nationalist area of Belfast], but this would not have happened
on the Malone Road.
“There are many republicans now on the Malone Road as well, but I just
couldn’t imagine anybody trying to put pallets in some of those areas.
It shouldn’t happen here in these working class neighbourhoods.”
He added: “We were part of this huge historical move and came forward to
support policing, but it has to be policing with the community, and this
should never ever happen again in the New Lodge or indeed anywhere else,
whether it is in a so-called unionist area or a republican area – this
should never happen again.”
