“Great leaders don’t set out to be a leader. They set out to make the difference. It is never about the role – always about the goal.” Lisa Haisha
By Oleg Vishnepolsky
Weak leaders measure success by money, position and power.
Strong leaders measure success by the difference they made in other people’s lives.
The secret to the success of my own career was to hire good people, trust them to do their jobs, and bring out the best in them, not the stress in them.
Good people need little to no management. They need support, clarity and encouragement.
But most of all they need leaders who care.
If we don’t care about people, we don’t deserve to be leaders.
The new British government under Boris Johnson has already displayed its
contempt for the political process in Ireland by holding a private dinner with the DUP
ahead of meeting the other political parties, while new
Direct Ruler Julian Smith’s first message to the public was to express
his joy at seeing a picture of the English queen on his desk.
Johnson held more formal talks with Stormont’s main parties in Belfast
on Wednesday as he made his first visit to the Six Counties since
becoming British Prime Minister.
But his first action on Tuesday evening was to dine with DUP leader
Arlene Foster and DUP MPs Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds after
arriving into Belfast.
The event showed Johnson’s focus is on renewing the Tories’ confidence
and supply deal with the hardline unionists who are keeping the minority
Tory government in power.
Following Sinn Féin’s meeting with Mr Johnson, party leader Mary Lou
McDonald said she told the British prime minister he had to stop being
the DUP’s “gopher”.
Ms McDonald said his stated claim of impartiality was “laughable”.
“He tells us he will act with absolute impartiality, we have told him
that nobody believes that,” she said. “Nobody believes that because
there are no grounds to believe there is any kind of impartiality, much
less strict impartiality.”
She said the confidence and supply deal at Westminster between the DUP
and the Tories had “poisoned the groundwater” at Stormont.
“He asked for our advice and we have strongly advised him that to make
progress here he needs to ensure that he is not the DUP’s gopher, he
needs to stop mollycoddling them, he needs to spell out the realities of
life to them and put pressure on his unionist colleagues to ensure we
can land on an equitable and sustainable agreement,” she said.
Johnson’s visits to Scotland, Wales and finally the north of Ireland
were greeted by jeering and booing crowds in Edinburgh and Cardiff and
by a mixed bag of protestors in Belfast. Demonstrators from the Bloody
Sunday Justice Campaign as well as activists in favour of same-sex
marriage, Irish language legislation and Harland & Wolff shipyard
shouted slogans as he arrived.
But Johnson, who was joined at Stormont by newly-appointed Direct Ruler
Julian Smith, merely reiterated his hardline Brexit-at-all-costs agenda,
despite claiming to “attach huge importance to the letter, spirit of the
Belfast Good Friday Agreement”.
It was a statement that rang hollow before he finished the sentence. He
had left it to his Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to admit the Tories
plan to simply impose full Direct Rule from London in the event of a
no-deal Brexit, while his newly established ‘Office of Veterans Affairs’
snubbed victims of state violence and collusion by describing British
killer soldiers as ‘the pinnacle of British character’ who should be
protected by the government.
The hypocrisy was even clearer when Smith’s first message to his Irish
subjects was a colonial-style picture of the English queen. In a tweet,
he wrote: “Proud to have a picture of Her Majesty The Queen on the
mantle piece of my private office at Stormont. I was delighted to see it
there when I arrived last Friday.”
Smith was understood to be mocking a current controversy over employment
equality legislation which has seen compensation paid to a civil servant
required to walk a gauntlet of portraits of the English royal family.
The actions have confirmed the widely-held belief that as far as the
north of Ireland is concerned, the Tories only priority remains the same
as when Theresa May was in charge: a formula of clear and calculated
insults to nationalists in order to keep the DUP placated, because the
votes of its 10 MPs are vital for them to stay in power.
This week 126 years ago – 31 July 1893 – the Gaelic League (Conradh na Gaeilge) was founded. A look at the role it formed in the Easter Rising, by Brian Ó Conchubhair When the Irish Volunteers and the Citizen Army seized key buildings in Dublin City centre on Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, many, if not the majority, were believed to be members of Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League. When the self-declared Irish republic announced the Proclamation of Poblacht na hÉireann, six of the seven signatories were recognised members of Conradh na Gaeilge.
Of the 16 leaders to be executed, the majority were Gaelic League members and Irish speakers: Ceannt, Clarke, Mac Diarmada, MacDonagh, O’Hanrahan, P.H. Pearse, Willie Pearse, Plunkett, Casement, Heuston, Colbert, Daly and Kent. To further muddle the waters, Eoin MacNeill, in addition to being the co-founder of Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League in 1893 along with Douglas Hyde, was the president of the Irish Volunteers. One might be forgiven, therefore, for presuming that Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League was an ardent republican organisation, supportive of the IRB and military action rather than a non-political and non-sectarian association dedicated to the promotion of the Irish-language as a spoken language and the creation of a modern literature in Irish. The Establishment of Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League Douglas Hyde, following his late 1892 lecture on the need to de-anglicise the Irish nation and race, founded Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League in conjunction with Eoin MacNeill in 1893. With a focus on the vernacular form of language and modern literature, Conradh na Gaeilge/The Gaelic League distinguished itself from its rivals, The Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language, The Celtic Society and the Gaelic Union. Initially a small Dublin-based group, it gradually spread – geographically and socially – across Ireland and beyond as new branches affiliated: Galway (24 January 1894), Cork (22 April 1894), Derry (1894), New Ross, Wexford (May 1894), Eyries, Cork (December 1894) and London (October 1896). By 1896, 43 branches had registered with the Dublin head-branch, eight of which were abroad. The Rev. Peter C. Yorke’s controversial lecture on 6 September 1899, entitled ‘The Turning of the Tide’ marked a key moment in the League’s fortunes as membership in Dublin and its suburbs subsequently surged. By 1901 the capital boasted some 30 affiliated branches and two years later, in 1903, the League claimed 500 affiliated branches throughout the country. By 1904 Conradh na Gaeilge’s membership extended to some 50,000 members in 600 branches. The rapid growth in members continued the following year with reports of 100,000 members in 900 affiliated branches amongst the Irish diaspora across the globe: Scotland (Glasgow), England (London, Liverpool, Manchester, Porstmouth, Southampton, Rugby, Birmingham, Leicester, Wigan, Oldham, Salford, Coventry, Bolton); Wales (Cardiff); Argentina (Piedad; Buenos Aires), United States of America (Chicago; New York; Holyoke, NY; Rhode Island), New Zealand (Miltown; Balcluttra), South Africa (Capetown; Kimberley). Increased membership impacted revenue: while 1895 showed a mere £43 in membership fees that sum rose to £2,000 by 1900. Such funding allowed the employment of full-time staff and community organisers (timirí) who travelled rural Ireland, often on bicycles or motorbikes, organising lectures, forming night classes, establishing branches, exhorting native and heritage speakers to the value of their linguistic inheritance. The Conradh’s curriculum of events matched the seasons: in winter they focused on classes where members, young and old, mastered the fundamentals of reading and writing – a valuable educational opportunity for many. Social interactions included excursions, céilí/céilithe, dancing, recitations, lectures, musical concerts, plays. Spring and summer months suited fairs, feiseanna, excursions, and exhibitions where the vernacular arts and cultures learned in the winter classes was displayed and exhibited. Irish-Week and the Oireachtas festival were high-points in the cultural calendar. The Irish Volunteers: The Issue of Conradh na Gaeilge? Eoin MacNeill, Gaelic League co-founder 20 years earlier, penned an article ‘The North Began’ in Conradh na Gaeilge’s weekly Irish-language newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis on 1 November 1913 in response to the Ulster Volunteers’ formation. On 25 November, at the Rotunda’s ice rink, some 7,000 people allegedly attended the Irish Volunteers’ first meeting, with 3,000 registering that night. MacNeill, as author of the article, was duly elected president but by his side stood several men associated with Conradh na Gaeilge – notably P.H. Pearse, The O’Rahilly, Thomas MacDonagh, Piaras Béaslaí – while in the background lurked the Irish Republican Brotherhood. At a meeting in Galway to establish the Volunteers in the western region, MacNeill was flanked by Pearse and Casement, all closely associated with Conradh na Gaeilge. Yet the Volunteers, despite their title, Óglaigh na hÉireann, functioned and operated through the medium of English. The close overlap in membership between the two organisations proved detrimental to Conradh na Gaeilge’s activities, which slumped into a decline following the glory period of 1900-1910. Factions within the League considered its linguistic approach and policies too benign and called for more aggressive and confrontational gestures when promoting the language in the face of official intransience. The Great War, Suspense and Suspension When Great Britain entered World War I, the passing of the Suspensory Act (1914) ensured Home Rule’s postponement until the conflict’s conclusion. John Redmond, the Irish Parliamentary leader, urged the Volunteers to enlist in the army, and through their sacrifice ensure Home Rule for Ireland. This policy caused a split in the Volunteers with the majority following Redmond into the National Volunteers and the minority following MacNeill, Pearse, The O’Rahilly and Éamonn Ceannt into the Irish Volunteers. As a self-declared non-political and non-sectarian organisation, Conradh na Gaeilge and its official newspaper, An Claidheamh Soluis, adopted no official stance on the war. But if the movement remained intact, its members disagreed and differed considerably. Hyde’s neutral stance allowed the Gaelic League to remain a home to Irish-speaking Redmonites, and Irish-speaking ‘Sinn Féiners’, Irish-speaking recruiters and Irish-speaking objectors. William Gibson (2nd Baron Ashbourne) and Tomás Ó Domhnaill M.P., both noted Gaelic Leaguers, encouraged young men to enlist, while Irish speakers who spoke at recruitment meetings were arrested and jailed for sedition. If An Claidheamh Soluis attempted to ignore commenting on the war, the Irish-language paper Ná Bac Leis (Ignore It) ridiculed Irish involvement in the war. With Hyde’s shock resignation as President of Conradh na Gaeilge at the 1915 Ard Fheis in Dundalk, MacNeill stepped in temporarily to serve as President until Hyde would be coaxed back. He now, for all intents and purposes, controlled Conradh na Gaeilge and Óglaigh na hÉireann. The links between the two organisations seemed nearer than ever despite their divergent aims. Yet when the press reported the 1916 Rising, they titled it ‘the Sinn Féin Rebellion’ rather than ‘the Gaelic League rebellion’. MacNeill, as is well known, did not condone the rebellion, believing the Volunteers should wait for the war’s end and then seek the implementation of Home Rule as promised, but the IRB cared little for MacNeill once he had served his purpose of providing respectability and profile. By the time the 1916 Ard Fheis convened, most of Conradh na Gaeilge’s officials were in prison in England or Wales. While the links between the executed leaders and the Gaelic League bestowed no little honour on the organisation in the early years of the Free State and since, it spawned an enduring image of Conradh na Gaeilge less as a non-sectarian, non-political organisation but more one sympathetic to advanced republicanism. Such an understanding is far removed from that envisioned by Hyde. Many, if not most, of those who fought on the nationalist side in Easter week were Gaelic Leaguers, but they were also affiliated to numerous other friendly societies: the Gaelic Athletic Association, Cumann na mBan. If there is a tendency to overplay the role of the Gaelic League in the 1916 Rising, it is impossible to underestimate its role in its leaders’ intellectual development and in introducing debates and discussions into early 20th-century Ireland that steeled the public for independence. It was Conradh na Gaeilge during the fin de siècle that provided the intellectual, linguistic and cultural rationale for political independence. But as has been well noted, revolutions are made not by hurleys and footballs but by ideas and Conradh na Gaeilge was the main conduit for radical ideas for reinventing and reenergising Irish society in the period building up to 1916.
The juryless retrial of a man accused of IRA membership collapsed in
farcical scenes this week after a PSNI policewoman did not recognise a
vehicle licence plate from which she was supposed to have recovered DNA
evidence.
It was the second time Gardai police had attempted to imprison Dubliner
Darren Weldon based on so-called “belief evidence”. Token circumstantial
evidence was again presented in support of their allegation that Mr
Weldon was a member of the Real IRA.
The 47-year-old, from Kilbarrack in Dublin, had originally pleaded not
guilty to IRA membership in October 2014.
In the original trial, the prosecution’s case against the accused man
was mainly composed of “belief evidence”. This is a mere statement of a
senior member of the police that their target is guilty as charged.
At the Special Criminal Court, set up in 1939 to accelerate the
imprisonment of republicans and still in use today, such “evidence” is
normally enough to secure a conviction, especially if accompanied by a
plausible supporting argument.
In an initial trial in 2017, memorial photographs of Real IRA leader
Alan Ryan which police said they had found on Mr Weldon’s phone were
presented as corroboration. They also claimed to have found his DNA on a
swab taken from the licence plate of the vehicle used in the attack.
Mr Weldon was quickly found guilty and sentenced to five years
imprisonment. But he had his conviction quashed in 2018 and a retrial
ordered after the Court of Appeal found the Special Criminal Court had
made a “factually incorrect” finding in relation to a photo on Weldon’s
iPhone.
Without this evidence, there was a “substantial gap” in the Special
Criminal Court’s reasoning, causing the Court of Appeal to consider the
conviction “unsafe”. A retrial was ordered.
Last week, and again without a jury present, the alleged supporting
evidence in the form of DNA linking Mr Weldon with the registration
plate was found to be entirely bogus.
In an embarrassing revelation, PSNI policewoman Christine Lumsden
admitted to a panel of judges that the number plate produced to her was
not the same number plate recovered from the scene.
“She went on to state that the number plate looked upside-down and
different,” said the chief judge. He said he could not be satisfied that
“the integrity of the number plate” was “properly preserved”.
“Having found that the belief evidence is not supported by any
independent evidence, we must find the accused not guilty,” he
concluded.
A so-called War Cabinet has been formed by the new British prime
minister, Boris Johnson to aggressively force Ireland to accept a
hardening and reinforcement of Britain’s century-old border across the
island.
With extraordinary speed, Johnson has issued threat after threat to
crash out of the EU with no deal on October 31 unless the Backstop —
the previously agreed insurance policy to avoid a hard border in Ireland
— is abolished.
Johnson has named a cabal of six senior Cabinet Ministers, styled as a ‘War Cabinet’, which will meet every Monday to
take the fight to Ireland and the European Union. They include the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab,
Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay, Attorney General Geoffrey Cox, and the
‘Minister for No-Deal Brexit’, Michael Gove.
A complicit Tory media has already delivered a barrage of attacks on the
26 County Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who they have identified as a weak
spot. Leading Tories declared that the Taoiseach “isn’t bright” and “the
Irish will blink”.
In a calculated move, Johnson delayed placing a phone call to Varadkar
for over a week since ascending to the premiership. He has insisted the removal of the backstop is a
precondition for any Brexit deal.
But Mr Varadkar has said there will be no change to the Backstop. He
said “any suggestion that there would be a whole new deal negotiated in
weeks or months is totally not in the real world.”
His deputy, the foreign minister Simon Coveney, warned that Johnson’s
approach to Brexit is “very unhelpful” and has put Britain on “a
collision course” with Ireland and the European Union.
He added: “I think it’s important to say very clearly, if respectfully,
that the facts don’t change around Brexit.”
In response, the Brexiteers described Dublin as “belligerent” and
“inflammatory”, with Varadkar dismissed as “ill-informed and arrogant”.
He and Coveney were blasted as “little Ireland’s ridiculous leaders”.
The DUP piped in by accusing Dublin of “megaphone diplomacy”.
It was a coordinated effort to portray Ireland as the obstacle. Johnson
stands accused of preparing for a Westminster election by fomenting an
international crisis in order to invoke the ‘spirit of the Blitz’,
rallying English nationalism against traditional enemies of Ireland,
Germany, France and the rest of the EU.
It all makes a mockery of the British government’s obligation — as a
co-signatory of the Good Friday Agreement — to exercise its power in
the North with rigorous impartiality.
The principle of consent — that the will of the people in the North is
respected on constitutional matters — also continues to be completely
ignored.
Almost overlooked is that the uncertainty being wrought by Johnson’s
government has deliberately pushed the peace process to the brink.
Official British reports of their crash-Brexit preparations have all but
dismissed the potential of a return to violence in the north of Ireland,
warning only of “potential law and order issues” over a month after
Brexit takes place
The ongoing level of violence in the north is already ignored by the
British media. This includes three nights of rioting by nationalist
youths in the North Queen Street area of north Belfast amid tension over
anti-internment bonfires, which saw several petrol bombs thrown at the
PSNI, as well as ana bomb attack the PSNI described as ‘potentially
catastrophic’.
The Continuity IRA has said it carried out a rocket attack on a PSNI
patrol in north Armagh around midnight on Friday.
They said a horizontal mortar rocket was fired at a passing police
patrol on the Tullygally Road beside Alderdale flats on but had missed
its target. They warned that a “live warhead” remained in the area
before the item was defused by British Army bomb disposal team.
For its part, the PSNI claimed that their patrol had been deliberately
lured to the area by the CIRA warning and that it had been targeted by a
“booby-trap device”. Had it detonated as intended, the result “would
undoubtedly have been catastrophic”.
Following a meeting with Johnson in Belfast on Wednesday, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald was unequivocal
that a crash Brexit for Britain must trigger a reunification referendum in Ireland.
“We made it clear to him that the extensive planning he tells us he is
carrying out in respect of a potential crash Brexit has to include the
constitutional question and the issue of a border poll here in Ireland,” she said.
“We have stated to him very clearly that Brexit in any event, but
certainly a disorderly Brexit, represents in anybody’s language a
dramatic change of circumstances on this island and it would be
unthinkable in those circumstances that people would not be given the
opportunity to decide on our future together.”
