Posted by admin on October 14, 2014
Sinn Féin MLA Martin McGuinness has said that if the DUP is serious about tackling the growing crisis in the political process then they should be at the table this week with the other parties and the Irish and British governments.
Martin McGuinness MLA was speaking after meeting EU leaders to brief them on the current challenges facing the political process during a visit to the European Parliament in Brussels.
Martin McGuinness said:
“I’m taking this opportunity to brief the party group leaders about the growing crisis in the political process in the North.
“The political institutions in the North established by the Good Friday Agreement have been undermined over the past number of years by the convergence of a number of factors.
“First mainstream political unionism has shifted towards an anti-agreement position. Second a partisan Tory-led British government is seeking to impose its policy of welfare and public service cuts on the North while pandering to a growing list of unionist demands. Alongside that the Irish government, a co-equal guarantor of the agreements has been focused on domestic economic issues.
“These three factors have encouraged anti-agreement unionists to frustrate the implementation of agreements, walk out of talks on the past, parades and flags and undermine the institutions by threatening to bring them down.
“We have consistently called on the Irish government to re-assert its role as a co-equal guarantor of the agreements and for the two governments to begin immediate, all-party talks and to reengage the American administration.
“Both governments have now called for talks.
“The DUP leader had called for talks but now appears to be preparing to walk out of talks before they have even begun.
“Yesterday they refused to stand by the agreement to appoint Mitchel McLaughlin as Speaker of the Assembly.This is yet another broken agreement. They are also seeking to deny the role of the Irish Government as co-equal guarantors of the agreements. The Irish Government has played a constructive role in each successful negotiation from Good Friday, through to St Andrews and Hillsborough. This is a vain attempt to wind the clock back. This is unacceptable. It is unsustainable.
“Let me be clear Sinn Féin operates the institutions to deliver change. We are entering these talks to address the issues facing the political process; the need to honour agreements, the need for a working budget for the Executive and additional powers to safeguard public services and welfare for all our people.
“The leaders of Unionism however, are seeking to hide from talks and avoid addressing the pressing issues facing all in our community.
“It is clear that the British Government’s partisan handling of these matters has encouraged unionists to undermine the agreements.
“Both the British Government and the DUP needs to demonstrate by word and deed that it is committed to the implementation of the agreements, to powersharing, and to equality
“If the DUP is serious they will be at the talks on Thursday with the rest of the parties and the two governments.
“What is required is an immediate start to all-party talks, free from preconditions and threats and the implementation of all previous agreements. The political institutions need to function as intended and agreed. Budgeting and fiscal powers need to be addressed, And the issues addressed in the talks chaired by Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan need to be dealt with.
“I believe that the full operation of all the agreed political institutions is the best way forward for all in our society. In my opinion all can be resolved if the political will to do so exists. That requires positive forward-looking political leadership. At this minute it is unclear if that leadership exists within Unionism or the British Government.”
Posted by admin on
by Cahir O’Doherty
The pressure on the New York Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee to approve of Irish gay groups marching just hit critical mass.
Yesterday, in a preliminary report published half way through a Vatican synod on family life, an assembly of 200 bishops, offered a remarkable change in the Church’s tone over gay rights issues.
Homosexuals have real “gifts and qualities to offer” the report said, adding that the Church could now see its way toward greater acceptance of gays and toward recognizing positive aspects of the relationships of same-sex couples.
The news created an immediate international sensation. Vatican expert and author of the 2013 bestselling book “The Vatican Diaries” John Thavis called yesterday’s document “an earthquake” in the Church’s attitude towards gays.
The news comes as 30 US states have legalized same sex marriage and public attitudes have moved toward greater acceptance.
The Vatican document, read to the synod yesterday in the presence of Pope Francis, follows on from his own publicly expressed desire to offer a more merciful tone toward homosexuals and other Catholics in “irregular situations” such as cohabitation before marriage.
But the change in tone does not imply a change in doctrine, however. The statement says that gay unions “cannot be considered on the same footing as matrimony between man and woman,” but the Church says it now recognizes there are many positive aspects to relationships between same-sex couples.
Observers described yesterday’s synod statement as a concerted response to the growing perception that the Church is increasingly out of step with the views of most practicing Catholics.
It’s a process that is ongoing. Last year Pope Francis made it clear he felt the Church needed to be much more compassionate toward homosexuals, saying: “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?”
The latest Vatican statement puts the New York St. Patrick’s Day Committee, which has steadfastly refused to permit Irish gay groups to march under their own banners, to the right of even the Pope himself, an increasingly unsupportable position.
Last month Cardinal Dolan, a dependably conservative voice in the US Church, took on critics who attacked him for agreeing to be Grand Marshall of the 2015 Fifth Avenue parade, which will for the first time permit one gay group to march.
“According to the critics, I should have refused, due to the Parade Committee’s decision to allow a group of self-identified Gays of Irish ancestry to march in the parade with their own banner,” Dolan wrote in the Diocesan Newspaper. “I’ll stand by my decision,” he added.
Having been abandoned by the Mayor, the Cardinal, the Vatican and now even Pope Francis, it seems that the parade committee diehards now only have Bill Donohue – and no one else – left to call the shots.
Posted by Jim on
Posted by Dee Notaro
It seems to me people start Halloween the first of October. They claim it has overtaken Christmas as the best holiday of the year. Approximately 100 countries celebrate Halloween but just what are we actually celebrating?
Halloween’s origins date – 4000 B.C. – when according to the Celtic lunar calendar “summer’s end” was celebrated. This festival was called Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn). Festivals were celebrated on the “eve” rather than the day, thus making October 31st the beginning of the most sacred of all holidays. The word was also used for the first month of the ancient Celtic calendar, and in particular the first three nights of that month; the festival marks the beginning of the winter season. “All Hallows’ Day”, also called “All Saints’ Day”, which is a Catholic day of religious observance in honor of saints, and comes from a contracted corruption of All Hallows’ Eve. The Romans adopted these practices as their own in the first century and incorporated Samhain with their own. Pomona, the goddess of fruits and tress was celebrated in October and she was symbolized by the apple. This might explain the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.
One story says that all on the eve of October 31, the disembodied spirits of all those who died during the preceding year would come back in search of living bodies to possess for the next year. It was believed to be their only hope for the afterlife. The Celts believed that all laws of space and time were suspended during this time allowing the spirit world to intermingle with the living. Naturally the still-living did not want to be possessed, so on the night of October 31, villagers would extinguish the fires in their homes to make them cold and uncomfortable. They would dress up in all manners of ghoulish costumes and noisily parade around the neighborhood, being as destructive as possible to frighten away the spirits. Probably a better explanation as to why all extinguished their fires as so that all Celtic fires could relight their fires from a common source. The Druidic fire that was kept burning in the middle of Ireland was at Hill of Uisneach . This festival was called Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn). Often Druid priests would throw the bones of cattle into the flames and, hence, “bone fire” became “bonfire.
The Jack O’Lantern probably comes from Irish folklore. As the tale is told, a man named Jack who was notorious as a drunkard and a trickster, tricked Satan into climbing a tree. Jack then carved a cross into the trunk trapping the devil up the tree. Jack made a deal with the devil that if he would never tempt him again, he would promise to let him down from the tree.
According to legend, when Jack died he was denied entrance to heaven because of his evil ways but he was also denied entrance to hell because he had tricked the devil. Instead the devil gave him a single ember to light his way through the frigid darkness. The ember was place in a hollowed out turnip to keep it glowing longer. The Irish originally used turnips as their “ jack’s lanterns” . But when they came to America they found that pumpkins were far more plentiful. The custom of Halloween was brought to America in the 1840s by Irish immigrants fleeing their country’s potato famine. The custom of trick-or-treating is thought not to have originated with the Celts, but from a 9th century European custom called “souling”. On November 2, All Souls’ Day, early Christians would walk from village to village begging for “soul cakes” made out of square pieces bread with currants. The more cakes they would receive – the more prayers they would promise to say for the dead relatives of the donors. At that time, it was believed that the dead stayed in limbo for a time and that prayers, even those offered by strangers, could expedite their souls into heaven.
Black and orange are typically associated with Halloween. Orange is a symbol of strength and endurance and, along with brown and gold, stands for the harvest and autumn. Black is typically a symbol of death and darkness and acts as a reminder that Halloween once was a festival that marked the boundaries between life and death.
One final tidbit: “Samhainophobia” is the fear of Halloween.
Posted by Louise Sullivan on October 11, 2014
The Dublin government has been urged to do more to maintain contact with
its emigrant population after a deceased Galway man was only saved from
an unmarked grave in England by the efforts of a deaths registration
official in London and a retired school teacher.
Sean Parker, from a small village in County Galway, died in London aged
79, with no known family or friends. A public appeal by a council
official in a local newspaper led to him being traced to a family,
school and graveyard near the Galway-Roscommon border.
Months later, Mr Parker has been laid to rest this week beside his
mother Annie who died in 1945 following a funeral mass in Glinsk parish
church. Mourners heard how Mr Parker emigrated only to end up living a
life of hardship on the margins of society in London.
Sally Mulready, the director of the Irish Elderly Advice Network in
London, said instances of emigrants dying alone with no relatives or
friends was common.
But one of the few links they have to Ireland will be lost when RTE’s
longwave 252 kHZ service is axed in just more than two weeks.
There is growing opposition to RTE’s plans to scrap its longwave service
on October 27 to encourage people to listen in on laptops and mobile
phones.
The Provincial Council of Britain GAA is preparing a letter to RTE
director general Noel Curran, as well as communications Minister Alex
White, calling for the decision to be reversed.
British chairman for the Gaelic sports association, Brendie Brien, said
that many older people who had emigrated from Ireland decades ago relied
on Radio 1 to maintain a connection with the 26 Counties, with most
still unaware of RTE’s plans.
“They have been used to being able to switch on their radio and listen
to their programmes, whether it’s to GAA matches or Joe Duffy [on
Liveline], and most of them will have no confidence when it comes to
dealing with modern technology. Many won’t even know that the longwave
isn’t going to be available soon,” he said.
London-based Mr Brien appealed to the national broadcaster to consider
those who would be worst-hit by the move.
“It’s going to be very hard for people who are living alone. They are
often totally reliant on the radio for their only connection to home and
they are in danger of losing that now,” he said.
Sinn Fein’s Barry McElduff, who publicly criticised the loss of RTE’s
medium wave service six years ago, also expressed concern that many
people in the Six Counties would be left vulnerable by the cut.
“It’s not good enough that anyone in the north should lose access to
Radio 1. Many older people are intimidated by any kind of new technology
and to suggest that they can easily make the switch to something new is
not being realistic.
“I can’t overstate how important RTE Radio 1 is to many people in the
north. We grew up listening to it,” said the West Tyrone politician,
adding that RTE had “an obligation” to ensure all its services were
available across the entire island of Ireland.
Posted by Jim on October 9, 2014
The latest Irish Times poll shows Sinn Fein equal with government lead party Fine Gael with 24 percent of the vote. Fianna Fail, the long time party of government, is at 20 percent and Labour is at 9 percent. The remainder of the vote, 23 percent, is splintered among smaller parties and independents.
The poll shows Sinn Fein is poised to be the largest party in Dublin after the next election with 26 percent of the support there.Their support is overwhelming in working class areas at 39 percent. Sinn Fein is up by four percentage points since the last Irish Times poll.
Their vote is overwhelmingly young, male and working class.
The rise for Sinn Fein has been dramatic. In the 1987 election Sinn Fein got just under two percent of the vote. Their rise in the polls parallels their success in Northern Ireland, where they are now the largest nationalist party.
Fine Gael has been rocked by controversies recently, which means their showing of 24 percent (unchanged) will be seen as satisfactory by some.
However, they have failed to benefit from the improvement in the economic tidings and they and their current coalition partners, Labour, have only 33 percent of the vote between them making it almost impossible they could form another government if the election was held today.
Fianna Fail has seen their vote fell five percent, lost mostly to Sinn Fein it seems, especially in working class areas.
The Labour Party has staged a minor comeback and is now at 9 percent, up from seven percent in the last poll.
The new Labour Leader Joan Burton is enjoying a honeymoon period and has the highest ratings of any party leader at 37 percent followed by Gerry Adams at 35 percent and Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail’s Michael Martin at just 26 percent,.
The poll clearly shows the next election will be extremely difficult to call and suggests several different combinations likely for who will end up in government.
The next election is due by April 2016, but it is considered likely it will be held before then.