Fair Comment

Today's Irish News suggested that comments made by SDLP councillor Niall Kelly on his blog caused "embarrassment" to the party leadership.

Niall suggested that "we need to do something to shake this party up," and pointed out that "we are no longer the largest party in the north (as we were in 1998); we are no longer the largest nationalist party (as we were between 1970 and 2001). At present, in the Assembly and in many council chambers across the North, we are bit part players."

He went on to say that "if Sinn Féin and the DUP are trying to cook up a deal with David Ford to cheat the SDLP out of the policing and justice ministry we should be shouting it from every rooftop," and concluded that "Fermanagh HAS to be a wake up call for the SDLP, or else people will begin to wonder if maybe the SDLP isn't sleeping, it's dead."

Now to me, this seemed like a perfectly reasonable article. Far from attacking the party, it was a call for it to get its act together and challenge the Hegemony of Harm.

The only thing embarrassing is the fact that a councillor has felt the need to speak out and is completely right in what he said about the party's predicament.

If the SDLP does not start to provide an alternative to the Sinn Féin/ DUP axis, it will be wiped out in 2011, as Niall points out. And even before then, if it appears that there isn't going to be much chance of success in that election, there won't be many young people like Niall hanging about just to demean themselves at the hands of the electorate.

Perhaps if more people removed the scales from their eyes instead of putting their heads in the sand, we might start going somewhere.

Women in politics

Tom Kelly writing in today’s Irish News addresses the question of women in politics. Having recently been in the company of SF Minister for Agriculture, Michelle Gildernew (who is expecting a child soon), she mentioned how “the demands of being a mother, wife, MP and minister would not be possible without the support of her family, husband and even party”. Writes Kelly, it is “sometimes too easy to be critical of politicians and there are times that the sacrifices they make are often at the expense of their families and or partners. And it does not matter whether they are male or female, although being in politics as the latter is undoubtedly more difficult.”

Recalling the recent council by-election in Fermanagh, he writes about the row between the DUP’s Arlene Foster – who won the seat for the DUP – and her uncle-in-law, Sam Foster of the UUP. Sam Foster “questioned how the DUP minister would balance her commitments as a minister, MLA and councillor and more controversially as a wife and young mother.

“It was a clumsy intervention. Asking the minister how she would reconcile her duties and responsibilities as a minister and a councillor deserved an appropriate response. The addendum as to how she would balance her home and professional life was perceived as a slight to all women. It is ironic that neither the Ulster Unionists nor the DUP have impressive records of championing the rights of women.”

Kelly writes that the UUP’s only MP, Lady Sylvia Hermon turned down the chance to lead her party in order to look after her ill husband and young children while Ruth Kelly, British education secretary, has also resigned to spend more time with her children. Kelly concludes that: “The glass ceiling is a long way from being shattered, though women like Gildernew, Ritchie, Hermon and Foster are replacing the panes so that at least we can see in.”

A welcome though overdue first step

There have been reports this week that Downing Street will back a bill arising from plans by Labour MP Chris Bryant to overturn the constitutional bar on Catholics becoming monarch, to be implemented in the government's 4th term- if it ever happens.  It has long been argued that the exclusion of non-Anglicans runs contrary to the modern-day standards of equality under the law, as reinforced by the European Convention on Human Rights which became entwined with British law by the Human Rights Act 2000, and the Guardian newspaper has even previously backed a legal challenge to the Act of Settlement 1701 on these grounds.

  The reforms have been given a broad welcome by constitutional pressure groups although it is not clear that the British government understands the constitutional complexity that the move is likely to become embroiled in.  Such a change will require amendments to a plethora of statute law such as  the 1688 Bill of Rights , the Act of Settlement in 1701, Act of Union in 1707 and provisions of the Coronation Oath Act 1688.  It also will require the consent of the governments in the Commonwealth.  

Much of the legislation was passed in a time of great animosity between Protestants and Catholics in England and has remained in place ever since, even if the religious split has largely healed.  While the proposals in themselves are laudable in bringing the institution of monarchy into the 21st century I cannot help feeling that the institution itself does not belong in this century no matter how reformed it may be.  While it is rational to deplore the discrimination against non-Anglicans it is irrational not to look further at the anachronistic concept of hereditary monarchy itself, the primogeniture rule entrenching the dominance of the eldest child and the establishment of the Anglican Church in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  

It might just be that this particular reform is the thin end of the wedge and that the whole constitutional construct providing the source of the monarchy's legitimacy will unravel in front of us.  This would be a welcome development.  Hereditary monarchy is a concept that belongs in the past and that has no place in a society marked by growing secularisation.  Let us hope that this reform leads ultimately to the disestablishment of the Anglican Church, the removal of Bishops from the House of Lords (indeed, the removal of the existence of an appointed or hereditary upper chamber altogether) and the creation of an elected head of state for Britain.  Vive la république!  Not the one we hope for on this blog but a start nonetheless.

Perfect Blemish

Strange how books find a way on to your shelf and strange too how cultures on the margin suddenly connect with each other. I read a first-class review by Caitríona Ní Chléircín in last week’s Foinse on a new bilingual collection of poetry by Welsh poet, Menna Elfyn called Perfect Blemish/Perffaith Nam (Bloodaxe). Not knowing anything about Elfyn I was more than happy to be guided by Ní Chléircín’s insight and ordered the book on the Internet. I then ran into Caitríona in Dublin on Tuesday where she was reading her own poems and Elfyn’s book arrived after that – and I am enjoying it.

I can’t speak Welsh and, in fact, dropped the language while a student to study Breton instead. I just could not get my head around Welsh. Consequently, my knowledge of Welsh literature has been confined to material in translation and to that of the big guns of English, R.S. Thomas and Dylan Thomas. I am happy to say that Elfyn’s work has opened another door into Welsh culture for me. (In the notes, she writes that she was imprisoned for a while as part of the campaign for the Welsh-language Act. Don’t expect me to do the same for an Irish-language Act!)

I will leave the last word to Menna Elfyn herself and her lovely poem, The Orchard-keeper.

The Orchard-keeper
(in memory of Gwynfor Evans)

Governance is not a sleight of hand
but a furrow set, then deepened.

In the clearing,
in the orchard keeper’s hand,
burnished to brightness,
nursing the green shoots until they spring
to meadowsweetness.
This much he does for us.

A nation is an estate
whose fruits
are weeds, mired
until a true gardener should sow the seed,
midwife the small buds to
the throng of blossom
through his vision.

His fingers’ span is unmeasured –
a sign of fair weather to come?
A matchless
forecast?
Let there be sun.

Oíche eile, ócáid eile

Oíche eile, ócáid eile. Another night, another event. D’éirigh liom bheith i láthair do sheoladh, Blaiseadh Pinn (Cois Life), cnuasach nua scríbhneoireachta le scríbhneoirí óga agus úra Gaeilge. Tá saothar le seachtar scríbhneoirí óga sa chnuasach agus ba mar chuid d’imeachtaí an fhéile litríochta, Imram, a seoladh an leabhar. Is léir go bhfuil scríbhneoirí fiúntacha nua ag teacht chun cinn. Go n-éirí leo sna blianta romhainn. Agus más scríbhneoir óg thú, bí i dteagmháil leis an chumann ag scribhneoirioga.blogspot.com

Another night, another occasion. I managed to make it to the launch of Blaiseadh Pinn (Cois Life) in Dublin last night, a collection of work by seven new and young writers. It was certainly a happy occasion. Ríona Nic Congáil, who founded Cumann na Scríbhneoirí Óga agus Úra, last year was there and it was a great testament to her abilities and hard work that so much has been achieved in such a short space of time. Ríona is a published author herself and has Northern connections. Her father is Professor Nollaig Mac Congáil who hails from Derry. He has done Trojan work in promoting the work of Donegal writers, Seosamh Mac Grianna and Séamus Ó Grianna. (Indeed, learners of Irish might also be familiar with his excellent Irish Grammar (Cló Iar-Chonnachta) which he published as Noel McGonagle.)

Anyway, while the young writers were enjoying their moment in the sun, I also got some recognition. On the way home on the train, a man introduced himself to me in faultless Irish: “An tusa Pól Ó Muirí?” (Are you Pól Ó Muirí?) Having admitted that I was, he then told me that he was just after reading one of my collections and had thoroughly enjoyed it. He even name-checked a couple of the poems – so, no, he wasn’t spoofing. (How could you even think that?)

Recognised on a train! Is this how Seamus Heaney feels when he goes out?

(Ar scor ar bith, pictured is Ríona Nic Congáil.)

Alliance Party U-Turns on Justice Ministry

SDLP Youth have accused Alliance leader David Ford of delaying the implementation of the Policing & Justice ministry by partipicating in a plot by the DUP and SF to gerrymander the Executive ministerial seats.

Earlier today, BBC News revealed David Ford has changed his mind and has not ruled out taking the Justice Ministry.

SDLP Youth Chairman Peter Armstrong accused David Ford of "participating in back room deals with the DUP and Sinn Féin to deny nationalist voters their rightful mandate to the new Justice Ministry".

"The SDLP are going to fight for what is rightfully theirs - what has been mandated to them.

"Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness seem determined to undermine the democratic Assembly structures. In attempting to deny the SDLP their position, they are denying a seat on the Executive to the 105,000 nationalist voters who put the SDLP as their first preference. Instead, they want the Alliance party to take on the post, even though they do not qualify for any seat on the Executive as not enough people vote for them."

The SDLP blog also includes a table to remind people just how the D'Hondt mechanism works:


It shows that even if the Executive kept adding new ministries, the SDLP, DUP and SF would all get assigned new ministries before it was the turn of the Alliance Party.

Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man

I was in Dublin last night in the headquarters of Foras na Gaeilge for the relaunch of An Leabhar Mór, a collection of poetry in Irish and Scots Gaelic and original art work. The book has been billed as a modern Book of Kells and I consider myself very fortunate to have a poem in it. An Leabhar Mór has been out of print for two years but is now published in a new edition by O’Brien Press in Ireland. The Republic’s Minister of the Gaeltacht, Éamon Ó Cuív, did the honours saying that it would make a “bronntanas deas Nollag” (a nice Christmas present). (First mention of Christmas on El Blogador, I think.)

Ó Cuív also made some very interesting observations about developing the links between Irish and Scots Gaelic. He has just returned from a tour of Scotland and the Isle of Man. Indeed, his grandfather, Éamon de Valera, sent a team of folklorists to Man in 1948 to record the last native speakers of Manx. Those records are regarded as being one of the most important collections of Manx and it is surely very fitting that Ó Cuív had the opportunity to commemorate his grandfather’s very far-sighted decision.

Ó Cuív spoke about the common linguistic bonds between Irish and Scots Gaelic and his hopes that those links would be strengthened through the work of Iomairt Cholm Cille (The Colm Cille Iniative) which is now part of the cross-border body, Foras na Gaeilge. It remains to be seen how that hope is realised. Foras na Gaeilge have enough problems trying to promote Irish in Ireland.

Speaking of Irish, there are two Irish-language events worth mentioning. The Imram literature festival has just started in Dublin. Next Tuesday (23rd Sept), in the Winding Stair Bookshop, Lower Ormond Quay, at 6.30pm, a young group of writers will be reading their work. It is always heartening to see young people writing Irish the old fashioned way in this Internet age. I know some of the writers as contributors to the Irish columns in the Irish Times and if their creative work is half as good as their journalism, it should make for a good night. (A full list of Imram events is available at www.poetryireland.ie/what-on/imram.html The festival runs until 30rd September.)

Talking of writers – though an established one this time – Doctor Fionntán de Brún from the University of Ulster will be giving a talk in Irish entitled: “1908 agus Bunú Scoil Éanna” (1908 and the founding of St Enda’s) on Friday 26th September at 7pm in the William Conor Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, York Street, Belfast.

This from the publicity leaflet: “September 1908 saw the initiation of an educational project whose consequences are still recognised throughout Irish society. St Enda’s was founded with the aim of providing a bilingual education for boys but equally set out to reject the type of schooling that cared little for the development of the individual. As the founder of St Enda’s, Pádraig Pearse’s vision prevailed in the mission and ethos of the school. He was not alone in his endeavours, however, as many leading figures in the Irish intelligentsia were to visit the school as part-time lecturers, among them W.B. Yeats, Douglas Hyde, Alice Stopford Green, Alice Milligan, Standish O’Grady and Kuno Meyer. As Irish-medium education enjoys unprecedented success throughout Ireland it is indeed time to reflect on the founding of St Enda’s in this centenary year.”

De Brún is one of the language’s best up and coming intellectuals. He has written a very fine study of the writer, Seosamh Mac Grianna, Seosamh Mac Grianna: an Mhéin Rúin (An Clóchomhar) and published a collection of short stories. I also had the pleasure of hearing him deliver a great lecture at the John Hewitt International Summer School a number of years ago.

The lecture will be followed by an Oíche Airneáil in the The Edge, May’s Meadow, Laganbank Road, Belfast at 9pm and will feature Seán Mac Corraidh, Róise Nic Corraidh, Cathy Potter, Nan Tom Taimín and Meaití Joe Shéamuis. Believe me that is as fine a collection of traditional musicians and singers that you could hope to get anywhere.

Both events will be in Irish. But do not be put off if you are not as fluent as you would like: gabh sa tseans/take a chance and develop (or redevelop) your own link with the language.

(Pictured at An Leabhar Mór: mise mé féin (left); artist Robert Ballagh and poet Gabriel Rosenstock)

The End Of The Progressive Democrats

A meeting this evening of the elected representatives of the PDs has effectively agreed that the party is finished. Last year's disastrous general election left the party with only two TDs, one of whom, Noel Grealish, has refused for some time to deny that he's planning a move to Fianna Fáil.

Party leader Ciaran Cannon said after this evening's meeting that it was the unanimous view of the four members of the parliamentary party (two TDs and two Senators) that the party was no longer politically viable.

A special conference of the party wiull be held in October to decide finally on what happens. Some are calling for a merger with Fianna Fáil, but given that a good few within the party would have tended to come from a Fine Gael background, it's likely that representatives and members will all go their own direction.

Too big to fail? Apparently not...

The unregulated casino model of global finance has taken another knock today with the fall of US banking stalwart Lehman Brothers. The US government told Wall Street that no public money was on the table to bail Lehman Brothers out for their greed and stupidity and that to save the ailing bank Wall Street would have to come up with the good themselves. When this money was not forthcoming the bank was allowed to fail. An example was made of Lehman Brothers that banks cannot continue to act so recklessly under the assumption that they would be rewarded for their failure by the taxpayer. The market in the US and London took a hit and speculators hovered like vultures to profit on the doom and gloom.

One thing about the global financial crisis that has struck me is how so many apparently intelligent people could have acted so stupidly and expected the profits to keep on coming. It does not take a genius to work out that asset-backed securities reliant on people paying back mortgages they cannot afford for their revenue stream are of dubious value. All it takes is a default on the loan and the not too unlikely scenario (given the drop in house prices) that the value of the collateral (the house) is worth less than the mortgage for the securities to become worse than worthless. As these bizarre financial instruments are traded across the world's financial system no one knows who is infected and no one is taking the risk so trading has slowed down. Cue the drying up of credit, the subsequent drop in demand and of economic growth and, due to rising oil and food prices, the onset of stagflation. All because of a bunch of greedy bankers blinded by their own apparent brilliance our economy is now under threat, workers are being restricted to below-inflation pay settlements and small businesses are going bust.

It is, however, not just the fault of the bankers. Governments across the world have bought into and propagated the myth that the market is so effective and so efficient that it should regulate itself. Central Banks, also enamoured by this magic formula for economic growth, added fuel to the fire by keeping their interest rates dangerously low. "Buy now, pay later" became the zeitgeist and borrowing reached epidemic levels. Following de-regulation by the government the financial sector in the UK has ballooned in proportion to manufacturing- you know, the people who actually make things of use and real value- and it has become more powerful than the so-called trade union barons of the 1970s so decried by the Tory press. What has become apparent is that financiers are only interested in short-term profit, not the long-term good of the economy. As a result they made short-term decisions that maximised profit at the expense of stability and this has now culminated in the so-called 'credit crunch.'

The house of cards is falling down as the market convulses spasmodically to reach a point of equilibrium. What will emerge as the dust clears will no doubt be very different but it is in this interstice of the narrative that the future of finance will be determined, it is in this fire that the future will be forged. The financial framework is a creation of law, as are corporations and banks themselves. It is time now for our lawmakers to step up to the mark and re-regulate finance to ensure the mistakes of the past are not repeated in the future. Do we really want a credit-creation system in which 97% of currency is privately created through the fractional reserve banking system? Do we really want an economy that relies on a few square miles of the City of London to be the engine of growth for the rest of the country? The answer is surely no. It is time to restrict the reckless practices of the money-lenders and to reject their claims that they are capable of behaving responsibly in a way which benefits us all as they clearly are not. Unfortunately I cannot see such visionary leadership coming from Gordon Brown, a leading proponent of the neoliberal economic policies that led us into this giant mess, nor from Cameron's Conservative Party that has, since Thatcher, been the political wing of the City. Maybe America will show leadership on the issue like Roosevelt did in the 1930s but, then again, maybe not. Maybe we should let the whole system collapse and fight for a new one to take its place. The times are a-changin', everything is to play for.

Playing for the parish

SDLP MLA and Irish speaker, Patsy McGlone, is mentioned in today’s Irish News – and not in the politics section where you might expect to find him. McGlone pops up in Kevin Madden’s weekly GAA column, Madden on Monday. Madden writes:

“Politics and sport don’t mix. I never paid any attention to this old adage – until now. As the better half and I approached our table at the Irish News Ulster All Stars night, I was greeted by Patsy McGlone, a local politician. Although not overly familiar with him, I did recognise the name and immediately placed him as a Sinn Féin representative for mid-Ulster – or so I thought …

“So I mentioned a young fella that I knew, who did some canvassing for his party in South Antrim. He had never heard of him. So, I kept digging, and proceed to tell how he assisted Mitchell McLaughlin in a recent election. As the lead balloon plummeted to the floor, Mr McGlone replied: “I think you have the wrong party, friend. I’m in the SDLP.””

You really couldn’t make that up. Still, on the positive side for Patsy, everyone who read the Irish News today now knows the colour of his team jersey – it’s McGlone in the red and green of the SDLP jinxing past McLaughlin and Sinn Féin’s blanket defence!

Happy 3rd Birthday El Blogador!

It doesn't seem like it, but today marks the third anniversary of the first post on El Blogador. In that time, we've covered many topics and seen many changes on the political scene. Some blogs have come, others have gone.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have contributed to El Blogador and commented on the site.

Onwards!

Modern Ireland

The Autumn issue of Studies is now out and I have a book review. As the reviews are not put on line, I am posting it here. However, do not let that stop you from going to www.studiesreview.com to see what else is on offer. As always the editorial by Fergus O’Donoghue is well worth reading and it is to be found in its entirety on-line. “Where do we get a sense of belonging and what are our sources of self-respect? In a very sudden shift, we discover that property can be a burden and that very large cars invited contempt rather than envy,” he asks.

Anyway, here is my review:

Bryan Fanning’s The Quest for Modern Ireland: the Battle of Ideas 1912-1986 (Irish Academic Press, 2008) does exactly what it says on the cover; it is a study of debates in which Fanning plots the intellectual course of five journals. The publications in question – The Crane Bag, The Bell, Studies, Christus Rex and Administration – will be, for the most part, familiar to readers. Certainly, The Crane Bag, The Bell and Studies will undoubtedly be recognised by people with an interest in the goings-on of Irish intellectuals while Christus Rex was more the preserve of academics in social sciences and Administration of meditative mandarins of the Civil Service.

What Fanning has done is gone into the trenches and read the issues copy by copy to chart the development, discourse and dispute that occurred within their pages. One cannot but marvel at the amount of reading that Fanning must have done to cover over 70 years of thought in five journals. That in itself is no mean feat and the leg work involved is testament to the best of academic endeavour – reading all the source material meticulously before offering an opinion.

That said, meticulous reading would be for nought if the material itself were not well presented. In this regard too Fanning succeeds. This is a dense book – dense in the sense that it demands careful reading. Essentially, Fanning gives a detailed examination of the ebb and flow of argument within each journal. What he reproduces in itself is startling but, just as startling, is the way in which his studious interrogation rebuts the clichéd and incomplete understanding of Irish intellectual history.

I will quote the book’s blurb as it offers a much more succinct summary of what Fanning achieves than I can: “Bryan Fanning brings to life the battle of ideas and intellectual debates that shaped modern Ireland. The quest depicted here was one by Irish civil servants, clerics, economists, historians, poets, politicians, sociologists and writers to understand and face up to social, economic and political dilemmas. Though often presented as such, this was never a Manichean battle between authoritarians and liberals, conservatives and progressives or between religiosity and secularism. The Quest for Modern Ireland offers a unique and nuanced insight into Irish social, cultural, economic and political development through its focus on debates fostered by five influential periodicals.”

Reader, that is no lie. And nuanced! Nuanced! There is a word that we do not see often enough when dealing with important matters. Fanning lets the (male) writers speak for themselves. Not everything said will chime with a contemporary sensibility but what strikes one the most is the honest endeavour with which intellectuals undertook to debate the national issue, partition, poverty, the Irish language and the role of religion in Ireland.

While reading Fanning’s book, I was reminded of Brian Fallon’s An Age of Innocence: Irish Culture 1930-1960. Fallon, a former Irish Times journalist (who was still there when I started in the paper but whom I never knew), gave a more anecdotal account of Irish culture. One critic, Marie Arndt, noted of Fallon’s book: “Fallon proposes that the high feel-good factor in the Ireland of today has increased the urge by the Irish to damn the past in order to disconnect from it, and to prove themselves as members of a modern society in the eyes of the world. He further argues, that the black picture of Ireland as an intellectually backward bog is an exaggeration; he concludes that Ireland was not really any worse in that respect than other western countries at that time, and that there were more foreign ideas influencing the Irish cultural scene than has generally been acknowledged. He does not denounce completely the existence of restricting forces in Ireland, but claims that they were not as paralysing to Irish cultural life as is most often suggested.”

Fanning is writing in a similar vein but has put meat on the bones of Fallon’s arguments. The assertion that Ireland was “an intellectually backward bog” does not stand up to scrutiny in Fanning’s work. It is simply impossible to read material from these journals – much of it philosophically informed – and not be impressed by the breadth, range and clarity of thought.

That is not to say that there were not arguments, unpleasant opinions or censorship but that seems to have been part and parcel of Western European life during the 20th century and was nothing compared to that of Eastern Europe under Stalin and the Soviet system. Indeed, the experience of our neighbours in Britain provide examples of, say, public outrage over literature (think Lady Chatterley’s Lover), dreary provincialism (think Philip Larkin in his library in Hull) and deference to authority (to Royalty rather than clergy) that places the Irish experience in some sort of context.

Put simply, if you have not read The Quest for Modern Ireland, do not even think to offer an opinion on Irish ideas of the last century.

Pathetic

At a speech at Lebanon, Virginia on Tuesday, future President Barack Obama said: "John McCain says he's about change too, and so I guess his whole angle is, 'Watch out George Bush- except for economic policy, health care policy, tax policy, education policy, foreign policy and Karl Rove-style politics- we're really going to shake things up in Washington.

"That's not change. That's just calling something the same thing something different. You know you can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. You know you can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change, it's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough of the same old thing."

Within minutes, the McCain campaign announced a conference call to discuss the remark. This despite the fact that last October McCain drew comparisons between Hillary Clinton's current health care plan and the one she supported in 1993 by saying: "I think they put some lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig." He used a similar line in May

Yet now the McCain campaign has demanded an apology from Obama, claiming there is a "big difference" between the two references and saying it's "obviously disrespectful and offensive" to Sarah Palin.

I've never heard anything so ridiculous in my life. Obama was not referring to Palin and even if he was, so what? Is she allowed to say whatever she wants and run on the Republican ticket, but then play they gender card when anyone dares to criticise her? How pathetic. This really is gutter politics and plainly shows how little substance there is behind the Republican campaign.

Thankfully the Obama campaign has seen this for what it is. Obama's senior adviser Anita Dunn said: "The McCain campaign's attack tonight is a pathetic attempt to play the gender card about the use of a common analogy- the same analogy that Sen. McCain himself used about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan just last year. This phony lecture on gender sensitivity is the height of cynicism and lays bare the increasingly dishonorable campaign John McCain has chosen to run."

So much for change from the Republicans.

Cromwell – God’s Executioner

A mention in dispatches for Micheál Ó Siochrú’s book, God’s Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland (Faber & Faber). There is a two-part series on RTÉ based on the book. The first one was broadcast last night – and I missed. However, I have to say that I am not worried. The book is very, very good and well worth getting. Ó Siochrú’s great gift is that he knows his history but that he also knows how to write. The tragedy, political double-dealing, incompetence and sectarianism of Irish political life of the time and the slaughter of Cromwell’s campaign are all here. This is a book by an academic – he is a lecturer in history in TCD – but it is not an academic study, that is, it is written with style and an eye to that fabled creature ‘the general reader’.

I interviewed Ó Siochrú (in Irish) for today’s Irish Times in the Tuarascáil column which, if you do not have the paper, should be on-line in an teanga bheo section of the website. Amongst the many interesting things he said, was the suggestion that we think we know about Cromwell but that we don’t. He also said that we need to better understand that era if we want to understand today. It is certainly true that events that took place so long ago can still have such an emotional affect on us today.

Talking of remembering, is it not about time that a statue was put up to the O’Neills? Owen Roe O’Neill died before he fought Cromwell but he is certainly a figure of great historical importance and deserves recognition in Ulster – which is not to say that Cromwell did not learn to curse the name O’Neill. Ó Siochrú writes that O’Neill’s nephew, Hugh Dubh (of whom I knew nothing before reading this book), bloodied Cromwell’s nose at Clonmel, killing between 1,500 and 2,000 of his soldiers. It was, says Ó Siochrú, “the single biggest loss ever suffered by the New Model Army on any of its campaigns in Ireland, Scotland or England”. Cromwell was so infuriated by the losses that he allegedly said “by God above, he would follow that Hugh Duff O’Neill wheresoever he went”.

Certainly, it seems strange that a statue of Cromwell stands in London but that there is not – to my knowledge – a statute to Owen Roe O’Neill. Indeed, where is the statue for Hugh O’Neill who fought against Elizabeth I? After all, if his adversary Chichester gets a street named after him in Belfast, then surely parity of cultural esteem means that the O’Neill should also be recognised. If memory serves me right, Hugh did not lose the war entirely, signing favourable enough terms, but he did lose the ‘peace’ that followed.

McCain- Palin: You'd Get More Change From A Dollar Bill At A 99 Cent Store

The superb act of larceny performed by the Republicans in misappropriating Obama’s ‘Change’ mantra for themselves would be enough to make Ronnie Biggs proud. It may be true that John McCain isn’t your common-or-garden Senator, but then he isn’t exactly your average Chuck/ Buzz/ Chip either. Here we have a man who doesn’t know how many houses he owns and who has voted with George W Bush 90% of the time. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said: "The idea that John McCain represents change in Washington is as laughable as his claim that he'll take on the special interests when some of the biggest corporate lobbyists in America are running his campaign." Indeed, the fact that seven of McCain’s advisors were Washington lobbyists hardly does him any favours when it comes to creating an image as an outsider.

Which is probably why they picked Sarah Palin as his running mate. Stuck way up there in Alaska, it’s about distant from Washington as you could get. However, in attempting to get someone from as far outside the beltway as possible, McCain has gambled with an unknown quantity.

As Mayor of a backwater village, a post she won with a princely 651 votes, Palin was little more than the equivalent of a councillor here in the north (despite Mike Huckabee’s lies). So we can’t really count that as high-level experience. Since then, she’s been governor of Alaska for less than two years. This is certainly a much more prominent role, but it’s a far cry from the White House. And in this post, she hasn’t exactly covered herself in glory or distinguished herself from the kind of pork-barrelling and self-serving activity that she claims to oppose. For instance, she supported the infamous ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ which would have burnt hundreds-of-millions of federal dollars- indeed, she ran on a pro-bridge ticket in 2006.

Palin’s actions are also under investigation after she sacked Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Monegan alleged that his dismissal was retaliation for his failure to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law, Mike Wooten, who was involved in a child custody battle with Palin’s sister and had been accused of threatening Palin's father. The investigation is due to be completed in October, before the presidential election. Last week, Palin's lawyer asked the state legislature to drop its investigation, saying that under state law, the governor-appointed state Personnel Board had jurisdiction over ethics issues. Why are they so worried?

And now the Washington Post has revealed that Palin claimed expenses from the taxpayer for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a ‘per diem’ allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while travelling on state business. This from a woman who got rid of the governor's jet and personal chef to save public money.

I wish I could get paid for sitting about the house at night.

With so little known about Palin and her record being so questionable, worried minds are turning to the possibility of her becoming President. After all, at the age of 72 and having battled with severe illness and the effects of incarceration in Vietnam, it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that McCain could die in office if elected. This would leave Palin as Commander-in-Chief. Perhaps this will make American voters think twice.

The McCain- Palin ticket is Frankensteinian in nature. Here we have a man who’s been in Washington for two decades claiming he wants to offer an alternative to Washington politics. And joining his campaign, which has previously criticised Obama for lacking experience, is a woman whose record would struggle to rival that of a member of a school board of governors. Perhaps she was added to the ticket to appeal to female voters after the demise of Hillary Clinton- if this is the case, it would be an insult to women given that Palin is the political polar opposite of the New York senator.

The choice is clear for the American people: an accomplished politician who has proven he wants to bring real change after eight disastrous years under Bush, running with a man who has the most solid of experience both domestically and internationally; or a man who is elderly and has shown himself to be a Bush-supporter in congress, running with a woman whom he hardly knows and who has a political CV that could fit on the back of a Walmart receipt.

Actually, there is no choice when you think about it.

‘Power-sharing should end’ - Mark Durkan

SDLP leader Mark Durkan is calling for an end to power-sharing. According to this morning’s Irish News, Durkan gave a keynote address in Oxford, England, last night in which he is reported as saying that “enforced power-sharing between nationalists and unionists at Stormont should be scrapped”. In its place, he said that a strong Bill of Rights could be sufficient to protect minorities and that the SDLP envisaged that Stormont could operate on a majority voting system such as Westminster or the Dáil.

William Graham’s report says: “The Good Friday Agreement was built on the designation system and the d’Hondt voting procedures but Mr Durkan said there is scope in future years to attempt to make some radical changes if parties evolved to a situation where their appeal crossed traditional divides.”

The report also quotes Durkan as saying: “I argued that such measures with their arguable sectarian or sectional undertones should be bio-degradable, dissolving in the future as the environment changed.

“Most, if not all of us, had such future adjustments in mind when we wrote the review mechanisms of the agreement. As we move towards a settled process we should be preparing to think about how and when to remove some of the ugly scaffolding needed during the construction of the new edifice.”

Durkan is also quoted as saying: “The possibilities for political realignment with new or changing party offerings in the future could be stunted by permanent reliance to the present degree on designation. If we are truly serious about a truly shared future then we have to allow for truly shared politics where parties can appeal across the traditional divides.”

First, this seems to be a major speech from Durkan. However, the text is not available on the SDLP website – which it should be, in technicolour and sound! If Durkan is indeed setting the agenda then the speech should have been made available in its entirety on line as soon as he had finished talking in Oxford.

Second, will Durkan’s re-imagination of the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement appeal to the electoral, be they unionist or nationalist?

Third, the thing I have never understood about d’Hondt is the allocation of ministerial positions. Put it this way: Sinn Féin have five ministers to the SDLP’s one but Sinn Féin did not get five times the vote that the SDLP got. Is that difference in ministerial portfolios really reflective of the number of votes cast for the two parties?

Robbo's Gone Mad

The North's politics have just gotten even more confusing with the IMC's latest report on the IRA. Despite the commission's assertion that the Provisional Army Council "is by deliberate choice no longer operational or functional", First Minister Peter Robinson wants more. Robinson wants the Army Council to be not just completely inert but to be fully disbanded, never to meet again ever. This, surely, is madness; setting aside the fact that much of the Army Council probably meets in the Assembly chamber every week, how exactly does Robinson expect to seek qualification that 7 men have not met in a room? Does he want photographic evidence of people explicitly and demonstrably not meeting in a room? Surely not. The conclusion must therefore be that Robinson wants senior members of the IRA to receive ASBOs. Unbelievable- even for the DUP.

McCain's Massive Risk

John McCain surprised many when he announced Sarah Palin as his running mate for November. "What?!" cried many non-Alaskans. "Who?" cried many more. However, a few days on it is very unlikely that many still have no idea about the woman who could only be a heartbeat (God forbid) away from the Presidency.

To evangelical Christians the choice was music (presumably of the choral or devotional sort) to their ears; a Jesus-loving, gun-toting, moose-shooting pro-lifer was bound to be popular for that constituency. To the Hillaryites, to whom the choice was also cynically aimed, the choice of a woman probably smacks of condescension on McCain's part, especially as this woman is certainly no liberal like their hero claims to be. To everyone else the choice may seem baffling. Palin is a candidate with experience only as mayor of a small town and as a part-term Governor of Alaska. In contrast to Joe Biden, Obama's running mate, she is a political lightweight. Republican claims that she has more Executive-level experience than Obama are technically true but no less ridiculous for it. Might I suggest that, barring constitutional prohibitions, the Mayor of, say, Limavady is equally qualified according to this criteria?

However, the merits of Sarah Palin's candidature are not in fact the greatest issue at stake here. Far greater, in my mind, is the fact that McCain made his choice after having only met Palin twice and without any effective vetting process. Had she have been vetted properly the campaign would have known about her pregnant teenage daughter, her links to the pro-Alaskan independence AIP, her fondness for pork-barreling (lobbying for money for projects in your home state at the expense of the country as a whole in order to win favor with the local electorate, a practice criticised by McCain himself), support for a pointless and expensive bridge project and ongoing investigations into allegations that she abused her powers by sacking her brother-in-law in the wake of his divorce from Palin's sister. Whether or not Palin turns out to be a good candidate is irrelevant to the question of McCain's judgement (or lack of) and the rashness of the decision he made. Such impulsive decision-making was the hallmark of the previous administration and is much suspected among many American voters. As a former Bush adviser told Channel 4 news, McCain has gambled a lot of money on black and even if it pays off it still doesn't make it a good decision.

Another interesting issue surrounding the Palin candidacy is the allegation of sexism in the media's reporting. I would suggest that the only sexism here is from the Republicans. It is perfectly reasonable to scrutinise the woman who may be the next Vice President and the criticisms do not have to be linked to the fact that she is a woman. To suggest that her gender should make her immune to criticism or that criticisms should be tempered to take account of the fact that she is female is nothing short of patronising.

SDLP Must Stand Firm On Policing And Justice

For several years now, the SDLP has been playing the role of responsible bridesmaid in northern politics. When the IRA was still playing its grubby games and Sinn Féin was still unsure whether democratic politics was the way forward, the SDLP refused to form an administration sans-provos. After all, the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement was to promote inclusiveness and respect the mandate of parties.

Even now, the SDLP appears reticent to rock the boat too much over the obscene incompetence of the two biggest parties, lest it could hasten the collapse of the devolved administration.

However, recent developments regarding the devolution of policing and justice have shown that the dysfunctional DUP/ Sinn Féin axis at Stormont doesn’t quite have the same commitment to respecting the rights of voters as the SDLP has had.

They ‘generously’ said that neither of them would aim to take control of a would-be policing and justice ministry. That’s all very well, but they aren’t entitled to another Minister in the Executive anyway. It’s the SDLP which is next in line under d’Hondt for an Executive post. However, the axis is attempting to deny the SDLP its right, instead apparantly aiming to hand the post to the Alliance, a party with so few seats that it is not entitled a Ministry under the rules that govern the allocation of Executive positions.

I suppose people shouldn’t be surprised. After all, of the four current Executive parties, the two concocting this exemplary display of latter-day gerrymandering are also the ones who did not campaign in favour of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. At least they're showing form.

To be fair to the DUP, they never really supported the whole powersharing thing until they were the biggest party and could benefit from it. And even then it was just a megalomaniacal means to an end for them. They were ostensibly anti-GFA while the Ulster Unionists were trying to promote devolution and hardly covered themselves in glory with their behaviour over the issue, so their current actions are par for the course.

However, real censure must fall on Sinn Féin, that great ‘republican’ party, over their contrivance with the ‘Never Never, Never’ party to deny fellow nationalists their right to one of the most important positions of government there is.

What does it say about Sinn Féin’s credibility that they would seek to disenfranchise the 105,164 nationalist voters who gave the SDLP their Number 1 vote in March 2007, not to mention the tens-of-thousands of their own supporters who gave the SDLP high preferences?

Although the political hue of a party should have no part to play in whether it gets a Ministry- strength in the Assembly should dictate this- it shows how far Sinn Féin would go to deny a fellow nationalist party the policing and justice ministry that they would prefer to conspire with the DUP to hand it to the Alliance, a party which has campaigned on a platform saying that it "supports the constitutional position of Northern Ireland as an integral part of the United Kingdom. We know that this belief is shared by the overwhelming majority of our people and that provocative debate about it has been the primary cause of all our most fundamental troubles. The link is in the best economic and social interests of all the people of Northern Ireland."

Of course, the SDLP needn’t bother complaining unless they’re going to do something about it. For too long they’ve sat back and allowed the DUP and Sinn Féin to run rings around them, creating the not unfair impression among many people that they are weak, indecisive and lack purpose. Acts of strength and vision such as Margaret Ritchie’s handling of the CTI funding issue have become the exception rather than the rule. The SDLP cannot stake its reputation on isolated incidents like this alone to win the trust and support of the electorate.

I noticed that yesterday Mark Durkan came out with a strong statement saying that Sinn Féin "is guilty of abuse of power and old-style majority rule" over their handing of this issue and Alban Maginness has spoken about it previously. This needs to be cranked up tenfold.

The SDLP must adopt a strong position and fight tooth and nail to secure the policing and justice ministry. This is essential not only to secure its own interests as a party moving forward, but also to ensure that the spirit of the Good Friday Agreement remains alive and to send out a message to each and every one of those people who voted for the party that their support was not in vain. If the SDLP is seen to be weak on this issue, regardless of whether it actually gets the ministry in the end when all is said and done, it can kiss goodbye to the idea of playing any significant role in the future governance of the north.

No doubt the axis will use all manner of verbal smokescreens to justify trying to shaft the SDLP out of its democratic right. That is why the SDLP must stand firm and insist that it gets what it is entitled to.

No case can be made that policing and justice should be treated differently from the other ministries and therefore shouldn’t be allocated by d’Hondt- such a move would be tantamount to an admission that the four main parties aren’t fit to govern, which is an affront to the vast majority of the electorate of the north who voted for them. It would also destroy any notion that shared government is possible.

By handing a ministry to a party which is not entitled to have one, the whole premise of shared government is destroyed. Chipping away at such a fundamental base upon which government here rests will result in the whole devolved structure collapsing like a house of cards. It cannot be justified in the slightest and any 'excuses' given by the axis will have simply been concocted in their own minds for the purposes of denying the SDLP its rightful role. This must be opposed in the strongest possible terms.

The time has come for the SDLP to step up to the mark. It must stand firm in defence of its rights and the rights of its voters. The SDLP must send out a clear message to other parties and to the public that it will no longer be cast aside and will take whatever measures are necessary to provide the best alternative for the people of the north.

A Little Learning

The Irish-language weekly Foinse reported at the weekend that the number of students taking Irish at A-level and GCSE has fallen again. Only 248 students took the language to A-Level, a fall of 11 per cent from 2007 and a fall of 24 per cent since 2006 when 329 students sat Irish A-Level. At GCSE level the number of students fell from 2,748 in 2007 to 2,416 this year.

Those figures are not good news for the health of the language within English-language schools where the students are, for the greater part, from a Catholic/nationalist background. It confirms what I suspect – the struggle to promote Irish in the North (even amongst nationalists who are sympathetic) will be every bit as hard in the next 20 years as it was in years gone by. There is little doubt that nationalists are more aware of the language than my generation were but that does not mean that that knowledge translates automatically into support. (We will have to leave the provision for Irish in state schools for another day.)

You could argue that the number of students attending Irish-language primary schools – the famous bunscoil – will more than make up for the fall in A-level students. I would be quite cautious of making that assumption. It seems to my eye that many parents are quite happy to send their child to a bunscoil but do not always send them on to an Irish-language secondary school (even if there is one available). Undoubtedly, the tremendous work of teachers in the bunscoil sector creates a pool of young Irish speakers but not all of them have the opportunity to hold on to their Irish into their teen or adult years.

And that brings me to this statement from SDLP Education Spokesman, Dominic Bradley, MLA. He says that “he has serious reservations about the proposals on Irish Medium Education contained in a leaked document from the Department of Education. Commenting on the proposals to establish more Irish medium units within English language schools and to establish Irish medium schools within federations, Mr Bradley said that these proposals presented a possible threat to the future of Irish medium education:

“I understand the need to take cognisance of declining demographic trends but my understanding is that Irish medium education is the fastest growing education sector in Northern Ireland. I have reservations about the development of Irish medium education within confederations with English medium schools or within units in English medium schools. The danger is that the Irish medium provision can become the weaker partner in such arrangements.

“It is a common experience where a minority language is pitched against a world language like English that the lesser-used language comes off worst. That is a danger in this situation. The Irish Medium Education sector is relatively new and has developed rapidly; my fear would be that its continued growth as a vibrant and distinctive sector could be diluted by these proposals. I would prefer to see the Irish medium education developing as a distinctive sector as it has in the South of Ireland rather than as an tie-on to some other sector.”

Finally, some news from that other sector that continues to fly the language flag without fail – the Irish-language night class. (God be good to the days when I had the time and the energy to teach Irish in the evenings.) This is the time of year when classes begin. I only have a few details of classes that are due to begin but I will post them anyway. Má tá rang i do cheantar féin, b’fhéidir go gcuirfeá nóta chun an tsuímh seo. Any additional information on classes would be most welcome.

In Belfast, classes will begin at the McCracken Cultural Society, 156 Antrim Road, today week. There will be beginners, grammar classes, conversation for past pupils from bunscoileanna, intermediate Irish and the nirvana for the fluent Irish speaker, the Ardrang. There are limited places and you are advised to book immediately. Further information is available from Niall Ó Maitiú at 028 9074 9688 or http://www.ccmr156.com/

In Lurgan, Co Armagh, enrollment for classes begins tonight between 7pm and 8pm at Áras Ailf Uí Mhuirí, North Street. Classes begin today week. Beginners to fluent speakers are catered for.

In Ballycastle, Co Antrim, Irish classes at Beginner, Intermediate & Advanced level will start Wednesday 17th September at 7pm in Ionad Teaghlaigh an Chaistil, 5 Kiln’s Road. Information: 028-20762977. Also in Ballycastle is “Opening Doors” a workshop for parents with little/no Irish which looks at methods of nurturing the language in their children. Information: Pobal an Chaistil on 028-20768883.

In Ballymena, Co Antrim, Irish classes for Beginners and Intermediate level will start on 22nd and 23rd September in All Saints Parish Hall. Contact Róise of Glór Dhál Riada on 07740 684 152. Finally, in Martinstown, Irish classes for Beginners and Intermediate level will start on 22nd and 23rd September. Contact Aodán on 07936 648 423.

Sin é go fóill beag.