'Racism' Row

South Down Sinn Féin MLA Caitríona Ruane has landed in spot of bother after she sat through an allegedly racist display at an X Factor-type event in Newry last week. The Mayo woman, who now lives in Omeath, was a judge at the event. According to the Newry Democrat, “it is understood that some of the crowd was horrified that the Education Minister continued to participate in the night, and did not illustrate her disgust by leaving the hotel.”

In a statement issued afterwards from Ruane, she said: "I am enjoying my time as a judge on the GAA X Factor and have been extremely impressed by the quality of the acts on offer, all of whom have performed magnificently in what is a keenly contested competition.

"The audience had differing views on the performances and I enjoyed some acts more than others, which I made clear in my comments as one of the judges."

I’m sure Ruane had little idea of what she was likely to encounter during the event, but as a public representative she should have known better than to sit back and watch the debacle unfold.

This episode also raises issues of political involvement in sporting organisations such as the GAA. A couple of years back, the Association allowed the use of Casement Park for a provisional Hunger Strike commemoration which gave anti-GAA bigots an excuse to attack the GAA and also frankly brought discomfort to many people who support the organisation.

Perhaps as an outworking of incidents like this plus the insensitive naming of some clubs led to Margaret Ritchie being criticised by the Orange Order recently for saying that attacks on Orange Halls should not be compared to those on GAA halls as the two organisations are completely different. Allowing the GAA to be exploited by political parties of any hue just gives people with an axe to grind against gaelic games ammunition for attack.

In Munster, former GAA chief Seán Kelly is likely to be a Fine Gael candidate in next year's European elections. However, this is completely separate as the two roles did not run simultaneously.

The GAA is a community organisation that has members of many political persuasions and none. It needs to be wary of political infiltration and exploitation, lest it should cause embarrassment and alienate the very grassroots activists who give it its vitality.

Provisional Army Council 'Has Gone Away' You Know

According to Peter Robinson, the DUP has received assurance that the provo 'army council' is out of business for good and won't be returning.

That's all well and good, but where does that leave the provisional movement with regard to its view of who is the legitimate government of Ireland?

According to republican doctrine, be it in the form espoused by the provos or the other smaller groups, this role lies with their respective army councils. So if the provisional army council is out of business, who has supreme authority? After all, they do not officially recognise the Leinster House Dáil or Stormont as the governments of Ireland.

All PIRA actions were justified by their cheerleaders by way of this belief that the army council had the legitimacy to authorise said activity as the provisonal governing body of the Irish Republic. So who governs now? How can a 'government' unilaterally go out of business? Was this idea of army council legitimacy actually just a charade to provide cover for the cold-blooded murder of innocent people? Do the provos actually have no ideology or principles? Have the DUP brought the provos to the point of surrender? If the army council is now out of action, does that mean that it has achieved its goals in the form of the current Stormont administration?

This apparent move creates more questions than it answers.

Progressive Democrats vote to close party

As El Matador previously forecasted, the Progressive Democrats are to close their party.

At a special conference today, they held a 4-hour debate before voting on the closure. 201 members voted to close it while 161 wanted to keep it open.

Taking into consideration the probability that many of the members who wanted the party to close probably didn't turn up today, having already made plans to join another party or to at least leave the PD's, it's clear the majority voted to close it.

The party was formed in 1985 by Desmond O'Malley, a former Fianna Fáil minister. As a junior party in a Fianna Fáil led coalition, the PD's performed well, until in 2007 they lost 6 of their 8 TD's.

In September 2008, the Parliamentary Party decided that the PD's were no longer politically viable, which was supported by party founder Des O'Malley who sent a letter to be read to members at today's conference.

I imagine the majority of members will join Fianna Fáil and some will join Fine Gael. Mary Harney TD will probably re-join FF and Noel Grealish has in the past held meetings to discuss joining FF, but chose to wait it out with the PD's.

Change.gov

President-Elect Barack Obama yesterday reminded people at one of his first press conferences that there are 74 days of transition period before Inauguration Day.

Nevertheless, he has already hit the ground running with a series of economic meetings, security briefings and the launch of his new website for the transitional Obama-Biden Administration, www.Change.gov.

It's an impressive website detailing the problems that are faced and how the President-Elect will tackle them. It allows Americans to post stories of the election campaign, and share ideas with the new Administration on what they want them to do. In my opinion, it gives the impression of a great leadership that is listening to people.

I'm sure many Americans are extremely relieved that Barack Obama won instead of John McCain and Governor Sarah Palin. That relief was summed up by a comment one friend in Oregon put to me: "It'll be good to have someone smarter than me running the country".

It was worrying just how idiotic the Republicans appeared at times. At all the election debates they seemed to come off worse (especially all that Joe the Plumber nonsence), then in the last week of the election at a McCain rally, avid supporter Gayle Quinnell went on an giant rant calling Obama an Arab (which he isn't) and a Muslim (which he isn't)...but who cares if he was? He's actually an American Christian. Technically, he's not even Black, he's Mixed Race.

Governor Palin also starred in a YouTube prank call courtesy of two DJs at CKY Radio, Montréal. She thought she was talking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who wanted to go hunting in an helicopter with her and whose wife wrote a song for her.

Time For A Real Overhaul?

The Catholic Church in Archdiocese of Armagh is to undergo a restructuring plan that will see parishes clustered and a more prominent role being given to lay people. This is aimed at counteracting falling priest numbers.

However, this is little more than a sticking plaster. The Church needs to look at why more people don't join the priesthood. Whereas years ago, people may have seen it as an honour to become a priest, now it seems positively odd. Who would freely choose to live a single life away from one's family? This anachronism, combined with more general disinterest in organised religion, is what is causing problems for the Catholic Church, and until they address these issues head-on, little will change.