FEBRUARY 2009
www.celtic-connection.com
Page 23
N. Ireland Compensation Scheme Causes Anger on All Sides
BELFAST - Plans to compensate the families of paramilitary fighters killed in Northern Ireland-have caused anger on both sides of the sectarian divide.
A government-commissioned report proposes a £12,000 payment for every family who lost a member in 30 years of violence in which more than 3,600 people were killed.
The Consultative Group on the Past published its report in early January and has not commented on the report.
The Group published its recommendations on January 28 in a 190-page report, containing more than 30 recommendations, expected to cost in total £300 million.
The report recommends setting up of a five year Legacy Commission, a Reconciliation Forum to aid the existing commission for victims and survivors, and a new historical case review body.
The report concluded the Legacy Commission should make proposals
Irish Celebrate Obama Appointment
on how "aline might be drawn," but omitted proposals for an amnesty.
Additionally, it was proposed that no new Public Inquiries be held, and an annual Day of Reflection and Reconciliation and a shared memorial to the conflict.
The controversial proposal to pay the relatives of all victims killed in The Troubles, including the families of dead bombers, SI2,000, as a "recognition payment," caused disruption to the report's launch by protestors. The estimated cost of this part of the proposal was £40 million.
Unionists said a blanket compensation scheme would put paramilitaries who fought British rule in Northern Ireland on a par with civilian victims, police officers or British soldiers.
Catholic nationalists said London was trying to pay off victims instead of giving an account of its role in the conflict.
"We will not give our support to any proposal which would blur the line between the terrorist and the innocent victim," said Peter Robinson, head of the Democratic
Unionist Party and First Minister in Northern Ireland's regional executive.
There was similar disappointment from those who have campaigned for a united Ireland.
"There are many victims' organisations that fear that the Fames/Bradley proposals will ... allow the British state to continue its policy ... of cover up and concealment," said Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams.
The Relatives for Justice group campaigning for the families of victims of alleged state murders said the compensation debate missed the point of what they were looking for. "For those families, their focus is not on compensation or reparation but principally the truth about what happened," said director Mark Thompson.
The Consultative Group on the Past was jointly chaired by a former Primate of the (Protestant) Church of Ireland, Lord Robin Fames, and Denis Bradley, a former Catholic priest and first deputy chairman of the Northern Ireland Policing Board. Both were nominated by the British government.
DUBLIN - Ireland toasted the inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president on January 20 with whiskey, bread and even a radio station renamed in his honour.
In celebrations not seen since John F. Kennedy took control of the White House, homes, workplaces and pubs came to a standstill to watch the new American leader sworn in.
Distant relatives gathered in Moneygall, County Offaly, where Obama's ancestors lived in the 1800s, while Democratic Party faithful living in Ireland threw a bash in Dublin.
Cooley Distillery, based in County Louth, dedicated a special cask of its award-winning whiskey to President Obama.
Assured of his success, the company said the single malt would be fully matured in time for his retirement eight years away -predicting another four-year term in office for America's first black president.
The distillers said they would present President Obama with a bottle of the whiskey in the future, while specially-produced miniature bottles were sent to the Irish American Democratic Inauguration Ball in Washington as mementos.
Not to be outdone, breadmaker Pat the Baker produced special batches of its barmbrack - an Irish fruit bread - and renamed it BarackBrack.
Oliver Durkin, brand manager with the company, said the batches were delivered to the U.S. embassy in Dublin as well as to shops and supermarkets around the country.
"One man from Donegal phoned me this morning looking to order a dozen to send to his relatives in America," he said.
"It's a bit of fun, but it does mark an historic moment that has captured the imagination of the world."
Regional radio station il05-107FM, based in the midlands where plans are being discussed to turn Obama's Irish ancestral homestead into a museum, changed its name to Obama FM to mark the inauguration.
De Valera Ordered Top Secret War Files Destroyed
DUBLIN - Officials burned hundreds of secret files on the orders of Taoiseach Famon de Valera as panic grew in Ireland over a possible Nazi invasion during the Second World War.
In a separate move, two Irish diplomats travelled to London to seek British help but made the bizarre decision to only request military help once German forces had actually landed on Irish soil.
The remarkable disclosures are made in a book of declassified documents, revealed for the first time by Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin with former Foreign Affairs Ministers Dr. Garret FitzGerald and Michael Kennedy in attendance.
The volume, published by the Royal Irish Academy, deals with the 17 months at the start of the Second World War as Furope crumbled before the Nazi onslaught. The files in "Documents in Irish Foreign Policy - Volume VI - 1939-194" reveal a mood of continual crisis.
Details of sensitive defence cooperation talks in mid-1940 are included in the papers, which can also be accessed online. The papers shed light on a period when Ireland feared a German invasion while at the same time feeling unable to call on British help.
At the height of scares about a Nazi invasion, Taoiseach De Valera ordered the widespread destruction of top secret files.
Hundreds of files held under lock and key in the office of the secretary of the Department of External Affairs were earmarked for destruction in Dublin on May 25, 1940.
The documents involved included details of passport and visa applications, naturalisation of German nationals as Irish citizens, and the identity of Germans living in Ireland.
EAMON DE VALERA
Also burnt were files on British people in Ireland and on various aspects of diplomatic relations with Britain and the Commonwealth -including the 1937 purchases of guns and ammunition from Britain - and a series on the coronation of King George VI.
Also into the fire went documents on General Foin O'Duffy's Blueshirts and the Irish Brigade's involvement in the Spanish civil war.
Bombing in Berlin completely wiped out files held by the Irish embassy there including all papers detailing Irish relations with Hitler's regime from 1938 onwards.
It also destroyed most reports from Ireland's controversial "minister plenipotentiary" in the Reich capital, Charles Bewley, who was recalled in 1939 after he had "gone native."
Bewley was notorious for his anti-Semitic views and his admiration of the Nazis. Irish diplomats were shocked by Germany's contempt for the neutrality of countries like Holland and Belgium and, fearing Ireland would be next, De Valera sent out secret feelers to Britain.
At May 23 and 24 London meetings, Joseph Walshe, secretary of the Department of External
Affairs and Colonel Liam Archer, then head of Irish Army intelligence, blocked a British request to station forces in Ireland in advance of a possible invasion.
Walshe said there would be no public support for such a move but once it "became apparent to the Irish people that an act of aggression had taken place against Ireland the whole attitude of the Irish people would change and they would gladly welcome support from British troops."
Britain was worried about IRA support for Germany but was reassured "few disturbances" would give the State an opportunity "to crush finally the organisation."
The meetings agreed close communications cooperation, a special code and an early warning system of approaching German aircraft.
In other documents, it is revealed that attempts by the Nazis to fly in three extra diplomats - who the Government suspected were spies - via Shannon airport during the Second World War led to a major behind-the-scenes row.
Taoiseach Famon de Valera warned Hitler's envoy in Dublin, Fdouard Hempel, to tell Berlin to withdraw the request and, if Berlin persisted, it would be refused.
Tensions heightened as the possibility of Germany using Dublin's refusal as a pretext for an invasion increased, says the documents.
Ireland also wanted compensation for German bombings. In January 1941, five Luftwaffe planes dropped bombs on the Curragh, Terenure, Borris and Drogheda killing three. In 1940 German planes had dropped bombs in Wexford killing three.
Bombs were also dropped near Waterford Harbour and Bannow Bay and on Ballymitty and Duncormick.
There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama'
LIMFRICK - As Barack Obama's historic victory in the American presidential race was welcomed around the world - a trio of brothers from Limerick were celebrating more than most.
Hardy Drew and the Nancy Boys, made up of brothers Ger, Brian and Donnacha Corrigan, all originally from Castletroy, recorded There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama earlier this year in honour of Obama's roots in the small town of Moneygall in Offaly.
As a result of the viral success of the song - they have received upwards of60,000 hits on You Tube - the group have received media attention in America and were booked by the Irish American Democrats to play two concerts at inauguration balls in Washington, DC in January.
Recently the brothers were embroiled in a transatlantic battle
with Shay Black - brother of Mary Black - who they accused of "hijacking" their song and failing to acknowledge their authorship of the original version. Black's version received nearly 400,000 hits on You Tube and he denied the charge.
Now, after much national and international media attention on the dispute, the two parties have come to an agreement and resolved their differences.
The band now say they are happy for Shay to perform the song, and they are to work together on a new song in honour of Obama's stunning victory.
The Corrigans have written another song in honour of the president, entitled When President Obama Comes Back Home to Moneygall, and say they are hoping Obama will make a trip to his ancestral home now he has been elected.
Shebeen Refuses to Go Out of Business
A Limerick District Court Judge Tom O'Donnell imposed the maximum fine of EU63.49 on Anthony Kelly (48), who was convicted of operating a shebeen in a shed at the rear of his mother's house in the Southilll area of Limerick.
About 20 people were on the premises when it was raided by gardai who confiscated the relatively small quantity of alcohol that was in stock.
The law being broken dates back to 1962, when the maximum fine was £50, and because it is so low Kelly and his brother Francis told journalists that they would continue to serve drink in the shed. The latter claims he has no option as he has been barred from all the pubs in Limerick.