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www.celtic-connection.com
MAY 2001
IRISH NEWS ROUND-UP
OLD DOCUMENTS HAUNT IRISH GOVERNMENT 30 YEARS LATER
DUBLIN - The 1970 Dublin arms trial continues to be one of the most controversial issues in modern Irish history. Now, official government documents relating to statements taken at the time and released after 30 years, have fuelled speculation that top-level government ministers were aware of the alleged plot to arm nationalists at the outbreak of the sectarian troubles in Northern Ireland.
During the trial, Irish Army intelligence officer captain James Kelly stood accused alongside Neil Blaney, Belfast Republican John Kelly, Belgian businessman Albert Luykx and Charles Haughey, of smuggling arms.
Ultimately the five men were found not guilty of illegally importing arms. Haughey, who later became Taoiseach, consistently denied all knowledge of the plot, but Blaney claimed a coverup and spoke out against the government in later years.
In 1969, as violence erupted, loyalist attacks, said to be aided by B-Specials and elements of the RUC, had highlighted the vulnerability of the Catholic community in Belfast. The worsening political situation fuelled claims the Irish government would "invade" the north.
Taoiseach Jack Lynch's famous address to the nation heard him insist the Irish government could no longer "stand idly by." Refugee camps were formed on the border for displaced nationalist families, while in Dublin, protests called for intervention in the north.
Recently, on RTE's Prime Time program, a jury member from the 1970 trial spoke out saying that the jury believed the late Taoiseach Jack Lynch knew of the plan to import arms. He said, "We felt it had been government policy to import the arms. The jury view
was that Jack Lynch knew of the arms importation plan, that it was fully in keeping with his broadcast of August 1969 that he would not stand idly by."
He added, "We felt Jim Gibbons (the then-defence minister) had perjured himself in the trials. We expected him to be charged with perjury." The 12member jury also believed Haughey and the other defendants "were made scapegoats."
Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan called for a new investigation into the controversial events surrounding the Arms Trial and appealed to the public to cooperate with any Dail supervised inquiry.
His call came after former justice minister Des O'Malley denied tampering with a key witness statement from Colonel Hefferon about the attempt to smuggle guns into the country. - The Irish Independent and The Irish Times
TWO GARDAI KILLED IN CAR CRASH
CORK - Two Gardai who died in a traffic accident on April 22 were identified as Garda George Rice and Garda Seamus Mclntyre. Rice, was a 44-year-old father of three from Kilgarvan in County Kerry who resided in Blarney. Mclntyre was a 29-year-old from Kenmare in County Kerry living in Ballincollig.
They were on normal patrol duties and not pursuing anyone when their marked car collided with a taxi in Cork. The two officers were pronounced dead on arrival at hospital. The two occupants of the other car were injured but described as in "stable condition" in hospital.
Almost 3,000 friends, colleagues and neighbours packed the Macroom cemetery and St. Joseph's Church in the quiet Cork community of Matehy for the funeral mass of Garda Rice. A simple wreath marked "Daddy" was the final, tragic tribute from the 44-year-old's three children, Laura (14), Elaine (12) and Kieran (8). The children and Garda Rice's distraught widow, Eilish, were supported by the Kerry-born garda's father, Dick, and his four brothers.
In Kenmare, where the father of Garda Mclntyre, R J. Mclntyre, is the local garda sergeant, the queue of mourners took five hours to file past the remains at the funeral home. Cork's Ballincollig GAA club and Kenmare GAA provided guards of honour at the removal to the church and up to 500 gardai marched behind and in front of the hearse through the streets of Kenmare to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.
The funeral mass for Garda Mclntyre was one of the biggest ever seen in Kerry. Thousands crammed into Holy Cross Church and spilled out onto the forecourt for the mass. Hundreds more lined the streets. As at Garda Rice's funeral, President McAleese was represented by her aide Maureen McEnery and the Taoiseach was represented by Captain O'Grady.
Grown men wept openly as the late Garda Mclntyre's fiancee Garda Clare Corcoran read a short prayer "for my darling Seamus," in a voice breaking with emotion. Garda Corcoran was on duty at Anglesea Street in Cork city when news came through of the car crash.
She went to the scene of the crash on the North Ring Road and watched as firemen cut the two men from their patrol car. Corcoran has suffered a number of losses recendy, including the death of two family members in a house fire. Her mother died last year.
- The Irish Independent
Huge Crowds Expected in Dublin
DUBLIN - Oganizers of the rescheduled St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin are expecting huge crowds when the weekend of entertainment is staged. Due to the foot-and-mouth restrictions at the time, the traditional March 17 celebrations were put on hold but will now go ahead from May 18 to May 20.
"These extraordinary times called for extraordinary measures and the response of everybod}' involved in this festival has been overwhelmingly supportive," said Festival Chief Executive Maria Moynihan.
Highlights of this year's festival include the Friday night street spectacle with a torch-lit procession of fourth year students from all over the city who will converge on the quays.
On May 19, The Big Day Out street carnival will feature the Samba Soccer Crew, crazy bungee-chord acrobatics and an inflatable island. This will be followed by the Brazilian dance carnival, winding its way up to College Green. Then at 10pm, there's the much- awaited fireworks spectacular on Custom House Quay.
On May 80, there will be the Festival Parade from St Patrick's Cathedral to Parnell Square from 2 PM to 4 PM.
Ireland Needs to Transcend Catholic Ireland Label'
DUBLIN - Irish President Mary McAleese celebrated the halfway mark in her seven-year term during a visit to Texas in April. Speaking at the Houston International Festival in Texas, President McAleese said the news of Ireland she brought with her was of a thriving nation with one of the most vibrant and dynamic economies in the world.
"In Ireland today, there is a palpable sense of excitement as business people, students, artists, people from all walks of Irish life, feel a new confidence and continue to seek out, and find, a myriad of new opportunities not just at home in Ireland, but across the world," she said.
Successive Irish governments have invested heavily in education and the president said that this far sighted investment is now paying dividends. "Another factor underpinning Ireland's sustained economic growth has been our partnership approach to managing the economy. This has brought together government, industry, employers and the voluntary sector to agree to economic goals, and the means of achieving them," she said.
She added that the economy has outgrown the country's infrastructure, but she said to remedy this, the Government had embarked on an unprecedented level of investment, through the National Development Plan, with total investment of over £40 billion.
Speaking about the foot and mouth crisis, she said the people of Ireland had "rallied spectacularly and with great success" to ensure the country remained "as free as possible" of the disease. She urged potential tourists to continue with plans to visit Ireland.
McAleese said Ireland expects to welcome more than one million visitors from the United States this year, and she outlined the country's attractions, from scenery and outdoor pursuits to the hospitality visitors could expect and the favourable exchange rate for Americans, before acknowledging that the disease was probably on people's minds.
The disease cannot be passed to humans and does not affect the food chain, she said, and while the Government has "wisely" put in place some precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, those precautions for the most part will not affect visitors from the U.S.
Speaking at a reception for the Irish community in Dallas, the president paid tribute to the community for its work in support of peace and reconciliation in the North and thanked members for their dedication and commitment.
McAleese went on to say that contemporary Ireland must transcend the label of Catholicism that has been imposed on the country through tradition. She said the image of Catholic ownership of Ireland is hurtful to those who live in Ireland who do not practise that religion. She said she would take no pride in Catholicism having a total grip on every aspect of Irish society.
"To describe Ireland as a Catholic country, I think that in some ways that expression belongs to a time when Northern Ireland might have been described as Protestant state and the Republic of Ireland described as Catholic state," said President McAleese.
"I think that one of the lessons we have learned from history is the need to transcend those kinds of labels, because they send messages to people that I think can be quite hurtful, messages as if there is some ownership of Ireland by Catholicism and I say this as someone who is very committed to that church," she said.
- Condensed from reports in _ The Irish Times and The Irish Independent
^URO BANK NOTE CRUNCH FEARED
DUBLIN - Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders has announced that EU finance ministers will discuss calls for early distribution of euro banknotes to the general public but, speaking at the opening of an exhibit of new euro notes and coins at Belgium's mint, he said he doubted it would be possible to go back on a decision not to distribute notes prior to January 1, 2002, the date set for the physical introduction of the single currency.
The European Parliament has lent its weight to continued calls from retailers for so-called "frondoading" of small denomination euro notes to the general public. Retailers fear a cash crunch in the early part of 2002, when shops will be obliged to give change in euros to customers paying with national euro zone currencies, such as marks, francs and pesetas. Only Britain, Denmark and Sweden have opted out of the Euro-wide currency. - The Irish Independent