APRIL 1999
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IRISH NEWS SHORTS
Refugee Crisis in Dublin
The Department of Justice is trying to divert newly arrived refugees to Cork as a result of an accommodation crisis in Dublin. There is a concern that ghettos are forming in west Dublin and the north inner city. Landlords in Cork are making 500 houses and apartments available for asylum seekers who continue to arrive in the country at the rate of between 230 and 250 per month. •
NATO Bombings Debated
The Irish Government is in a quandary over its attitude to the NATO attacks on Yugoslavia, with Minister for Foreign Affairs David Andrews saying we are "caught between a rock and a hard place."
The country's traditional neutral stance prevents the Government from supporting the NATO air strikes, so there is no official comment on NATO intervention.
When the matter was debated in the Dail, the Government was denounced by Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein for not speaking out against the use of force. Des O'Malley, may have his finger more on the national pulse when he said, "Ireland's duty on
Kosovo is to oppose tyranny or, at very least, to support those who are prepared to oppose it." Earlier, in the Seanad, it was Fianna Fail's Mick Lanigan who attacked NATO and Fine Gael's Paul Coghlan who wanted the West to "collectively stand up to the bully Milosevic."
•
Erasmus Prize for Robinson
Mary Robinson, former president and current UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has been awarded the 1999 Erasmus Prize, the Netherlands' highest cultural award. The prize includes a sum of 300,000 guilders (£171,415) and is awarded annually to an individual or organization "that has made an exceptionally important contribution to European
culture, society or social science."
Named after the Fifteenth Century Dutch humanist, its board is chaired by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, husband of ex-Queen Juliana. Previous recipients of the prize include Jacques Delors, former president of the European Commission and one of the architects of the single European currency. Robinson took up her position with the UN in 1997.
Matthew Barrett Offered Position in Ireland
The Irish Times reports that Matthew Barrett (54), who recently resigned as chief executive of the Bank of Montreal, has been asked to chair the non-statutory board which will oversee the merger of ACCBank and TSB Bank, and the subsequent flotation of the newly merged entity.
Barrett, a native of Kells, County Meath, is one of Canada's best known bankers, having had a rapid rise through the ranks of the Bank of Montreal until his appointment as chief executive in 1989. During the past 10 years, the bank has experienced one of its most successful periods ever.
Mass Resignations by EU Commission
DUBLIN — The European Commission was reeling after the mass resignation of 20 EU Commissioners. The commission resigned after a 144-page report outlined a culture of cronyism, and slack administration within the commission, which effectively runs the EU. Although only a few commissioners were specifically named in the report by a team of auditors, all 20 decided to resign.
The Commission continues to
operate, simply to fill the void, and is still to be decided if EU leaders will ask them to remain in place for a few months or quickly appoint a team of replacement commissioners. It is apparent that some of the outgoing members will be re-appointed.
While the British Government immediately re-nominated its two commissioners after the resignation — Leon Brittan and Neil Kinnock — the Irish Gov-
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eminent conspicuously made no such move. Padraig Flynn wasn't mentioned in the report but, like others who escaped criticism, he too fell on the sword of collective responsibility.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that he will not name the new Irish EU Commissioner before the European elections in June. It is clear, however, that it will not be Padraig Flynn. Among the names mentioned so far are former Fianna Fail justice minister Maire Geoghan-Quinn, Munster MEP and former foreign affairs minister Gerard Collins and the Attorney General David Byrne.
European Commission President Jacques Santer said he and the other 19 commissioners will stay on in a caretaker capacity until the 15 EU governments name successors. At a Brussels news conference, Santer sounded bitter, calling the report which led to the resignations, unfair and unbalanced.
The indictment was harshest for Research Commissioner Edith Cresson, a former French prime minister who "failed to act in response to known, serious and continuing irregularities over several years" in educational and other programs for which she was responsible.
Sources for news articles are: The Irish News, The Irish Times, The Irish Independent and The Irish Emigrant.
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