The Irish Post - June 17, 2023

BRIDGET CHRISTIE

Comedian tells all about her new TV show

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Man is charged with the murder of Chloe Mitchell

A MAN has been charged with the murder of a 21year-old woman who went missing from Ballymena in Co. Antrim.

Detectives from the PSNI’s Major Investigation Team launched a huge search operation following the disappearance of Chloe Mitchell, who was last seen in the early hours of June 3.

On Sunday, June 11 the investigation was upgraded to a murder enquiry after suspected human remains were found.

“Tragically, we now have reason to believe that Chloe was murdered,” the PSNI stated.

“Our thoughts this evening are very much with Chloe’s family and we have specialist officers providing them with support at this heart-breaking time,” they added.

“I would like to thank the community in Ballymena and the Search and Rescue teams for their help in trying to find Chloe.”

Brandon John Rainey, 26, of James Street, Ballymena, has been charged with murder.

Ryan Johnston Gordon, 34, of Nursery Close, Ballymena, has been charged with assisting offenders.

Both men appeared before Ballymena Magistrate’s Court on Monday, June 12 and were remanded in custody until their next court dates.

SDLP justice spokesperson Sinéad McLaughlin said this week: “It is just heartbreaking that such a young life has been taken, particularly in such terrible circumstances, and I cannot imagine the grief that [the family] must feel.”

She added: “We can never allow ourselves to be desensitized by this violence.

“Far too many women in Northern Ireland continue to lose their lives and we must do everything in our power to address this situation.”

SAVE OUR OCEANS

THE President of Ireland has issued a rallying call urging Irish people across the globe to step up and act to protect and sustain the “It is vital we commit to action”, President Michael D

: President Michael D Higgins

Higgins said in a statement made on World Oceans Day, while highlighting “shocking” global statistics around the reduction in sea-life and increase in deaths of marine animals due to plastic waste alone.

He urged the global community to build on the historic UN High Seas Treaty, which was agreed in March, after 20 years of discussions, and now provides a legal framework to establish vast

marine protected areas (MPAs) on the almost two-thirds of the world’s oceans that lie outside national boundaries.

“On this World Oceans Day, it is vital we commit to action, give authenticity to and build on the momentum created by the long-awaited international agreement reached in New York in March on the UN High Seas

Chloe Mitchell

President Higgins urges Irish community to step up, warning ‘we’ll be judged by our actions’

MARINE EMERGENCY: President Higgins has called for urgent action to protect the world’s oceans Picture: Getty Images

Super Saturday: Two GAA matches to watch this weekend THIS WEEK they said...

THIS Saturday, June 17 sees two huge GAA matches in Britain as one competition starts and another is decided.

It’s a 12noon throw-in for Paddy Bowles’ London Ladies who get their TG4 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship underway at McGovern Park against Derry.

This is London’s only home fixture in Group B and one that’s hugely significant ahead of road trips against Fermanagh and Carlow.

Attentions turn to Pairc na hÉireann in Birmingham later that afternoon where it’s a 4pm throw-in for the much-anticipated All-Britain Football Championship Final

between Warwickshire and London.

It’s the third successive final between the two counties.

Charlie O’Donnell’s Warwickshire lifted Sam Maguire in 2021 before Stephen Lynch’s London turned the tide last year – what’s more, the winners will face New York in next month’s All-Ireland Junior Championship Semi-finals while the losers take on defending champions Kilkenny in the other match.

With interest already building, supporters from both counties are encouraged to attend as early as possible – expect plenty of atmosphere and drama as the other Sam Maguire Cup goes up for grabs.

Brothers jailed over attack

Vicious and unprovoked beating left victim traumatised

BY GERARD DONAGHY

TWO brothers who were caught on camera viciously attacking a man in Peterborough city centre earlier this year have been jailed.

Patrick ‘Paddy’ Connors, 22, and Lawrence ‘Larry’ Connors, 21, both of Palmerston Road, Woodston, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm.

They were each sentenced to 14 months in jail at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday, June 9.

“I hope today’s sentence will serve as a stark warning to the brothers that this behaviour is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated by ourselves or the courts,” said Detective Constable Kate Jacklin of Cambridgeshire Constabulary.

The attack took place in Long Causeway at about 2.20am on Sunday, January 29.

CCTV cameras picked up Paddy Connors following a man in his late 30s while swinging punches before knocking the man to the ground. Larry Connors followed with another man before joining in the

Save our oceans

Continued from Page 1

Treaty and take the practical steps needed to protect and sustain our oceans,” he said.

“We will be judged by our actions, which are not currently in evidence,” the President added.

Referencing the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14, which commits to “conserving and sustainably using the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development”, President Higgins claimed this is a “vital task in sustaining the life both within and which depends on our oceans”, although he added that the world needs “new and urgent initiatives”.

“What a shocking statistic it is that the total amount of vertebrate sea life, including fish, has reduced by more than a third since 1970,” he said.

“Equally shocking too is the fact that 100 million marine animals die each year from

Memorialising the horrors of the Troubles

Would a decent healthcare system bring Irish unity?

attack, the younger brother beating the victim while he lay on the ground tapping his hand on the

plastic waste alone,” he added.

“It is vital that as a global community we lose no more time in our responses and that we collectively tackle the challenges of rapidly declining biodiversity, overfishing, acidification, commercial whaling and shark-finning, plastic waste, pollution, and habitat destruction, including coral reef damage.”

The UN has celebrated World Oceans Day on June 8 every year since 2009 when it was designated an official international day by the UN General Assembly.

“On this day we have the opportunity to raise global awareness of the benefits humankind derives from the ocean and our individual and collective duty to use its resources sustainably,” the UN states.

Their theme for 2023 is Planet Ocean: Tides are Changing.

“The ocean covers over 70 per cent of the planetit is our life source, supporting humanity’s sustenance and that of every other organism on earth,” the UN explains.

“The ocean produces at least 50 per cent of the

pavement in surrender.

Paddy Connors was then seen on camera holding the victim’s head up off the pavement while Larry Connors repeatedly kicked him directly in the face.

The third man tried to stop the attack but was pushed away as the brothers continued the assault.

They then went through the man’s pockets before Paddy Connors appeared to call an end to the assault and tried to pull his younger brother away.

A group of passers-by came to the victim’s aid and tended to him before police – alerted by CCTV operators –arrived and arrested the brothers at the scene.

“This was a nasty, unprovoked attack on a member of the public,” added DC Jacklin.

“Thankfully his injuries were not serious, however he was knocked unconscious and left traumatised by the incident.”

The brothers denied charges of attempted robbery, which was accepted in court and will lie on file.

planet’s oxygen, it is home to most of earth’s biodiversity, and is the main source of protein for more than a billion people around the world.

“Not to mention, the ocean is key to our economy with an estimated 40 million people being employed by ocean-based industries by 2030,” they explained.

“Even though all its benefits, the ocean is now in need of support.

“With 90 per cent of big fish populations depleted, and 50 per cent of coral reefs destroyed, we are taking more from the ocean than can be replenished.

“We need to work together to create a new balance with the ocean that no longer depletes its bounty but instead restores its vibrancy and brings it new life.”

Celebrity backers joining President Higgins in the call to save the world’s oceans include the actress and model Cara Delevingne, who stated: “Now more than ever health is at the forefront of public consciousness, but we must understand that human health is dependent on the health of our oceans and the health of our planet.”

“By encouraging reflection and consideration of our Troubled past, we can hopefully recognise the progress made since the signing of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and towards a shared and more prosperous future.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has confirmed a £5million legacy memorialisation fund as well as a digitisation project for Troubles-related government records

“I had the space to put it out the back of Mee’s Bar and knew that I would be able to restore it and preserve it, so I brought it here.”

Galway publican Luke Mee on why he salvaged JJ Devine’s pub from the set of The Banshees of Inisherin

“I feel like when the menopause is covered now it is covered in passing, it’s not the beating heart of the show or the main protagonist of a show.”

Comedian Bridget Christie has written, executive produced and stars in new Channel 4 series The Change

“Our aspirations long term are to play a game in Ireland,” Daniel Rooney, Director of Business Development and Strategy at Pittsburgh Steelers, confirms the American football team’s intentions after the NFL awarded them the rights to expand their brand in Ireland

“Beehive is about the overlapping of myth, folk wisdom and science, it was inspired by a passage from a book I was reading about a tribe in the Amazon who say that the human brain is like a beehive – at once chaotic and intricately ordered.”

Singer-songwriter Niamh Bury has been signed by Claddagh Records and releases her debut single next month

Bridget Christie

BROTHERS IN CRIME: Patrick ‘Paddy’ Connors, left, and Lawrence ‘Larry’ Connors, right Picture: Courtesy of Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Warwickshire’s Niall McGovern and London’s Connor Spinks

Banshees of Inisherin pub is rebuilt and opened for a pint

Watering hole made famous in the hit Irish movie has been relocated, recreated and reopened in Galway, FIONA AUDLEY reports

THE pub which featured in hit film The Banshees of Inisherin has been rebuilt and reopened in County Galway.

JJ Devine’s public house was purpose-built for the multi-award-winning Irish film and created to look like it had existed in Cloughmore, Achill Island, where the story follows lifelong friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson), who find themselves at an impasse when Colm unexpectedly puts an end to their friendship.

It would not have been possible without the help of family, good friends and neighbours who have given up their time and energy

Many scenes that are central to the plot are played out in the pub, so fans of the film were disappointed to learn that there was no such place in reality and that the temporary pub structure was removed as soon as filming wrapped.

Luckily Galway publican Luke Mee, of Mee’s Bar in Kilkerrin, had the instinct

to go ahead and retrieve the original set of the bar so that it could be repurposed and he has since spent many arduous hours with friends, family and neighbours rebuilding the bar to its former glory.

The process to recreate JJ’s has been a long one, he admits, which all began when Mr Mee first heard that the famous set had been lying in an Achill Island yard since filming wrapped some months previously.

“A few months had gone by since the filming finished and I heard the set had been taken down and was in a yard in Achill, but in very good condition,” he told The Irish Post

“I waited for a period of time to see if anyone else showed any interest before taking it to Kilkerrin.”

He explained: “I had the space to put it out the back of Mee’s Bar and knew that I would be able to restore it and preserve it, so I brought it here.”

Having transported the fictional public house over 180 kilometres to its new home in east Galway, in the months that have since passed the Mee family have been working away on getting JJ Devine’s ready to open to the public.

“It would not have been possible without the help of family, good friends and neighbours who have given up their time and energy

to come and help this very important project,” Mr Mee said.

“The pub is such a big part of film history and it is impor tant to maintain it and make it into something that people can come to visit with their friends and enjoy, although we have a ban on cutting fingers off and throwing them,” he added.

This week Mr Mee opened the pub to the public, who will recognise key pieces from the film.

The structure is entirely the original, down to the glass panes that featured signifi cantly in the movie, when Pádraic stared morosely out the window at his former best-friend-turned-foe, Colm.

Mr Mee is excited to finally welcome those who loved the film in for a pint, but adds that a free pour is already reserved for a celebrity fan.

Singer Taylor Swift has spoken publicly of her fond ness for the Banshees which she claimed she would come and visit if it was ever rebuilt.

Mr Mee has confirmed that there is an open invitation and a free pint waiting for Ms Swift if she ever makes it to the Galway watering hole.

“She would be very welcome to come to see the pub and enjoy herself and enjoy JJ Devine’s first free pint,” he says.

JJ Devine’s Public House opened to the public this week, but an official opening is planned for later this month.

DONKEY BUSINESS: Luke Mee, Kathleen Mee and Pat Igoe, owners of Mee’s Bar, Kilkerrin, saved the set of JJ Devine’s and rebuilt it in the North Galway village where it is now set to become a tourist attraction Picture: Mike Shaughnessy

CARD SHARP: Holly the donkey keeps an eye on Denny Connolly, Pat Diskin and Teresa Mannion Picture: Mike Shaughnessy

Memorialising the horrors of the Troubles

Could the region’s warring political parties ever decide on a fitting way to mark the darkest period in Northern Irelands’ history?

which might embarrass them, if they can be embarrassed.

And there are others who would like to frame any remembering as a project for reconciliation between divided communities and who might therefore find themselves tempted to spare embarrassment to people with criminal pasts.

You can see the outworking of that attitude in the memorial garden to the dead of the 1998 Omagh bomb, the worst atrocity of the whole Troubles period.

There is no mention at the memorial garden of the organisation which planted that bomb, the Real IRA.

The local library has a room dedicated to the story of the bomb, exhibiting expressions of sympathy from around the world.

After thousands of floral tributes were laid at the site of the bomb, artist Carol Kane had the idea of gathering them up and drying them out and inviting families of the victims to help make pictures from them as part of a Petals of Hope project.

The finished pictures were given to the bereaved. It was a beautiful project, again entirely symbolic without any statement implied other than sympathy and the hope of peace.

In the late 1990s as group of journalists led by David McKittrick collated a record of all the deaths of the Troubles.

They produced the book Lost Lives, clear factual accounts of each killing, but without any polemic or accusation.

And this had been tried before. The BBC’s News Information library in Broadcasting House in Belfast had a filing cabinet that reporters called ‘the Mortuary’.

This kept accounts of all the killings and for much of the period was the only such research resource that I knew of.

Then Malcolm Sutton brought out Bear in Mind These Dead, the fullest collation of the horrors to date, and more dependable than the Mortuary because reporters tended to borrow files and not leave them back.

Lost Lives was a much larger book with greater detail. Both, inevitably, had some inaccuracies and neither yet has been turned into a searchable database.

Lost Lives has been treated almost as a monument in itself. It has been incorporated into religious services as a symbol of the overall carnage.

Out of print now, you are likely to have to pay over £300 for a copy.

There are other valuable archives like the CAIN website and the Public Records Office, of more value to journalists and academics than to the wider public as memorials, though just poring over old files can evoke the deepest feelings for those reminded of the incidents they relate to.

The advantage in the archives is that – apart from materials redacted to preserve intelligence – they are neutral. You can go in from any perspective and find some affirmation and some challenge.

MANY people in Belfast feel that there should be some kind of permanent memorial to the Troubles.

A big problem in creating it is that a divided society retains conflicting accounts of what happened and why.

Furthermore, the major political parties which will form the Northern Ireland Executive, if the Assembly ever comes back, represent those opposing accounts of the period. So they are hardly likely to agree on a monument.

They disagree fundamentally on the meaning of the years of contention, and they hoped throughout those years for entirely different outcomes.

Sinn Féin still defends the IRA as a noble and heroic force which challenged an imperial power.

The First Minister Designate, Michelle O’Neill has argued that there was no alternative to the IRA campaign.

The IRA did most of the killing and inflicted a horrific burden on the community it claimed to represent.

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is currently boycotting the Assembly and thereby making impossible the formation of a power sharing executive.

This party represents a wholly other view of the violent years.

The Union with Britain was, from their perspective, an arrangement for the good of all.

It defends even those soldiers accused of unlawful killing while paradoxically

insisting on the rule of law.

The DUP also has an ambiguous relationship with the loyalist paramilitaries.

It never fully endorsed them in the way Sinn Féin endorsed the IRA but a key episode in their history was the Ulster Workers Council Strike which brought down the first power sharing Assembly in 1974.

During that protest, the DUP leader, Reverend Ian Paisley sat down with the loyalist paramilitary groups to direct the protest.

Each party would like to have some control over any organised remembering of the past

What Lost Lives and Petals of Hope illustrated is that there are two possible ways of memorialising the horror without taking sides.

One is simply to provide all the information available. This could be done in a museum where we might see everything described but not rationalised.

This may become easier as the generation which did and excused the killing fades away, and as it becomes more important that mythologies die out with them.

The other is to be purely symbolic, an image that is affecting and yet borne out of the trouble.

Each would be a memorial without a narrative, simply inviting people to think about how this society tore itself apart.

n Malachi O’Doherty is one of Ireland’s leading political commentators and author of 11 books on the North of Ireland.

Murals depict the Troubles in Northern Ireland but could political parties there ever agree on a fitting permanent memorial? Picture: Getty Images

Northern Ireland Secretary claims new Legacy Bill amendments will ‘address concerns raised’

BY FIONA AUDLEY

NORTHERN Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has confirmed “significant amendments” to the Troubles Legacy Bill will address concerns raised around the controversial legislation.

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill seeks to limit prosecutions for crimes committed in Northern

Ireland during the Troubles period.

The suggested legislation currently offers conditional immunity to those who cooperate with an Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Critics of the Bill, which is currently making its way through parliament, claim it will block thousands of victims and families from getting truth and justice through

the courts.

“This cruel and callous legislation is about one thing – cover up and letting British state forces who killed Irish citizens off the hook. It should be scrapped,” Sinn Féin MP John Finucane recently stated.

The Bill was formally introduced into the House of Commons on May 16, 2022, where it passed on July 4, 2022.

As of January 24, 2023 it was back in the

House of Lords for its Committee stage hearing, which concluded on May 11.

The legislation is now at the Report Stage, with Lord Caine making amendments to the proposed law before it returns to the House of Lords later this month.

This week Mr Heaton-Harris has liaised with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Commissioner for Victims & Survivors, Ian Jeffers and the Commission for Victims and Survivors (NI).

Following those meetings, he confirmed: “The Government will soon table significant amendments to address concerns raised, including on the conduct of reviews, the independence of the ICRIR, and compliance with Convention rights.”

Historic government files will be open to the public for free

BY FIONA AUDLEY

RECORDS related to the Troubles in Northern Ireland will be made publicly available under a new project funded by the British Government.

Government records from the period, which saw years of violence and civil unrest blight the North, will be published online through a new digitisation project announced this week.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has confirmed a £5million legacy memorialisation fund as well as the digitisation project, which are designed to support recommendations made as part of the controversial Troubles Legacy Bill, which is currently progressing through parliament.

Mr Heaton-Harris made the announcement after visiting the recently opened Northern Ireland: Living with the Troubles exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London.

“It was my privilege to visit the Imperial War Museum’s exhibition on the Northern Ireland Troubles,” he said.

“Showcasing new artefacts and oral histories, this moving exhibition is an excellent example of how we can remember and learn from the events of the past in an inclusive

way through multiple experiences,” he added.

“I’m therefore delighted that the UK Government has committed £5million to support the recommendations of the memorialisation strategy that will be commissioned through the Government’s Legacy Bill.”

The planned digitisation project will make Troubles-related records held at the National Archives “more readily available to all, virtually and free of charge”,

the government has confirmed.

The first phase of this will be the launch of a new web portal featuring government files focused on the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1994 and up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

“I welcome the launch of this online initiative which demonstrates the Government’s commitment to making accessible as much information as possible about an important period of Northern Ireland’s complex history,” Mr

Heaton-Harris said.

“By encouraging reflection and consideration of our Troubled past, we can hopefully recognise the progress made since the signing of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and towards a shared and more prosperous future.”

The government’s planned memorialisation strategy aims to “identify, and fund, inclusive new structures and initiatives to remember those who were lost during the conflict, and help ensure that the terrible

events of the past can never be allowed to happen again”, they claim.

However, critics of the Troubles Bill continue to slam the intended law as “fundamentally flawed” as it seeks to limit prosecutions for crimes committed in Northern Ireland during the Troubles period. The suggested law offers conditional immunity for those who cooperate with a proposed Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR).

Showcasing new artefacts and oral histories, this moving exhibition is an excellent example of how we can remember and learn from the events of the past

LEARNING FROM THE PAST: Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has announced a digitisation project for Troubles-related records

Digitisation will make Troubles records available online as part of ‘memorialisation strategy’

minutes with... SEBA SAFE

What are you up to right now?

I am currently living in Lahinch in the west of Ireland. Writing tunes, serving coffees and learning to surf. It’s a great place. Summer is here, what do you have planned for the season?

My new EP Rainy is dropping this month so I’ve been busy with that. I have an Ireland/UK tour coming up and after that I’m playing a few shows around Europe. I love this EP so I’m excited about playing these songs to new faces all summer.

What are your goals for 2023?

To gig and travel as much as possible. To get better at surfing. To whittle my vast amount of songs down to a debut album sized collection. To make my own lemon meringue pie.

Who are your heroes?

My parents, my brother, my sister, John Prine.

What record sends a shiver down your spine?

How the Ash Felt by All the Luck in the World.

Which musician influenced you most?

As a spotty faced 12 or 13-year-old I discovered Nirvana and the songwriting of Kurt Cobain. I think he sparked the dream for me.

What is your favourite place in Ireland?

I realise saying the ‘west of Ireland’ is a little broad but it’s all just so beautiful. Being by the sea here in Lahinch in the sunny weather it really doesn’t get much better.

What makes you angry?

I’m quite a chilled out person but I have been told by friends and family that it’s when I’m woken up anger arrives. Fury is risen in the moments between asleep and fully awake, don’t wake me up.

What is the best lesson life has taught you?

There are many versions of this lesson but they all mean the same thing. Here’s a few:

Just keep swimming

Keep on trucking

Don’t jump ship

Keep your head up

Don’t lose faith

Life’s gonna be tough regardless of whether you try or not so you may as well try.

What do you believe in?

Being sound (nice) to people has a real power to it. It affects you and everyone

SEBA SAFE is the brainchild of Galway songwriter Michael  D’Alton, who is currently based on Ireland’s west coast, and is set to become a force to be reckoned with in the blossoming Irish music scene.

Writing candidly and honestly on personal relationships, love, loss and change, the musician’s pertinent lyrics are wrapped in a sound that combines elements of pop, folk, indie and R’n’B.

Seba Safe’s new EP Rainy is out on June 30 and he tours the UK this July.

Community archives will be preserved

BY THE SEA: Seba

With a new funding partner, iCAN will extend digitisation project across Ireland

BY FIONA AUDLEY

AN organisation dedicated to preserving the archives of local communities in Ireland has received a major funding injection.

around you. Working in cafés for years

I’ve found it takes one nice person to obliterate the bad energy of 10 customers who were acting like (insert favourite insulting word here).

I think you get what you give so being a good person is a nice place to start.

What trait do others criticise you for?

I’m terrible with my phone, I’m the one in the WhatsApp group not getting involved let alone opening the messages most times. It’s bad but I make up for it in the real world.

Where do you live and what are the best and worst things about that place?

Since the pandemic I’ve been moving around the west of Ireland.

Best bits are the scenery, nature and beaches. The pubs, the surf, the seafood. The music, the craic, the people. Worst bits – the rain, the rain, the rain.

On what occasion is it OK to lie?

I think it’s okay to lie if it’s a white one in the hopes of keeping someone’s spirit up. Especially if the situation can’t be changed even with the truth. For example you’ve just met a friend to go to a party and they’re wearing a terrible shirt, and they ask your opinion on it. You’re both running very late and don’t have time to go change it, in that scenario I like the shirt.

What do you consider the greatest work of art?

The pyramids are pretty nice, I guess. Conceptually speaking.

What is your ultimate guilty pleasure?

There’s a certain fast food drive-through on the way home to my hometown that I can’t avoid. If I’m running late or on my way to dinner or even not hungry, I’ll still find myself in the queue of cars awaiting my greasy fate.

That or Islands in the Stream by Dolly and Kenny.

The Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN) has supported the creation of 33 online digital archives since 2009, which document and preserve the history of communities in Clare, Cork, Galway, Mayo and Wicklow.

This week it was announced that The Heritage Council will join the organisation as a new funding partner, which will facilitate an expansion of its digitisation initiative and its team.

Together, they hope to support the development of at least 80 digital archives across Ireland by 2028.

“Community Archives are collections that reflect a shared history, identity, experience or interest,” iCAN explains.

“They are created by, with and for the community and our main aim is to encourage and support volunteer groups to collect, digitise and share their community’s history and heritage online.”

Over the years the archives have proved invaluable for Irish people around the world hoping to research their ancestral roots.

“Members of the diaspora regularly use the iCAN community archives to connect with local groups, who in turn assist with their family history enquiries,” the organisation confirmed.

“These connections frequently result in visits to Ireland with the local group bringing visitors to ancestral homes and graves and re-connecting them with unknown or lost family members.”

One iCAN case study saw a woman in Scotland, who accessed the archive in Moycullen, Co. Galway, connected with brothers and sisters she

never knew she had.

Now, thanks to a unique funding partnership, iCAN will be able to support scores more online projects for communities across Ireland.

Established by the National Museum of Ireland, the organisation has developed over the years through partnerships with participating local authority Heritage Officers and with support from Creative Ireland and a raft of volunteers located within the local communities in Ireland and also abroad.

The Heritage Council paid tribute to those volunteers while confirming its iCAN partnership.

“Volunteer archivists can so often be the unsung heroes of a community, doing incredible work to safeguard knowledge, collections, stories and local history,” Heritage Council CEO Virginia Teehan said.

“The information they gather and preserve is crucial in providing people with a broader sense of themselves and where they come from and The Heritage Council is proud to be in position to contribute to this important work,” she added.

Cork County Council is the latest local authority to partner with iCAN.

Having joined the network

last year and taken part in training over the last few months, a new portal for County Cork has recently been unveiled as www. heritagecourt.ie.

The site will be home to four digital community archives supported by iCAN – namely the Bere Island Projects Group, Kilmurry Heritage Group, Kilshannig Heritage Society and Youghal Community Archives.

Launching the site, Mayor of Cork, Cllr Danny Collins said: “Cork County Council is very proud to launch our new Heritage Cork portal.

“This website will be home to the four digital community archives in Cork that are part of the iCAN network which not only provides a secure and permanent online presence but also gives deserved recognition to the tremendous work being done by these groups to document and preserve their local heritage.”

Members of the public can visit, contribute to and volunteer with the digital archives in the Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN). For further information visit www.ouririshheritage.org.

The full list of Irish community archives is available at www.ouririshheritage.org.

Safe

The Irish Community Archive Network (iCAN) has announced a new partnership with The Heritage Council

COMMENT

The SDLP needs to accept it now plays lower league politics

HOW do you fix a problem like the SDLP?

Having crashed to just 8.7 per cent in the recent local elections – losing a third of its councillors in the process –Northern Ireland’s oncemighty Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) – the political vehicle of the late, great John Hume – is finished.

‘Finished’ in the sense that it will never again supplant Sinn Féin as the main political party representing Catholic-Nationalists in the North.

Critics of its leader, Colum Eastwood, are circling.

Would a decent healthcare system bring Irish unity?

KEVINMEAGHER

‘OKAY so what would a united Ireland be like?’

It’s a fair point.

If you ask people on either side of the border what they want, decent healthcare is near the top of the list.

In the North, we have the National Health Service – free at the point of use, paid for through taxation and, on its, day capable of delivering world class treatment.

The problem is that those days are fewer and farther between that they used to be.

One in three people in Northern Ireland languishes on a waiting list –with some stuck in limbo for years.

It’s said that as many as 10 per cent of treatments are now carried out privately.

While the ongoing hiatus at Stormont compounds the problem, with crucial decisions about the health service just not being made.

Down south, there are similar pressures, with too few hospitals.

But the big difference is you have to pay to see a GP.

Granted, taxes are lower, while wages and benefits are higher.

That said, there is lots of chatter in Westminster about introducing charges to see GPs.

Seven per cent of Brits admit to using private healthcare in the past two years, (many in sheer frustration at not being able to get an appointment with a GP).

Apart from these differences, both systems are broadly similar.

For example, the training of staff –specialists, doctors, nurses and allied health professionals (radiographers and the like) - is similar across the island of Ireland.

This sees health professionals moving between the two systems throughout their careers, providing a strong basis for building a single Irish healthcare model.

Again, in terms of international rankings, both systems perform about the same.

If there is a difference, it’s that life expectancy in southern Ireland is two years longer for both men and women that it is in Northern Ireland.

Also, healthcare workers are paid more down south.

Unionists often say that the NHS is one of the main benefits of remaining in

the UK and complain that universal access to treatment would be lost in a united Ireland.

But these are crocodile tears.

The DUP propped-up the Conservative government between 2017-19 when it was running down the British NHS with botched reforms and chronic underfunding.

While the Northern Ireland bit is, by a country mile, the worst-performing part.

Down south, the Sláintecare proposals from the Oireachtas a few years ago, looking at improving access to care and reducing up-front costs, would move the Irish system much closer to the model of the British NHS.

Anyway, the campaign group, Ireland’s Future, recently published a paper calling for an ‘Irish National Health Service.’

Although there was growing cross border co-operation in areas like cancer care and emergency services, ‘every area of healthcare would be improved if there was an all-island approach’.

Quite sensibly, the paper calls for all decisions about healthcare over the next decade – North and south – to be properly joined-up.

Might the creation of a new, all-Ireland model – one that embraces the British principle of universal coverage, but is better managed and resourced –help to convince both wavering unionists and sceptical southerners about the benefits of Irish unity?

A former MLA for the party, Richie McPhilips, likened him to a Premier League football manager.

“If results are not going your way, you know what the consequences are,” he warned.

A letter calling for his resignation is said to be circulating.

Still only forty, Eastwood has been in the job for eight years. Alas, it’s been a relegation battle throughout.

In last year’s assembly election, the SDLP finished fifth, with just 9.1 per cent of the vote. They had nearly double that (17 per cent) in 2003.

The big problem is that for most of its existence the SDLP was essentially the ‘John Hume party’.

Without him and with Sinn Féin firmly inside the political system – one of Hume’s big goals with the Good Friday Agreement – there is just less need for the SDLP.

Lower league politics is the result.

It doesn’t help that I struggle to think of a telling intervention that Eastwood has made during his time.

In the words of his Hollywood namesake, Clint, is it now a question of ‘a man’s gotta know his limitations’?

But perhaps I’m being too harsh.

There’s little point getting rid of him as there’s no-one else in the SDLP who would fare much better.

Instead, Eastwood’s disgruntled troops need to embrace their secondary status behind Sinn Féin, settling for being a party of influence - not power.

The irony of having so many politicians in Northern Ireland is that so few of them ever produce interesting policy ideas.

The SDLP should fill the gap.

How about focusing on the ‘social democratic’ part of their name, setting the pace with exciting proposals on practical issues like poverty, unemployment and bad housing?

Not to mention Northern Ireland’s failing healthcare system.

Focus on being the party with something to say. Challenge the others. Make them bend to the SDLP view of the world.

If they really want to get ahead of their rivals in Sinn Féin, then make the running with better, clearer all-Ireland proposals.

Eastwood makes the occasional foray in that direction, but it’s always half-hearted.

Back in March, he told an interviewer that “big constitutional ruptures [like Brexit] need to be planned properly”.

Okay, then, come up with a clear plan that does just that.

What is clear is that the party needs to take a long, hard look at itself.

Ironically, so does the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). They have experienced a similar fate, wiped off the board in recent years by the DUP.

Since John Hume, the SDLP has had four leaders, while the UUP has had six since David Trimble.

None has reversed their parties’ respective fortunes. But the problem for both is not the quality of their leaders.

Sinn Féin and the DUP are top dogs because they have a clearer brand with voters. You know what you are getting.

The SDLP and UUP, on the other hand, represent the politics of ‘a-bit-less-than-the-other-lot’.

The snag for them is that Alliance plays that tune better that they do.

No, sometimes in politics it’s better not to aim for power, but to be influential.

That’s the way forward for the SDLP.

MEDICAL MOVES: Could an all-island healthcare system work for Ireland? Picture: Getty Images

TIME TO SETTLE: SDLP leader Colm Eastwood’s party is one of influence, not power

Picture: RollingNews.ie

Recognition where it’s due

Irish in Britain Volunteer Awards return after three-year hiatus

THE Irish in Britain Volunteer Awards 2023 returned this month following a three-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Created in 2018 to celebrate the exceptional role volunteers play in delivering vital services to the Irish community, the ceremony was held at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith.

Prizes were presented to winners and finalists in five categories on the night – namely the Individual Volunteer Award, Trustee Award, Group of Volunteers Award, Young Volunteer Award and the Irish in Britain Special Recognition Award.

The Awards were supported by sponsors Moreland Investments Ltd, Galway Crystal, architect and artist Angela Brady and Clover HR, while the judges’ panel consisted of John Jolly, Anne Jervis and Christina Lake.

The winner of Irish in Britain’s Individual Volunteer Award was Michael McNamara of the Brian Boru IDL Club

and the runners–up were Peggy Connarty from Irish Community Care Manchester and Marian Begley from Irish Community Care Liverpool.

The joint winners of the Trustee Award were Paul Kelly and Amelia Dunford of W.E. Irish and the runners–up were Peter Power-Hynes from the Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith and John Connolly from the Council of Irish County Associations.

The Group of Volunteers Award went to the Help at Hand Group, Ashford Place, while the runners–up were the Luton Irish Forum Volunteers and the Green Fingers Group, Birmingham Irish Association. The Young Volunteer Award was won by Tobias Walsh from Irish Community Care Manchester.

The Irish in Britain Special Recognition Award in memory of David O’Keeffe was presented to Ann Lucas from Irish Community Services in South London.

The awards ceremony was compered by musician and TV floor manager Niall Jackson.

Sinead MacLua, Tom Scanlon and Noelette Hanley from the Luton Irish Forum and Linda Tanner from the Irish Youth Foundation (UK)

Michael Doolin from awards ceremony sponsor Clover HR and Irish Ambassador Martin Fraser

MC Niall Jackson

The IIB Special Recognition Award in memory of David O’Keeffe was presented to Ann Lucas from Irish Community Services, South London. Ann is pictured with Irish in Britain CEO Brian Dalton and David O’Keeffe’s brothers Colm and Donal

Individual Volunteer Award runner–up Peggy Connarty and Young Volunteer Award winner Tobias Walsh, both from Irish Community Care Manchester

The joint winners of the Trustee Award were Paul Kelly and Amelia Dunford of W.E. Irish, pictured here with Paula O’Rourke and Mandy Curnow

Michael Doolin from Clover HR is pictured left with the Group of Volunteers Award winners, the Help at Hand Group, Ashford Place. CEO Danny Maher is pictured 2nd left with volunteers Catherine Mulroy, Bridget Barrett and Jemmena Sweeney

Trustee Award runner–up John Connolly from the Council of Irish County Associations is pictured right with Lord Dubs and Tess McGuire.

PICTURES BY MALCOLM MCNALLY PHOTOGRAPHY

Powerscourt Estate first to win environmental accreditation

AN award-winning visitor attraction has become the first in Ireland to win a significant tourism accolade for its sustainability measures.

Powerscourt Estate in Co. Wicklow has been certified by Sustainable Travel Ireland as meeting globally accepted standards for sustainable tourism.

The Palladian mansion in Enniskerry –set in 1,000 acres, which include 47 acres of landscaped gardens – is the first major visitor attraction on the island of Ireland to achieve the certification, which uses criteria that are recognised by the UN-mandated Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

One of Ireland’s top attractions, Powerscourt has been recognised for the many sustainability initiatives which

have been implemented on the Estate in recent years.

They include an integrated energy management system, a waste reduction plan and biodiversity rewilding initiatives such as wildflower meadows, a tree planting programme, and a bee sanctuary in its the walled gardens.

Environmental and nature protection has always been high on the agenda at Powerscourt Estate, which was originally purchased to create hydroelectric power at its waterfall, which is the highest one in Ireland.

The overarching mission at Powerscourt Estate is for it to be recognised on a global stage for its sustainability initiatives, and to be net zero by 2025, the business confirms.

Tourism Ireland selects new CEO Designate

Google MD Alice Mansergh chosen following ‘rigorous recruitment campaign’

BY FIONA AUDLEY

THE board of Tourism Ireland has confirmed the selection of Alice Mansergh as the organisation’s new Chief Executive Designate.

Ms Mansergh is currently Managing Director at Google Customer Solutions, UK & Ireland, and corporate reputation lead for Google’s EMEA HQ, based in Dublin.

She has almost 20 years strategic leadership experience, specialising in leading international marketing teams, consumer brand engagement strategies and corporate responsibility.

“A skilled communicator and partner to public and private enterprises, Alice has wide experience working with travel industry partners and has served on the board of Fáilte Ireland for the past five years,” Tourism Ireland states.

The appointment is subject to formal ratification by the North South Ministerial Council, following which, Ms Mansergh is expected to take up the position on September 18.

Accepting the role, Ms Mansergh, who is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin and of the Irish Management Institute in leadership development, said: “It is an honour for me to be taking up this position.

“I am passionate about tourism and for the past five years have been a board member of Fáilte Ireland, supporting tourism product development and industry investment.”

She added: “I look forward to meeting and working with the

Unique rum is distilled in Panama before maturing in Ireland

talented team at Tourism Ireland.

“I am excited for what the future holds and where we can take the organisation on behalf of the island of Ireland’s tourism industry.”

She will now fill the shoes of former Tourism Ireland CEO, Niall Gibbons, who stepped down as Tourism Ireland’s CEO in April, and Siobhán McManamy, who is the organisation’s current interim CEO.

Christopher Brooke, Chairman of Tourism Ireland, said of the appointment: “Following a rigorous and competitive international recruitment campaign, we are pleased to select Alice Mansergh as the new Chief Executive Designate of Tourism Ireland.

“Alice is a highly experienced, strategic leader with extensive international marketing experience and a strong understanding of digital trends.

“She will provide strategic leadership to the team at Tourism Ireland at an important time for our industry, which continues on the road to recovery,” he added.

“She will work with, and support, our tourism industry partners, at home and overseas, as we rebuild overseas tourism to the island of Ireland.”

In her new role, Ms Mansergh will work closely with the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in Ireland, the North South Ministerial Council, as well as with Fáilte Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland.

A PREMIUM Irish rum brand which is a leader in the market prides itself on its unique distilling and aging process.

Two Shores Rum offers a range of golden rums that are distilled in the heart of Central America before being aged in a range of hand-selected aged Irish whiskey casks on the west coast of Ireland.

“The humid on-the-equator ageing, combined with the secondary Irish whiskey finishes, creates a range of rums that are unlike any other on the market,” the brand explains.

“The result is a smooth and complex liquid that is perfect for sipping neat.”

Currently the Two Shores range includes finishes in 19 Year Old Single malt Irish whiskey, Oloroso sherry and Amarone wine casks.

With Father’s Day on the horizon, the brand is recommending its Two Shores 19 Old Year Single Malt Irish Whiskey Cask Finish as the perfect tipple to gift to rum-loving dads.

“This rum is crafted utilising only the most exceptional ingredients and aged for eight years in the verdant landscapes of Panama before reaching the West Coast of Ireland,” they explain.

“It is then matured for a minimum of six months in casks that previous aged Irish single malt whiskey for an impressive 19 years.”

Regarding its unique taste, they add: “On the nose you can expect a symphony of tropical aromas, with hints of banana, caramelised pineapple, and candied orange peel.

“These rich tropical flavours follow through on the palate, accentuated by nuances of sweet butterscotch and warming oak and spice notes, with a delightfully long finish.”

n For further information visit: wwwtwoshoresrum.com

ROLE: Alice Mansergh will take up her Tourism Ireland position in September

Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow

Got to move

Dancers from the Dublin Youth Dance Company (l to r) Sophie Walsh, Willow Brodie Hayes, Florentine Ryan and Poppy Pendred pictured at the announcement that the Irish Youth Dance Festival (IYDF) returns to the Pavilion Theatre in Dún Laoghaire on July 1 and 2. Now in its 22nd year, the annual event provides a unique showcase for leading national and international youth dance choreographers and dancers.

Engineer crowned Ireland’s smartest person

LONGFORD

AN electrical engineer from Longford has been crowned ‘Ireland’s Smartest’.

Patrick Carthy won that title after coming first in a television series which saw Ireland’s most intelligent quizzers put through their paces over ten weeks.

Mr McCarthy, a 31-year-old Legan native, was thrilled to win the competition. He told the Longford Leader: “I was delighted to win the series particularly against such excellent opponents. It was

Man dies following medical emergency on flight

A MAN has died following a medical emergency on board a flight into Cork Airport.

CORK

He was on board an Aer Lingus flight from Lanzarote to Cork when he took ill on July 7, Gardaí have confirmed. Cork Airport police, Fire Service personnel as well as members of the National Ambulance Service attended the scene, an airport spokesperson said.

Gardaí told the Irish Examiner they “received a report of an incident in which a passenger had taken ill on board a flight to Cork Airport yesterday evening”.

“A man was later pronounced deceased, and the body was removed from the scene. The local coroner was notified.”

The Cork Airport spokesperson said: “With respect to the passenger concerned and their family, Cork Airport will not be making any further comment on the matter.”

Farmers concerned drought will affect animals

great to get the opportunity to take part in Ireland’s Smartest as I’ve always enjoyed watching television quizzes.”

He went on to thank everyone in Longford that sent him messages of support, before adding: “The format was fun to play even with the added pressure of the studio lights and cameras. There has been great support throughout the series from friends, neighbours, work colleagues and family, in particular my mother Mary.”

The series finale of Ireland’s Smartest, presented by quizmaster Claire Byrne, aired on June 4 on RTÉ One

FARMERS in Limerick have voiced concerns over what the current heatwave that is being enjoyed across Ireland will mean for their animals. They claim the country faces “absolute drought” with continued below-average rainfall forecasted.

Met Éireann has confirmed that such widespread and prolonged dry conditions have not been recorded in Ireland since 2018, when farmers suffered a severe drought and fodder crisis.

News Editor of the Irish Farmer’s Journal, Caitriona Morrissey, says the hot and dry weather is already impacting grass re-growth, and could lead to fodder shortages

in the months ahead.

“Met Éireann has told us that 25 of 25 of its main weather stations have recorded between 15 and 26 dry days,” she said.

LIMERICK

“Fifteen is the bar to reach for drought in an area all of Met Eireann’s main weather stations have recorded drought conditions,” she added.

“What has happened is with 15 to 26 dry days, grass has not grown.”

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Matthew Martin of Met Éireann confirmed that an absolute

drought is defined as when an area experiences 15 or more consecutive days with below 0.2mm of rain.

“The majority of the country is in drought at the minute,” Mr Martin admitted.

“It looks like it will gradually break down from the weekend on,” he added.

“High pressure will retreat to the north by the weekend, allowing showers on Friday night and Saturday morning. Over the next seven days, showers are forecast to bring around 10mm of rain, which will technically break the drought, but soil moisture deficits will still be high across the country for the next two weeks,” he said.

Young car crash victim ‘died peacefully’

ANTRIM

A YOUNG man who died a week after being injured in a car accident in Co. Antrim has been remembered by friends and family.

Matthew Anderson died “peacefully in hospital” on June 6, a week after he was involved in a two-vehicle car accident in Crumlin on May 31.

The collision, which occurred on the Moira Road at around 7.15am, also claimed the life of Belfast pensioner Robert Laverty.

The 74-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr Anderson, 28, who lived in Lisburn, was taken to hospital for treatment of his injuries, but it was confirmed by PSNI officers on June 6 that he had since died.

In a post confirming his death Mr Anderson’s family stated he was “muchloved” and his untimely death was “very deeply regretted by the entire family circle”.

Friends and family turned out for a Service of Thanksgiving for Matthew’s life which was held in Broomhedge Methodist Church on Friday, June 9 at 11am.

Thereafter he was moved to Lislooney Presbyterian Church Burial Ground, Armagh for a committal cerermony.

The family requested donations be made to Air Ambulance (NI) rather than flowers, following his death.

Mr Anderson leaves behind his parents Matthew and Jenny, brothers Robert and Patrick, sister Julie and girlfriend Joanne.

Public vote for elected mayor

DUBLINERS could vote next year on whether the capital should have a directly elected mayor with executive powers.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has stated that such a vote could be held on the same day as the local and European elections in early June 2024.

Cabinet ministers are considering whether to press ahead with the recommendation from the Dublin Citizens’ Assembly.

In 2022 assembly members recommended devolving 15

DUBLIN

policy areas to a directly elected mayor and to hold a vote to decide on the establishment of the office.

These policy areas include homelessness, housing, community healthcare, transport, the environment and emergency services.

Speaking on his way into Cabinet on June 7, the Taoiseach said the recommendations would be referred to Joint Oireachtas Committees.

“We will be looking for a

report from those committees before the end of the year so we can then make a decision and respond from Government early in the new year with a view to putting a question to the people of Dublin at the same time as the local and European elections as to whether we should have a directly elected mayor and reform local government in Dublin,” he said.

The Citizens’ Assembly also recommended that the mayor have the power to raise revenues and to borrow.

Another recommendation was that the mayor would be elected for a five-year term, for a maximum of two terms.

Picture: RollingNews.ie

Episode 10: The Streets

Father Conmee, the smooth Jesuit from Belvedere, is described on his walks, and in conversation with Mrs Mary Sheehy, wife of the Home Rule MP. The Earl of Dudley, Viceroy, who owned Ireland’s first motorcar, drives out for luncheon and his entire retinue is listed.

Episode 11: The Concert Room

Two spirited barmaids, Miss Kennedy and Miss Douce, are in agreement: “Aren’t men frightful idiots?” Bloom eats liver and mashed potatoes. Music. It’s remarked that “tenors get women by the score”.

Episode 12: The Tavern

Exhaustive lists from Irish history from Niall of the Nine Hostages to O’Donovan Rossa, including many not Irish (the Queen of Sheba, Lady Godiva). Ireland’s place in Europe is affirmed, and old Irish trade with France and Spain recalled.

Episode 13: The Rocks

Gerty McDowell, a “jilted beauty”, is watched by Bloom, erotically aroused to solo raptures by the imagined “cry of a young girl’s love”. Poor Gerty has a limp, and so, “left on the shelf”.

Episode 14: The Hospital

A dense and complex chapter which appeals to the scholars but which I find impenetrable.

Episode 15: The Brothel

A guide to Ulysses for Bloomsday

Dip in to one of the world’s greatest literary classics

BY MARY KENNY

IRELAND marks June 16 each year as ‘Bloomsday’, in tribute to James Joyce’s book Ulysses, set in Dublin and now regarded as the greatest novel of the last 100 years.

It was originally seen as shocking – banned in Britain and America, described as “the foulest book ever written” by the English writer Alfred Noyes, and as “a heap of dung crawling with worms” in Soviet Russia.

In 1922, it described subjects previously unmentioned in decent literature – not only sexuality, but bodily functions like urination and even nose-picking.

But it was eventually recognised as extraordinary, pioneering the “stream of consciousness” –although not always an accessible read.

Even scholars agree that “dipping into” Ulysses at various points can

be the best way to approach it.

So, here is my guide to the great Bloomsday book: pick and mix, and feel free to skip, too...

Episode 1: The Tower

Set in Dublin’s Martello Tower, with the renowned opening line: “Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came down the stairhead…” Mulligan is based on Oliver St John Gogarty, doctor, writer and foe of De Valera. The character of Stephen Dedalus is autobiographical. The phrase “the snotgreen sea” struck early readers as “coarse”.

Episode 2: The School

A description of Stephen’s schoolroom experience, in which Mr Deasy, misogynist and anti-Semite, tells him “Money is power”. He quotes Shakespeare: “Put money in thy purse.” And a lot more besides.

Episode 3: The Strand Stephen’s interior reflections,

including remembering the awful telegram: “Mother dying come home father.” He is accused of refusing his mother’s dying request to kneel and pray.

Episode 4: The House

Enter Leopold Bloom, the halfJewish protagonist, who “ate with relish the inner organs of beasts and fowls. He liked thick giblet soup, nutty gizzards, a stuffed roast heart….”. The phrase “he liked to read at stool” also shocked.

Episode 5: The Bath

The geography of Dublin is introduced and “flat Dublin voices bawled in his head” as Bloom prepares to attend Paddy Dignam’s funeral, where “some of the old sacred music is splendid”.

Episode 6: The Graveyard

Bloom ponders on birth, life and death, including the loss of his infant son, Rudy.

Episode 7: The Newspaper

A lively section composed in popular newspaper style, with an evocative description of Dublin’s clanging trams, departing from Nelson’s pillar “to Blackrock, Kingstown and Dalkey, Clonskea, Rather and Terenure….” (“The Pillar” was blown up by the IRA in 1966 and replaced by the “Spire”, regarded as post-modern.)

Episode 8: The Lunch

More peregrinations around Dublin in which “Davy Byrne’s moral pub” (still standing) is mentioned. Bloom eats at Burton’s (now gone) where he observes men “swilling, wolfing gobfuls of sloppy food, their eyes bulging” and recalls that the last pagan king of Ireland, Cormac, choked on “something galoptious”.

Episode 9: The Library

A literary discourse with Stephen and Buck Mulligan, often highflown: mention of Shakespeare, Mallarmé, Synge, Goethe, etc. The word “masturbated” was thought offensive when the book was first published.

A long section written in dialogue. Words like “hairy arse” offended. Bloom imagines his dead son and sees Paddy Dignam’s spirit. There’s a parody of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. Some readers find it rambling, but it’s valued by the Joyceans.

Episode 16: The Shelter

A tour around Dublin’s red-light district (as was), which includes a warning against sexually transmitted disease. A young fellow might get “a nice dose to last him a lifetime”. There’s a recollection of Bloom’s wife giving a virtuoso singing performance at “the Jesuits fathers’ church in Upper Gardiner Street” (still there).

Episode 17: The House Bloom and Stephen converse on various subjects including Ireland, Paris, friendships, women... the Roman Catholic church, ecclesiastical celibacy, the Irish nation, music and literature. There’s a long list of parlour games of the period, and Leopold’s budget for the day is noted: a tram fare was one old penny and lunch was seven pence.

Episode 18: The Bed

The celebrated 42-page soliloquy by Molly Bloom, Leopold’s wife, in which she has erotic recall of earthy experiences. Not a comma or full stop interrupts the flow, which ends in the “Yes”, so often imitated and parodied.

A monumental book indeed –and, incidentally, never banned in Ireland, probably because it was too expensive for anyone to acquire (originally costing double an average weekly wage).

BANNED BY THE BRITISH: Bloomsday falls on June 16, when Irish people across the globe celebrate James Joyce’s controversial novel Ulysses

A monumental book indeed – and, incidentally, never banned in Ireland, probably because it was too expensive for anyone to acquire

Dáithí deserves a new heart now

The

voice

of the Irish in Britain since 1970

Pints and more at JJ Devine’s

ANYONE who enjoyed hit film The Banshees of Inisherin will likely be feeling as delighted as we are about the opening of JJ Devine’s this week.

The pub, which was the epicentre of life on the fictional island of Inisherin, featured in many key scenes in the film.

It is where much of the drama between friends Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) plays out as they find themselves at an impasse when the latter unexpectedly calls a halt to their friendship.

But as authentic as the pub appeared on screen it did not in fact exist.

It was purpose-built for the movie and later taken apart, with its fittings and fixtures left in a scrapyard.

Luckily Galway publican Luke Mee was quick to salvage the discarded pub and give it a new home.

And now, after the painstaking task of relocating and rebuilding the watering hole, it is open to the public for pints or whatever tipple takes your fancy.

But you’ll get so much more than just a pint with a visit to JJ Devine’s.

To sit down and sup at its tables is to sample a little piece of Irish history.

The film was a worldwide hit following its release in October 2022 and went on to win multiple awards.

Earlier this year it scooped nine Oscar nominations. It didn’t win any of those, but it still became the most Oscarnominated Irish film ever – overtaking both Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and the 1993 movie In the Name of the Father.

So, as pubs go, this one is certainly worth a visit the next time you are in Galway.

Talk about The Change

COMEDIAN Bridget Christie is on a mission to bring talk about the menopause into mainstream discussion.

With her new series The Change airing next week, we will all get to see her take on the topic – which will no doubt be imbued with her unique sense of humour.

Male or female we are assured that this is a show that will appeal to all, and it’s been something of a lifelong dream for Christie.

The second-generation Irish star has written, executive produced and stars in the Channel 4 series, so we are expecting great things.

Celebrating Coley

GREAT to see another impressive turnout for the annual Coley Folan memorial day in Birmingham.

Sadly the 2023 event marked ten years since the 44-year-old GAA stalwart passed away.

Celebrations of this nature are always bittersweet given that the loss of a loved one is at the heart of it, but what a fantastic legacy for Mr Folan and his family to see this day dedicated to GAA sports and family fun continues to grow.

Long may this popular tribute event continue.

WHAT

fantastic

There are not many people in this world with the courage and determination to lobby the government to change laws.

And there are even less who would do it while dealing with a medical condition.

So for this young boy to take on this campaign and see it through to fruition at the age of just six is nothing short of remarkable.

He is a truly impressive young man.

His actions, and that of his family who have facilitated his campaign and helped to garner the support it needed, have had a momentous impact.

With the law now changed it won’t be long until the positive benefits will be seen by people young and old in Northern Ireland who are in need of organ donations.

It was lovely to see Dáithí be honoured by his home city by being given the Freedom of Belfast in recognition of this achievement.

What I liked most about this was that Belfast City Council made this a ceremony that was appropriate for a six-year-old.

Dáithí was surrounded by superhero characters, which is how every young boy should celebrate – but especially when he too is a little superhero.

To see his smiling face as he sat next to Spiderman and the Lord Mayor of Belfast in your coverage was an absolute tonic.

It got me thinking. Wouldn’t it be lovely if young Dáithí could be pushed to the top of the waiting list now for his heart transplant?

Wouldn’t that be a fitting gesture for this boy, who has

already been waiting since 2018, and who has done so much for the organ donation cause?

Could there be anyone out there who would object to that?

I certainly would support a move to have this young man given the transplant he needs as quickly as possible.

It would mean he could leave his campaigning days behind as well as his heart condition and simply go back to being a six-year-old.

Anthony Kearney Essex

Disgusted by Russian dam attack in Ukraine

now gone on for more than a year, would be targeted in such a way.

Ireland were one of the first nations to come out and condemn the attack, calling it out for the war crime that it is.

We should all be proud of the solidarity that Ireland has shown with the people of Ukraine since their torment at the hands of the Russians began in February 2022.

Russia continues to show itself to be inhumane, immoral and thuggish in its ongoing invasion of this impressively strong country.

Ukraine is a proud nation, one with honour and one that refuses to bow to their aggressor, but how much more can they take?

This is a question I seem to ask myself regularly.

Joan Ryan Hertfordshire

Bright future ahead for young magician

Re. ‘Magician places third in Britain’s Got Talent final’, Irish Post, June 10

HE showed real talent and should have won. Wish you all the best for your future Cillian, you’re a winner. God bless you.

Bridget Conlon via Facebook

HE was a winner in my eyes and should have won.

Sure the royal family would have loved his magic.

Freda McIntyre Wigan

WHAT an amazing young man. He proved an inspiration to my nine-year-old autistic grandson. Looking forward to seeing him in the future.

Annie Christopher Via Facebook

CILLIAN should have won; he was by far the best entertainer. Well done young man. I hope you have a wonderful career ahead, amazing boy.

Majella Denehy via Facebook

Congratulations to volunteer award winners

Re. ‘Community volunteers honoured at IIB awards’, Irish Post, June 10

HOW inspiring to read of the many men and women, young and old, who offer up their time for free to support Irish centres and groups across Britain.

Volunteers are such an important part of our society, providing a backbone for the third sector and by default the many people living among us that are in need of the services they provide.

We have so many great Irish organisations across Britain and it was so interesting to read about the people who are there supporting them by giving their time or offering their services for free.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading of their awards and why they were selected for them and I am sure they were grateful for the recognition.

I WAS disgusted to read the reports of the Russian bombing of a Ukraine dam which has forced thousands to flee their homes.

The flooding caused by this hit, which has destroyed a major piece of infrastructure in the south of the country, will have a catastrophic impact on the civilians in this area.

How awful that these people, already displaced within their homeland due to the illegal invasion by Russia, which has

YOU were robbed Cillian. You blew my mind. I had goosebumps watching you, you’re a little star. Good luck to you, you have a very bright future ahead of you.

Ger Clarke Dublin

CILLIAN O’Connor was by far the best in the final and mark my words, Simon Cowell knew that.

I’d say Simon himself was fuming and disgusted that he didn’t win.

Keep up the good work, Cillian.

Kay McManus Mullingar

They may not want attention on their efforts, but how lovely to attend a ceremony dedicated to them and their achievements.

It was well deserved and I hope they all had a great time.

Congratulations to all of them and thank you for the work you do to support the Irish people living in this country.

And well done to the Irish in Britain group for organising this event and ensuring the work of volunteers is recognised among the community more widely.

Catherine Bohan West Midlands

a

achievement by Dáithí Mac Gabhann.

IMPRESSIVE YOUNG MAN: Lord Mayor of Belfast, Cllr Tina Black pictured with Dáithí

Picture: Steven McAuley

Kherson under water Picture: Getty Images

Vol. 53. No. 24.

The Irish Post

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EDITORIAL

Editor: Mal Rogers

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Mal.rogers@irishpost.co.uk

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Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper. The Irish Post is published every Wednesday by Color Company (TM) Ltd.

The newspaper seeks to provide the Irish in Britain with comprehensive news coverage of Irish issues from Ireland and Britain, sports news and reviews, a weekly entertainment guide, reader feedback and features of interest to the Irish in Britain.

©2009 ISSN No. 0959-3748. The Irish Post Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior permission of the publishers. Newsagent distribution and printing by Trinity Mirror Printing Limited whose registered office is at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5AP.

QUESTIONS ABOUT

Being Irish is complex

WHAT does being Irish mean? Does it, in fact, mean anything?

For instance, I’m Irish. I was born and raised in Birmingham in England.

I’m now 58 and I came to live in Ireland when I was 34.

My parents had emigrated from Cork in the 1950s and I was raised amongst a huge Irish community. I always say that I didn’t really mix with any English people until I went to University in the mid 1980s.

I say all that as factual recounting not as explanation or justification.

What those using the ludicrous Plastic Paddy jibe never seemed to understand was that being Irish wasn’t an aspirational thing for the second generation.

It was just being who you were.

Did anybody think that an Irishness, the Irishness of 1970s and 1980s England, that was associated with being thick and violent was something you wanted to be?

If we were going to fake an identity why would we choose an Irish one?

I first went to Ireland, by the way, as a baby in my mother’s arms to my grandfather’s funeral.

James Connolly didn’t set

JOEHORGAN

so than me. She certainly lives an Irish life.

After all, Irishness can’t just be birthplace because that excludes James Connolly, and it can’t be bloodline because that excludes Padraig Pearse on account of his Brummie father

foot in Ireland until he was well into his teens and did so as a member of the British army.

Being Irish? It’s complex, isn’t it?

My Goddaughter has lived in Ireland since she was three and her childhood consists of the local town whose accent she carries.

She was born in Africa of African parents. In what way is she not Irish? She certainly sounds Irish. More

Reactionaries, racists, bigots, always seem to me to completely lack an understanding of what being Irish means.

They hark back to some frozen in time notion of what Ireland is.

They seem to think there was one historical moment when Ireland was Ireland and the Irish were the Irish. It simply doesn’t make sense.

If, for instance, we pick a random year, say, 1952, and say Ireland then was the real Ireland and any year since, any other version is not the real Ireland, it is clear what nonsense this is.

I, for instance, have an old Irish surname but my friend whose surname is Fitzgerald only came over with the Normans in the 1100s so is it okay if I suggest she’s less Irish than me even though she grew up in Macroom and I grew up in Small Heath?

It doesn’t make sense does it?

After all, Irishness can’t just be birthplace because that excludes James Connolly, and it can’t be bloodline because that excludes Padraig Pearse on account of his Brummie father.

It can’t be being Catholic because that excludes Wolfe Tone and I’m not sure how the ultra-Irish are faring if they’ve excluded Connolly, Pearse and Wolfe Tone.

Of course I may well be making a fundamental mistake in that I’m attributing to the reactionaries, the racists and the bigots a thought process that is probably not even present.

If your overriding sentiment is hate and resentment it is hardly going to be underpinned by coherence.

So what does being Irish mean?

Does it mean liking Tayto and Tanora?

Does it mean once liking Eurovision? Does it mean the GAA?

Does it mean knowing who put the ball in the English net? Does it mean Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael? Does it mean Sinn Féin? Does it mean Dublin or Cork or Limerick?

Does it mean the rural townland?

I was brought up in and by the Irish and I’ve lived here for over 24 years.

I studied Irish history and literature at university.

I went to Italy in 1990 to follow Ireland at the World Cup.

My children were all born and raised here and argue in Irish when they don’t want us to know what they’re saying.

I’ve written about identity and belonging and Irishness for nearly a quarter of a century.

I’ve had books published by Irish publishers. I’ve won a major prize in Irish poetry.

I’ve buried my father after walking his coffin up through the local town.

I tease my brother whenever I can about his trove of Irish dancing medals.

My nephew runs a local pub. My other nephew is a star player for the local football team.

My niece’s lad plays for St Pat’s up in Dublin.

I’ve worked in the Irish healthcare system for about 24 years.

And if you ask me what being Irish means I can’t give you a simple, straightforward answer.

But when I look at the reactionaries and the racists and the bigots I can tell you what it is not.

n Joe Horgan tweets at @JoeHorganwriter

Picture: Getty Images

Homecoming before heartache

How JFK’s one and only presidential visit to Ireland changed the nation

again, and I am taking, as I go back to America, all of you with me.”

But sadly, he would never make that return trip as he was assassinated five months later.

This month the 60th anniversary of JFK’s historic Irish trip is being marked by the EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum.

The exhibition, at their Dublin location, provides visitors the opportunity to “discover the cultural and political significance” of JFK’s Irish visit, which they describe as a “pivotal moment in Irish-American relations”.

It is a joint project with the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Homecoming: JKF in Ireland, will reveal how JFK’s four-day visit “strengthened

ties between two nations and ushered in a new era of optimism in a changing Ireland”.

“We are delighted to be hosting this exhibition in collaboration with the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston,” curator Catherine Healy, the Historian-in-Residence at EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum, confirmed this week.

“JFK’s visit to Ireland brought international attention to the progress made by the independent Irish state, but it also served as a celebration of Irish diaspora success,” she explained.

“The first Catholic to be elected to the White House, he was a powerful emblem of Irish America’s transition from tenement poverty to middle-class respectability.”

 This exhibition will be on display at EPIC The Irish

IT was 60 years ago this month when US President John F Kennedy made his historic trip to Ireland.

On June 26, 1963 JFK arrived in the Emerald Isle on an emotional trip to his ancestral home.

It marked the first visit to Ireland by a US president, although eight more have visited since, most recently his fellow Irishman Joe Biden.

But JFK’s was a trip that was as special to the people of Ireland as it was to JFK himself, who was determined to trace his roots while in the country.

He met cousins in Wexford during his visit, which saw him hosted by then Irish President Éamon de Valera.

So enamoured with his ancestral homeland was JFK that in a speech made before he left, he promised to return.

He quoted a poem in that speech, which was written by De Valera’s wife Sinéad de Valera, who had performed the poem of exile for the

A date with history

What happened on this day...

Saturday, June 17:

1800 – Birth of William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse; astronomer and telescope constructor, in York.

1867 – Birth of John Gregg, publisher and inventor of the Gregg shorthand system, in Rockcorry, Co. Monaghan.

1959 – Éamon de Valera becomes President of Ireland.

Sunday, June 18:

1688 – Siege of Derry.

1815 – Battle of Waterloo when British forces under the command of the Duke of

President during dinner the previous evening.

He was so taken with it that he wrote it down, memorised it and recited it during his leaving speech.

The poem read:

“’Tis the Shannon’s brightly glancing stream, brightly gleaming, silent in the morning beam. Oh! the sight entrancing. Thus,... return from travels long, years of exile, years of pain to see Old Shannon’s face again, ’er the waters glancing.”

Upon completing the poem, Kennedy said: “Well, I am going to come back and see Old Shannon’s face

Tuesday, June 20:

1210 – King John lands at Waterford.

1763 – Birth of Theobald Wolfe Tone.

1810 – Parliament passes Unlawful Acts Bill, extending powers against secret societies.

1849 – James Clarence Mangan, poet, dies.

Thursday, June 22:

1798 – Execution of John Kelly (‘Kelly of Killane’).

1940 – The last tram to Donnybrook, Dublin leaves.

1973 – Hilton Edwards and Micheál Mac Liammóir are given the Freedom of the city of Dublin.

Wellington, a Dubliner, defeat Napoleon’s forces.

1945 – Sean T. O’Kelly becomes the first elected President of Ireland.

1972 – Twelve of Ireland’s most prominent businessmen are killed in a BA crash at Staines.

Monday, June 19:

1647 – James, Duke of Ormond, agrees to surrender Dublin to English Parliament.

1820 – The Dublin Society for Improving Husbandry, which was originally founded on June 25 in 1731, becomes the Royal Dublin Society.

1891 – Birth of John Aloysius Costello, Ireland’s third Taoiseach.

Wednesday, June 21:

1854 – Irishman David Lucas wins the first ever Victoria Cross, in the Crimean War.

1870 – St. Louise (Clonmel-born Alice O’Sullivan) of the Order of the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul is massacred along with other sisters, priests and merchants in China. A memorial tablet in Clonmel keeps her memory alive.

1963 – Cardinal Giovanni Batista Montini is elected Pope Paul VI, the 261st Pontiff.

Friday, June 23:

1704 – The Registration Act comes into force requiring all Catholic priests in Ireland to register in court, to furnish two £50 bonds for good behaviour, and not to leave the county in which registered.

1775 – Birth of William Brown, admiral and founder of the Argentine navy, in Foxford, Co. Mayo.

1802 – Daniel O’Connell secretly marries his cousin, Mary O’Connell.

1939 – Dáil Éireann introduces internment.

1985 – An Air India 747 jet explodes off the coast of Ireland killing 329 people.

Well, I am going to come back and see Old Shannon’s face again, and I am taking, as I go back to America, all of you with me

John F Kennedy

SPECIAL TRIP: US President John Fitzgerald Kennedy shares a lunch with his Irish family during his visit on June 28, 1963

Oh! the sight entrancing.

:

Picture: Getty Images

Derek Warfield and his Young Wolfe Tones perform storming set at London venue

See Page 17

Multi-arts programme celebrates Ulysses across Europe

AN ambitious new arts programme will see James Joyce’s most famous novel Ulysses celebrated across Europe.

Some 18 European cities have come together to create ULYSSES European Odyssey, a multi-arts programme inspired by Joyce’s masterpiece which will run until June 2024.

Launched this month, the project is a transnational and multi-disciplinary programme with a variety of events and interventions taking place in those 18 cities, which are Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Cluj, Copenhagen, Derry-Donegal, Dublin, Eleusis, Istanbul, Leeuwarden, Lisbon, Lugo, Marseille, Oulu, Paris, Trieste, Vilnius and Zurich.

It includes 14 free public city events which are designed to “animate the democratic public spaces of modern cities”, the organisers explained.

Buzzing about Beehive

Exciting new talent Niamh Bury signs for iconic Irish label Claddagh Records

RISING star Niamh Bury has signed with the legendary Irish music label Claddagh Records.

The musical talent, who releases her debut single Beehive on Friday, July 7, is already a favourite on the folk scene.

Over the past six months alone the Dubliner has collaborated and shared the stage with the likes of Dermot Kennedy, Ye Vagabonds, Martin Hayes, Myles

O’Reilly, Niamh Regan and Cinder Well.

In May Kennedy selected Bury to play with him in an exclusive, intimate gig held at one of Dublin’s favourite pubs, The Long Hall, as part of Guinness’s Live and Rising campaign.

Bury’s songs are described as “maps of conversations – both real and perhaps yearned for – with oneself, loved ones, imaginary characters and those who have passed on to other worlds”. For the artist, music is her preferred mode of communication.

“It’s the best means of communication I have,” she says.

“I think art puts a mic up to that quiet part of ourselves that can easily get drowned out by the constant noise around us.

“If I need to figure out how I feel about something, I’ll write a song about it.”

With influences as wide-ranging as Laura Marling, Fiona Apple and Paul Simon, to name a few, Bury’s music will resonate with fans of artists like Big Thief, Ye Vagabonds and Billie Marten.

And her debut single is inspired by an Amazonian tribe.

“Beehive is about the overlapping of myth, folk wisdom and science,” she explains.

“It was inspired by a passage from a book I was reading about a tribe in the Amazon who say that the human brain is like a beehive – at once chaotic and intricately ordered.”

Its release is less than a month away, thanks to her signing with the iconic Claddagh Records.

This is the second signing by the label in recent weeks – the first being experimental doom folk band ØXN – with the additions the first made to their roster in 18 years.

Claddagh Records founder Garech Browne has dedicated his life to preserving and championing the rich musical heritage of Ireland.

Following a worldwide licensing agreement with Universal Music Ireland in 2020, Browne’s vision for the label can now be realised by making available Claddagh’s back catalogue of artists like The Chieftains, Seán Ó Riada, Seamus Heaney and Patrick Kavanagh, to name just a few, and also by signing new artists like Bury, who the label describes as “one of Ireland’s most exciting new talents.”

 Niamh Bury’s debut single Beehive will be released on Claddagh Records on Friday, July 7.

Fiona Audley

“Individuals from all walks of life – from doctors to dancers, postmen to producers, shopkeepers to surgeons – are also being invited to come together at cross-sectoral public arts and society symposia in 16 cities,” they add.

The aim of the project is to create chARTer 309, a new democratic statement for the future relationship between the arts and society based on the 18 themes in Ulysses to be published in late 2024.

In addition, 30 artist exchange residencies are taking place, and 18 writers from different literary genres and from each city have been commissioned to contribute to EUROPE-ULYSSES, a new book also due to be published next year.

Conceived by Arts over Borders, Ireland’s acclaimed presenting body for cross-border arts festivals, and developed with lead partner Brave New World Productions, a Netherlands-based producing company, while working with partners in each of the 18 cities, ULYSSES European Odyssey is funded through an award from the European Commission’s Creative Europe Fund.

Séan Doran and Liam Browne of Arts over Borders, say: “Ulysses and Odyssey are two of the greatest works of literature, each having something to say about people, society and our relationships with one another.

“Like those two inspiration points, ULYSSES European Odyssey is a journey that involves people and ideas, which moves across Europe at a pivotal time in its history.

“As James Joyce did, it celebrates the modern city and through public performance and lively debate, and we hope it will shine a light on human complexity, develop new international partnerships, offer cross-border solutions and stimulate new active citizenship between the arts and society.”

 For further information about the full programme visit www.ulysseseurope.com

NEW TALENT: Niamh Bury

Picture: Ellius Grace

Irish radio in your area...

BEDFORDSHIRE

 Jim Carway presents Luton Irish Live on Diverse 102.8FM and online every Tuesday evening 6-8pm. Contact Jim on 07977 063233.

BRADFORD

 Joe Sheeran presents Echoes of Ireland on Bradford Community Broadcasting 106.6FM every Sunday at noon. The programme is repeated on Mondays at 9am and Wednesdays at noon and is online at www.bcbradio.co.uk.

BRIGHTON

 Brighton and Hove weekly Irish radio airs live on Mondays from 8pm on Radio Reverb, 97.2 FM, DAB and online.

COVENTRY

 Hands Across the Waters on Hillz FM. Broadcasting live every Monday and Thursday 1pm-2pm and the best of Irish & Country every Sunday 1pm-2pm. You can tune in locally on 98.6fm or catch us online at www.hillzfm.co.uk

 Join The Four Country Road Show with Colm Nugent and Michael Gallagher every Tuesday 9-10pm and Sunday 2-4pm. Broadcasting live in Coventry from the studios of Radio Plus 101.5fm and online around the world on www.radioplus.org.uk playing the very best in Irish and Country music, news, guests and more.

GLASGOW

 Celtic Music Radio on 1530AM and www.celticmusicradio.net

featuring Paddy Callaghan’s Trad with Pad every Tuesday from 6-7pm.

HERTFORDSHIRE

 Radio Verulam 92.6FM and online at www.radioverulam.com

featuring The Emerald Hour with Kathy Weston, Lydia El-Khouri and Shane every Thursday from 7-8pm, and John Devine’s Traditional Irish Music Show, featuring Joe Giltrap, every Monday from 7-9pm (available on the website for seven days after broadcast)

 John Devine, Monday evenings from 7-9pm on Radio Verulam in West Hertfordshire 92.6FM or through the internet at www. radioverulam.com. Facebook www.facebook.com/rvirishmusic.

LONDON/SOUTH-EAST

 Johnny Jameson hosts Ireland’s Eye on Resonance 104.4FM every third Wednesday of every month, 8-9pm and repeated the following morning at 10pm.

 Emily Horgan, Pippa T and Róisín O Rourke broadcasting What’s the Craic? every Tuesday from 7-8pm on West London’s ONFM 101.4.

 Johno’s Irish Hour, ONFM 101.4, every Saturday morning from 10-11am with presenter John O’Sullivan. Anything and everything Irish including traditional Irish music, news and sport.

MANCHESTER

 Out and About in Manchester with Martin Logan, Wednesdays 7-9pm on 96.9FM.

 The Irish Connection Show with John Lowry on Wythenshawe 97.2FM, Saturday from 10am to noon. www.wfmradio.org.

MIDLANDS

 Bob Brolly’s Irish Show, Sundays 4-7pm on BBC Radio WM 95.6FM and DAB Radio.

NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE

 Jim Bennett, Fiona Clelland and Tommy McClements present NE1 Irish from 5-7pm every Wednesday on 102.5FM or www.ne1fm.net. Text NE1 + message to 60300. Contact 0191 261 0384.

OXFORD/BERKSHIRE

 BBC Radio Oxford/BBC Radio Berkshire hosts Henry Wymbs’ Irish Eye, Sundays from 2pm on 95.4FM | 104.1FM.

ONLINE

 Gerry Byrne’s Irish Radio: www.irishradio.org 24/7 non-stop Irish Music. Live weekdays 1-3pm; Saturdays & Sundays 11am-1pm. Podcasts uploaded to website immediately after shows are transmitted. Requests welcome to: gerry@irishradio.org. For music, arts, charity sector, commerce and current affairs interviews search YouTube Irish Radio with Gerry Byrne.

 Mid West Radio, the home of Irish music, chat, news, culture and gossip 24 hours a day! www.midwestradio.ie

 RTÉ Radio operates four primary national stations — RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ lyric fm and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta — and seven exclusively digital stations — RTÉ Radio 1 Xtra, RTÉ Choice, RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ Chill, RTÉ Gold, RTÉ 2XM and RTÉ Junior, available online.

 Alan O’Leary of Copperplate presents two hours of Irish traditional and folk music every Sunday at 8-9.30pm (repeated Wednesday 8-90pm) on www.liveireland.com — 24/7 live Irish trad and folk. It can also be heard 24/7 on Mixcloud, Soundcloud and Podomatic.

 All Folked Up – a folk show with an Irish influence – is broadcast on the third Thursday of the month on sarumradio.com at 7pm.

 Irish Country Music Radio (Limerick) – Broadcasting live and recorded programmes 24 hours a day covering a broad spectrum of Irish music: www.irishcountrymusicradio.com.

THE IRISH IN THE UK TV SHOW

www.theirishintheuktv.com

Join Martin each week as he meets the community around the UK with an Irish connection

Every Thursday evening at 7.30pm

Repeated Sat at 8.30pm and Tues at 1pm Sky 186 Freesat 161

Martin Logan 07808 573142

martinloganmanchester@gmail.com

Sponsored by

New play tells Battersea’s Irish story

A NEW play which tells Battersea’s little known Irish story opens in London this week.

The production, by the Green Curtain Theatre company, tackles the history of the land that is now home to Battersea Power Station, which has many interesting Irish connections.

Power and the People asks what that land would say if it could tell its own stories – and the play, led by actor Kevin Bohan, goes on to do just that.

The production charts the history of the site from 1850, when the arrival of Famine refugees from Ireland marked the start of a long-standing relationship between the community and the Battersea area.

As the years went on many Irish people lived or work there, including Peter O’Connell who left his native Carrigkerry, Limerick in 1952 to begin work as an apprentice electrician in London.

“The transformation of Battersea from a market gardening area in the 1800s to the area it is today is a tribute to the many nationalities who came to live and work in the borough,” the theatre company explains.

“Huguenots fleeing persecution in France, the Irish escaping Famine in the nineteenth century and the Polish who settled here in the post-war years alongside those from the Commonwealth and other lands,” they add.

“Green Curtain Theatre will use drama, song and first-person testimonies to re-tell some of those stories – of hardship, migration, and personal achievement.”

Bohan, who plays the spirit of the Power Station in the production, said: “I’m looking forward to performing the story of such an iconic piece of London’s history told from

such a human angle.”

 Three performances of Power and the People will take place on June 17, at the R.O.S.E. Community Clubroom in Ascalon Street, Battersea, SW8 4DL. Performance times are 12noon, 2.30pm and 4.45pm. Tickets are available at www.wandsworthfringe. com/whats-on-2023

PAULINE MCLYNN TO STAR IN DR SEMMELWEIS

Irish actor among cast for West End transfer of Mark Rylance’s hit play

IRISH actor Pauline McLynn has been announced among the cast for the West End transfer of Mark Rylance’s hit play Dr Semmelweis

The play tells the story of one of medicine’s greatest pioneers, maverick Hungarian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis.

Dr Semmelweis was determined to discover what caused many women to die during childbirth in the mid-19th century and went on to pioneer the use of antiseptic handwash by the clinicians delivering the babies. However he struggled to get the medical community to believe his findings and was left distraught by thoughts of the many women who died as a result of his work being ignored.

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96.9 ALL FM Wednesday, 7-9PM with

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The production, which was originally developed by the National Theatre Studio and first staged by Bristol Old Vic, will see the celebrated actor Mark Rylance returning to the stage in the title role.

McLynn will play Anna Müller, the nurse who can see the truth in Dr Semmelweis’ findings, where his medical peers cannot.

The production also features 10 ballet dancers and the Salome string quartet.

Directed by Tom Morris and co-written by Stephen Brown and Rylance, the play, which is based on an original idea by Rylance, opens at the Harold Pinter Theatre next month. It will run from July 11 until October 7, with previews from June 29.



POWER PLAY: Battersea Power Station Picture: Getty Images

Legendary musician thrills audience with storming set

Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfe Tones wow the 229 crowd

Derek Warfield and his band the Young Wolfe Tones attracted a large attendance to their recent London gig.

The event was held at the 229 music venue in Great Portland Street on Friday, June 2.

Fans young and old were among the audience and they were treated to an energetic performance as the band gave a storming set featuring many classic Irish ballads.

Clearly in great form, Derek, who is now 79, took time after the gig to meet his many fans.

Following the London gig, the band were back in Ireland for two shows before heading to the USA for a series of live dates, including the Celtic Convention in Las Vegas.

LEGENDARY Irish singer

Pictures by Malcolm McNally Photography

Derek Warfield and banjo player Damaris Woods are pictured centre with Laureen Wright-Aldrich from Boston and Sarah McNally from Cork

Banjo player Damaris Woods

TAKING THE STAGE: Legendary performer Derek Warfield

Brothers Tony, Paddy, Eamonn and Mick Kane with Paul O’Neill. Band member Eddie Kane is Tony’s son

CLOCKWISE, FROM RIGHT: Derek Warfield with Shelly Asquith and Liam McCafferty; Derek and banjo player Damaris Woods are pictured with Treve and Colette Walsh; With fan Ann Mahon from Mayo

‘All roads have led here’

The second-generation Irish woman, born in Gloucester to parents from counties Roscommon and Leitrim, has written, executive produced and stars in a brand-new television show which airs on Channel 4 next week.

The Change is a comedy drama about the menopause.

It focuses on a character named Linda who is facing that milestone, which awaits all women, and is unsure exactly who she is.

And it is set in the historic Forest of Dean, which Christie spent many hours exploring as a child.

The mother-of-two leads an all-star cast in the series, which pays homage to her childhood memories while tackling a topic that is close to her heart.

“It’s had a long journey this little show, it has evolved quite a lot from its first inception,” she told The Irish Post

“On the one hand I have been thinking about it my entire life, since I was a child, probably since I was five or six.

“I always wanted to write something that was set in the Forest of Dean, which is 10 miles from where I grew up in Gloucester, and we would go there for walks and picnics when I was a child.

“It’s this really magical place, it’s like no other place,” she explains, “for me it’s like a magical land, the place of childhood memories, this idyllic place, and so in terms of what

the show looks like I wanted it to look like my memories of it.”

While the idea has been brewing for decades, Christie, now 51, has spent the last seven years writing The Change

“There are things I have taken from my life that are in the show as I have been thinking about this for a very long time, but in terms of actually writing it, I would say it goes back six or seven years,” she confirms.

“It was originally a script that was commissioned and slightly different,” Christie explains, “then lockdown happened, and I changed, I became a different person, and so I changed the main protagonist to reflect more of the person I was at that point, which became Linda.”

Christie is honest about the theme of menopause becoming central to her work due to it now being part of her own life.

The topic also features in her current stand-up show, Who Am I? which she will bring to the

It was originally a script that was commissioned and slightly different ...then lockdown happened, and I changed, I became a different person

COMEDIAN Bridget Christie’s latest project has been a long time coming.

Bridget Christie’s new show The Change airs next week. It’s a dream come true for the comedian, who tells FIONA AUDLEY why the menopause is something we can all laugh about

Bridget Christie in

The comedian has

Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August before taking it on the road for a tour of Britain and Ireland from September to December.

“Primarily, Who Am I? is about the menopause and my experiences of it,” she admits.

“But there is a bit of politics and a little bit of gender double standards in there too, you know, the kind of things that women just can’t get away with in the same way that men can.

“Especially high-profile men, like politicians, where we still judge women very differently.”

Christie is confident that the subject of the menopause offers something for all - not just the women in the audience.

“I’d say it’s a very accessible show,” she says.

“Even though on paper it may seem like everything I have just mentioned is for a very specific demographic, actually those themes are really not.”

And the writer has done her research on this.

“When I was working the show out at the comedy clubs in London, I noticed that there were a lot of young men who were really laughing,” she explains.

“I called a table out on it once. There were about six young guys sitting at it and I asked them ‘why are you laughing so much?’.

“Then I realised. I was like, ‘oh, I’m your mum, aren’t I?’,” she laughs, “they were living with those experiences.”

menopause is accessible because everybody is affected by it in a different way.”

is determined to tell, and she is hopeful her television series will help bring the topic into more mainstream discussion.

certain age in her life was very important to me,” she says.

enough of these stories at the moment, but it is changing.

covered now it is covered in passing, it’s not the beating heart of the show or the main protagonist of a show.

Just that journey of reaching a certain age and realising I don’t know who I am anymore. Linda is at that point. She doesn’t know what her place is in the world.”

which is her first proper acting role and is something of a dream come true.

she admits.

auntie on my fourth birthday and I told her I am going to be an actor.

“I did amateur dramatics and got a scholarship to go to drama school but when I left I never got any work.

“That’s why I started writing stand-up, because I thought this is really difficult, waiting to be picked and going and doing audition after audition.

“Auditions are not great for the self-esteem,” she adds, “so I thought I need to take control back here to a degree.

“I started writing stand-up and I really got into that, although I still loved acting so much, but the stand up and writing took over in the end.

“So Linda is unbelievably the first proper acting job that I’ve got, and I am 51 and I had to write it and cast myself in it,” she laughs.

“But actually, there is part of me that thinks that is absolutely correct, I feel like all roads have led here.

“I genuinely believe everything that I have done has taken me here to this point.”

So how did it feel to finally get on set and start filming?

“It was the dream and more,” Christie says.

“I think it’s really important to keep writing all the time,” she adds, “because you evolve and change as you get older, the world changes as well and I feel like a different person, so I think you have to keep going and keep churning over new stuff.

“Nothing is ever done, you know, you just sort of run out of time.”

The comedian admits that general societal themes inspire her comedy, as well as nuggets from her personal life, but the writing doesn’t always come easy.

“I use real events – like politics or climate change – of society in my writing, but with the personal stuff a lot of it is more exaggerated, with a seed of truth in there somewhere,” she admits.

“But writing is so hard,” she adds, “and what I tend to do is work backwards.”

“I tend to know where I am going,” Christie explains, “I know my end point, and I start working back from that.

imagination, a conscience. I would still pray silently, like at random moments I would say my Our Fathers or Hail Marys or pray for a safe journey, things like that.

“Some things are just really habitual, as they are with you for years as a child, my parents were very religious.”

And then there is the fact that Irish people are particularly good at humour and storytelling.

“There is an openness, like a zest for life with Irish comedians,” Christie admits.

“There is a charm to Irish comedians, I’m not saying that about myself, but to me they tend to be imaginative and up for it, certainly the Irish comics that I know, there tends to be something unique about that.”

She adds: “I think [storytelling] is in our DNA.

“I am the youngest of nine children and it was a huge part of my dad’s childhood, they would sit around the fire in Boyle, Roscommon when he was little and the women would tell stories.

“When I was growing up, we would sit around the fire, we had a coal open fire in our house until the mid to late ’80s, and we would tell stories. It was a really big part of our childhood.”

So, it may be little surprise that Christie would go on to build a career out of writing comedy.

“Every part of this has been, from getting the script commissioned,

“So, with shows like An Ungrateful Woman [in 2014], for example, I had the last line, the final punchline for the show and I worked backwards from there.

“I don’t find it easy, writing is hard,

getting the script commissioned, they

“Stories are great, it’s how we understand people and the world, and they are just really important,”

The Change commissioned there is not a second of the whole process that I have not rare it is to be able to tell stories like

commissioned there is not a second of the whole process that I have not tell

“I don’t think it will ever sink in, it has been such a huge privilege and And now, with the show about to air, Christie is excited for the public been working on for so many years.

good about it, I am really happy with

“With a stand-up show its literally just me, but with this I just feel really good about it, I am really happy with this and I think that’s because there

from June

21. Bridget Christie

Who Am bridgetchristie.co.uk

There is a charm to Irish comedians, I’m not saying that about myself, but to me they tend to be imaginative and up for it ...there tends to be something unique about that

Bridget is determined to bring talk of the menopause into mainstream discussion Picture: Natasha Pszenicki

Who Am I? Is Bridget Christie’s 13th stand-up show

Picture: Natasha Pszenicki

Masters of Tradition music festival returns

Event celebrates 21st anniversary by “getting to the core of the music”

THE annual Masters of Tradition music festival returns this summer, and it is celebrating its 21st anniversary.

A host of iconic Irish musicians are signed up for the event, which takes place from August 23-27 in Bantry, west Cork.

As ever, the festival is headlined by Artistic Director Martin Hayes, the fiddler from East Clare, whose distinctive touch and extravagant virtuosity has brought the tradition to new levels.

“This year’s festival will take us to the core of the music,” Hayes said.

“We will also encounter many emerging ideas within the tradition, new ways of reimagining the past and also ways in which this music can relate with other music forms.”

For 2023, Hayes will be joined by a number of high profile traditional musicians, inclduing Sam Amidon, Luka Bloom, Ultan O’Brien and Laura Snowden.

Crash Ensemble, Steve Cooney, Brian Donnellan, Conal O’Kane, Scoth and Mick O’Brien will also be there, as will Kate Ellis, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Scoth, Ciara Ní Bhriain, the Begley Clann, Mick Conneely, David Munnelly and Christine Tobin among others.

The festival opens in the Maritime Hotel on August 23., with  performanes by Martin Hayes, Conal O’Kane, Brian Donnellan, Sam Amidon and Kate Ellis.

SUDOKU

The music moves to Bantry House the following evening, where vocal performances range from indie folk to Sean Nós to American Appalachian, featuring Scoth, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Ultan O’Brien, Sam Amidon and Kate Ellis.

On August 25, the music comes from two legendary music families – the O Brians and the Begleys.

“Mick O’Brien is one of the most highly regarded pipes in tradition

music and will be joined by his daughter Ciara who is a violist and fiddle player.,” Hayes explains.

“Earlier this year the world of traditional music lost the great accordionist and singer Seamus Begley,” he adds, “this powerhouse of music and song, a major carrier of the musical tradition of west Kerry, previously appeared at Masters of Tradition and his family of fine musicians will close the

CROSSWORD

No. 922

concert with a rousing west Kerry celebration of their father’s life and legacy.”

Friday’s late night concert in Bantry House focuses on the ubiquitous but often overlooked guitar in traditional music, with Steve Cooney joined by Luka Bloom and Lisa Snowden.

Cooney then opens Saturday’s Ceolchoirm and Luka Bloom returns to the stage again, this time

Clues Across

1. No foot is frequently written poetically. (3)

3 & 24a. Major infrastructural project between Limerick and Sligo, or an occidental passage in which to complain? (7,4,8)

8. Felt-tipped pen. (6)

9. One who leaves his or her native country. (8)

10. Historic German submarine. (1-4)

11. Group of soldiers found amongst the Metro operators. (5)

13. Does this need to be beaten after the plane crash? (5)

15. One could take hods far from this town in Wicklow. (7)

16. Agile performer. (7)

20. Sign of the Zodiac - The Scales. (5)

21. Retails. (5)

23. Less moist. (5)

24. See 3 across.

25. Terminate a phone call, having such a fixation. (4,2)

26. Soft drink made by a molten tribe. (6-5)

27. Twenty-four hours. (3)

Sudoku requires no calculation or arithmetic skills. It is a game of placing numbers in squares using very simple rules of logic and deduction. It can be played by children and adults. Simply fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. However each number can appear only once on each row, column and 3x3 box. Answer next week.

Clues Down

1. A range of beef in Connacht? (2,9)

2. Disappearing lake. (8)

3. Cereal crop. (5)

4. Raining very heavily. (7)

5. Have a thing about the dark time. (5)

6. This fighting female has her own basin. (6)

7. Ignited. (3)

12. The art of the camera. (11)

13. Danger encountered in the middle of a super illusion. (5)

14. Carly provides some material. (5)

17. Surrounded by military means. (8)

18. Notice, keep an eye on. (7)

19. This wine cartel broke up. (6)

22. Steeple. (5)

23. Pulled with a pencil? (5)

24. Will you find corn on this swan? (3)

performing a selection of songs.

“His performances are both powerful and incredibly subtle,” says Hayes.

“He will be followed by a pair of very dynamic musicians David Munnelly and Mick Conneely, a spontaneous duet of fiddle and accordion.”

Saturday’s late night concert takes the audience into the improvised space between Jazz and traditional music.

This programme is uniquely driven by the musical imagination of jazz singer Christine Tobin. She will be performing songs with an ensemble of jazz and traditional musician including fiddler Cora Venus Lunny, pianist Steve Hamilton, uilleann piper David Power and guitarist Phil Robson.  The Festival closes with a performance from Hayes and a series of guests from the 2023 programme.

Throughout the week, there will also be talks and secret concerts on Whiddy Island, Future Forests, Marino Church, and St Brendan’s School Hall.

n Masters of Tradition is supported by the Arts Council and Cork County Council. For full programme details and booking, visit: https://www. westcorkmusic.ie/masters-oftradition/

No. 1045

Last week’s answers:

Clues Across

1. Rough grazing  7. Arc  9. Bean

10. Living  11. Hero  14. Dress  15. Larch

16. Asps  18. Amass  21. Nodes  22. Piano

23. Tango  24. Otto  25. Cavan  26. Ashen

29. Like  33. Bleach  34. Away  36. Gin

37. Thunderstorm

Clues Down

1. Rue  2. Urns  3. Hill  4. Raver  5. Zones

6. Gaze  8. Cross-country  9. Ballincollig

MASTERS: Martin Hayes, Brian Donnellan and Kate Ellis

Advertise in the Travel section and get customers flying through your door – Contact Dara Ashby on 0208 900 4223

Dublin among top ten European cities to visit – according to TikTok

DUBLIN has been ranked as one of the top ten European cities to visit according to the social media app TikTok.

With over one billion active users, TikTok, which is dedicated to short videos created and published by its users, has established itself as one of the leading go-to sources of entertaining digital content for people all over the world.

And certain European cities

have managed to stand out on the app - becoming must-visit destinations for content creators and travel lovers alike.

Holidu, the holiday rental portal, has collated those figures and this week revealed the most popular European cities on TikTok.

The Spanish city of Barcelona came top in the ranking, followed by Paris in France, and Manchester in the UK.

Fourth place went to Lyon in France, followed by Stuttgart in Germany, Porto in Portugal and Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Ninth place went to Ireland’s capital city, Dublin which was followed by Bordeaux in France.

REBELS’ GUIDE TO CORK

KNOWN as the Rebel City because of its revolutionary spirit and history of resistance, Cork is a place that is steeped in history and full of stories.

A new Rebel’s Guide to Cork has recently been launched to help visitors explore the heart and soul of the city, which is located in Ireland’s Ancient East.

The interactive resource is packed with information about the best restaurants, bars, museums and landmarks to be found across the city.

Holidu’s ranking was created based on the number of views of videos tagged with the corresponding city name on TikTok. of found across the city.

A new interactive map provides visitors with a valuable insider’s view of the popular Irish city

visits the city‘s historic neighbourhoods, quaint alleyways and lively streets.

Rebel City Tour also offers additional experiences, including learning how to pull the perfect pint of Guinness or taking a short lesson in speaking Irish.

that only the locals know about

With insider tips and recommendations from local experts, visitors can discover the hidden gems and secret spots that only the locals know about and capture the true spirit of Cork, regardless sof how long they are in the city.

The guide features an

easy-to-use map interface that allows visitors to plan their route and explore at their own pace. Simply by clicking on a destination, they get information and directions. There is also information for anyone interested in doing some volunteer work during their visit, with a link to iVolun-

teer Cork.

The map has been created by Rebel City Tour, which runs walking tours of the city that delve into stories of Cork’s famous heroes and villains and give an authentic insight into how the city was shaped in the War of Independence.

Led by a passionate Cork man, the tour is story-based and

Listed among its must-visit places for anyone visitng Cork city are the seventeenth-century Elizabeth Fort, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, considered to be a Neo-Gothic masterpiece, and Cork City Gaol, a magnificent castle-like building.

Foodies will also savour a visit to the English Market where epicurean delights abound, and to the Franciscan Well Brewery where an extensive range of award-winning craft beers, ales, lagers and stouts can be enjoyed.

TIK TOK-TASTIC: Dublin city is a popular location among TikTok users

CLOCKWISE, FROM ABOVE:

1. Cork City

2. National Monument, Cork City

3. Cork City Gaol

B. Movers

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Clubs turn out for Coley Folan

Ten-year anniversary of death of much-loved GAA man marked in Birmingham

With 2023 marking the 10th anniversary of the 44-year-old’s passing, teams from London, Hertfordshire, Birmingham, Coventry, Manchester and Dublin came together to celebrate Coley’s contribution to

WORDS AND PICTURES BY CHRIS EGAN

WHEN former Sean McDermott’s player and underage team mentor Coley Folan passed away in 2013, the ‘mighty Macs’ GAA

Roger Casements v John Mitchell’s Under 11s Roger Casements v Sean McDermott’s Under 11s

Under 16s Coley Folan Shield Winners, Tara London

Coley Folan Under 11s Plate winners - John Mitchell’s

Under 16s Coley Folan Plate Winners, Sean McDermott’s

Action from Under 16s Tara London v St Kiernans GAA

memorial day

Under 13s Player of the Tournament, Michael Wrenn

Under 16s Player of the Tournament, Coraigh Dowling

Coley Folan Cup Winners, Sean McDermott’s Under 13s

Coley Folan Shield winners, Sean McDermott’s Under 9s

Coley Folan Under 9s Plate Winners, St Sylvesters

Shield

Coley

Roger Casements GAA Under 11s

Action from St Kiernans v Parnells U 13s

Steelers make a play for Ireland

NFL awards the Pittsburgh Steelers exclusive marketing rights within the Emerald Isle

AMERICAN football team the Pittsburgh Steelers hope to play a regular season game in Ireland.

The NFL (National Football League) has recently awarded the team the rights to expand their brand and activities for the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as part of its Global Markets Program. As an NFL marquee franchise, the Steelers can now host exclusive events, such as fan and youth football activities throughout Ireland, and the Global Markets Program licence also allows them to engage corporate sponsors, merchandise sales and marketing relationships.

“Our aspirations long term are to play a game in Ireland,” said Daniel Rooney, the team’s director of business development and strategy.

Aiming to restart traditions while broadening their reach – the Steelers have launched dedicated Irish social media accounts and are planning a fan watch party

To date, Ireland has never hosted a regular-season NFL game, but the Steelers beat the Chicago Bears 30-17 in a preseason matchup at Dublin’s Croke Park in 1997.

Croke Park holds 82,300 and would likely be the site of any future Steelers game.

Serving as the US Ambassador from 2009-12, late Steelers Chairman

Dan Rooney’s ties with Ireland were notable.

During his time, Rooney helped establish the Ireland Funds, a program founded to promote and support peace, culture, education and community development across Ireland and among Irish communities around the world.

Rooney also worked to further the knowledge of the game of football throughout Ireland, efforts that

included an annual flag football contest.

Aiming to restart traditions while broadening their reach – the Steelers have launched dedicated Irish social media accounts and are planning a fan watch party.

“My family has deep roots throughout Ireland and being able to connect with our fans across the Island is something special to our organisation,” said Steelers President

Art Rooney II, whose grandfather, Art Rooney Sr, was the founding owner of the NFL franchise.

Strengthening the connections between Pittsburgh and Ireland, the Steelers announcement joins other established companies with deep roots in the country, including healthcare giant UPMC who operates over 10 hospitals and clinics and recently announced an expansion of their Global

Technology Operations Centre in Kilkenny.

Additional corporate ties include K&L Gates, KraftHeinz, Federated Hermes, Viatris and Accenture. The Pittsburgh metro region also has strong ancestral ties to Ireland. According to the Pew Research Centre, Pittsburgh ranked first among large US cities with 17 per cent of its population claiming Irish ancestry.

Camogie Britain call for support before heading to World Games

THE Camogie Britain organisation has confirmed it will be fielding two teams at the GAA World Games next month.

More than 100 teams from across the globe will take part in the event, which takes place in Derry from July 24-28, with the finals being played at Celtic Park.

Camogie Britain’s teams will be made up of players representing six clubs across the UK, namely Croydon and Thomas McCurtains of London, Fullen Gaels of Manchester, John Mitchels and Roger Casements of Birmingham and Ceann Creige of Glasgow. But before they get there, they need to fundraise to cover their costs.

“There are various expenses associated for the girls travelling to Derry which will cost a total of £10,000,” they explain.

“Fundraising efforts will go towards help with accommodation, transport to and from the event and nutrition for the week.”

“There is also an opportunity for businesses to sponsor sports gear for the teams,” they add.

“All donations welcome.”

Chairperson of Camogie Britain Eimear

Ní Maolchraoibhe is delighted to be entering two panels into the international competition.

“We were represented in the last World games in 2019 with one team comprising of players from one club,” she said.

“The successful growth of camogie in Britain has meant that this year we are able to send two full squads with representatives from six different clubs.

She added: “It is a real sense of pride for everyone involved in Britain camogie.

“Now is an exciting time to become a supporter of Britain camogie and a great opportunity for international publicity.

“Camogie Britain are very grateful for any support, and we will give thanks on social media platforms.”

Camogie has been played in Britain since its establishment in 1904 and has a rich sporting tradition of camogs playing in All-Britain and All-Ireland Championships.

Originally established in London, the game has grown significantly and now boasts of teams in England, Scotland, and Wales.

of Scotland, Roger Casements of Coventry and De Cymru of Wales shows there is a real thirst for competition and the

World Games will be a great opportunity to showcase the very best talent across the UK,” the Camogie Britain organisation confirms.

“The emergence of new teams namely Ceann Creige,

READY FOR ACTION: Camogie Britain is sending two teams to the GAA World Games

TOUCHDOWN IN IRELAND: Hannah Tyrrell, Kordell Stewart, Dan Rooney, Paudie Clifford

Picture: Courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers

La Rochelle captain praises O’Gara for improving French club

LA ROCHELLE’S captain, Gregory Alldritt, has praised the impact Ronan O’Gara has made since arriving at the French side.

Last month, the Cork native led La Rochelle to their second successive Champions Cup trophy with a dramatic win over Leinster in Dublin.

After being 17-0 down in the first half, the French team battled back to beat Leo Cullen’s side 26-27 in May.

Alldritt, who captained the side in the game, explained how O’Gara, as Head Coach for the French team, has transformed their mentality from plucky underdogs to believers.

“He’s been a player and he won the Champions Cup before us,” the French back rower told the Le French

Rog came and said, ‘no, look around, look at the team, you are not underdogs

Rugby Podcast.

“He has two more as a coach and he knows the feeling of winning. He hasn’t forgotten that; he understands that what we all try to do as a club, administration, the staff, the players, we are all in the same boat, working towards the same objectives.”

He added: “Of course, Rog made a big improvement to the club.

“Maybe we were seeing

POWER: ‘It was nothing short of a privilege’

Tipperary senior football manager David Power steps down

BY CONOR O’DONOGHUE

DAVID POWER has stepped down from his role as Tipperary senior football manager.

The Kilsheelan man, who successfully led Tipperary to their first Munster Senior Football Championship title in 85 years on the significant centenary of Bloody Sunday in 2020, will leave the position after serving for four years.

Prior to this achievement, he guided the Premier County to victory in the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship in 2011. Additionally, he held the roles of U21 manager and Wexford senior boss in subsequent years.

Under his guidance, Tipperary secured promotion to Division 3 of the Allianz League in 2021.

However, this year proved to be more challenging as the team faced a series of setbacks including injuries, retirements and players embarking on their travels.

As a consequence, Tipperary was relegated back to Division 4 and had premature exits from both the Munster Senior Football Championship and Tailteann Cup

“Now that our season has ended, I have decided to step aside from the role of Tipperary senior football manager,” Power said in a statement.

“The last four years have been some of the best of my life,” he added.

“I enjoyed every minute of trying to drive Tipperary football on, alongside some of the most passionate people you could ever meet. It was nothing short of a privilege.”

Regarding the club’s recent performance, he admitted “results didn’t go our way this year” before adding “but we stood firm even though the wind was blowing against us”.

He explained: “We lost so many players, key warriors, through injury, travel and retirement but even with all those knock backs, our panel worked so hard this season.

“We had 35 players training every night and I would like to thank them for the massive effort, and for the fight they showed. That desire that will stand to Tipp football in the years ahead. There are several young players now coming through the system with senior experience and I hope they drive the county on.”

ourselves as a small club every time, with too much humility, saying we are the underdogs.

“Rog came and said, ‘no, look around, look at the team, you are not underdogs, you want to win and you are going to win’.

“He kind of changed the mentality of the club.”

When asked which win over Leinster was better, the win in Marseille or the win in Dublin, the 26-year-old was unable to decide.

“Winning the first title in Marseille was emotional for the club, but the second one, winning against Leinster in Dublin after being 17 points behind, this creates a magic around the second one,” he said.

“But honestly, it’s impossible to choose between both.”

‘SADDEST NEWS’: Tributes following death of Teddy McCarthy

TRIBUTES have been paid following the death of legendary GAA figure Teddy McCarthy.

The 57-year-old Cork native is best remembered for being the only player in GAA history to win both the Liam McCarthy (hurling) and the Sam Maguire (football) in the same year.

In 1990, he won both All-Ireland titles.

McCarthy hit 0-03 in the 90-hurling final vs Galway before going on to play half-forward vs Meath in the football two weeks later.

The Glanmire player was born in 1964 and joined the Cork senior football team in 1985.

Between then and 1996 he won two All-Ireland medals, six Munster medals and one All-Star. McCarthy’s ten-year career with the Cork senior hurlers also saw him win two All-Ireland medals, three Munster medals and one National Hurling League medal.

On the club side, McCarthy played hurling with Sarsfields and his club football with Glanmire during his career.

After a spell as Sarsfields manager after his playing days had ended, he led Bandon to the 2011 county IHC title.

He spent a season as Laois senior hurling manager and had spells with Éire Óg and Kilworth.

His club side Glanmire offered their condolences following his death.

“The saddest news has rocked our club and community in the last hour, the passing of the much loved, Teddy McCarthy,” said the Cork club.

“We extend our deepest condolences Oonagh, sons Cian and Niall, daughter Sinead and family and friends. May he rest in peace. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.”

Sarsfileds hurling club also paid their respects, stating: “Very, very sad day for the club as our vice chairman and legend Teddy McCarthy has passed away.”

Other famous Cork figures have paid tribute.

Former Munster player Ronan O’Gara said: “Rest In Peace Teddy McCarthy.

“Inspired all Cork young fellas no matter what sport you played. Thoughts with his family and friends.”

TRANSFORMATIONAL: Ronan O’Gara is La Rochelle’s head coach Picture: Getty Images

COLEY FOLAN DAY

Memorial day of youth games marks ten-year anniversary of much-loved GAA man’s death Pages 24-25

‘BITTERLY DISAPPOINTING’

Mick Crossan speaks out as London Irish goes into administration following RFU suspension

BY CONOR O’DONOGHUE

MICK CROSSAN the owner London Irish has spoken of his “bitter disappointment” that the club has gone into administration.

In a statement made following the club’s suspension by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) Crossan confirmed they would have to go into administration.

“Administration has always been the last resort, and something we hoped we could avoid,” he said in a personal statement shared with the London Irish fans.

“And we bitterly regret the difficulties it will present to each and every one of you,” he added.

“My focus is now on working with the appointed administrator, and I hope that the club will come out of administration as quickly as possible.”

The RFU confirmed London Irish’s suspension on June 6, after the club missed a final deadline to pay players and staff.

It is the third club to be ejected from the Gallagher Premiership.

Earlier this year, Wasps and Worcester were also suspended from the league because of money troubles.

After a number of missed salary payments to players

and staff, London Irish was given a deadline of June 6 to sort its house out, with the RFU urging the club’s incoming US consortium owners, or Mick Crossan, the current owner, to commit to supporting the club financially next season or risk being suspended.

But they missed the deadline and the Gallagher Premiership 2023/24, which started with 14 teams, will now be a 10-team league.

Following the club’s suspension, London Irish made a statement claiming they were ‘hopeful’ the suspension could be lifted with positive talks.

“The club can confirm that London Irish has received correspondence from the Rugby Football Union (RFU) to confirm suspension for the 2023/24 season,” they confirmed.

“The suspension will result in the club being unable to compete in the Gallagher Premiership, Premiership Rugby Cup, and Heineken Champions Cup throughout the 2023/24 campaign,” they explained, before adding: “The club continues to remain in active discussions with the RFU as to any circumstances that may result in the suspension being lifted.”

But later the same day, Crossan released his own

statement confirming that administration had now become the club’s only option.

“As a lifelong fan of London Irish, the club’s suspension is bitterly disappointing, and I understand the sadness felt by the thousands of our loyal supporters and the frustrations of our incredible coaches, medical staff, back-office team, and players,” he said.

“But this decision has ultimately ended any hope of an acquisition of the club and has regrettably forced us to file for administration this morning.”

He added: “Over the last seven months, I have been

working closely with the RFU, PRL and representatives of NUE Equity to complete a widely publicised deal to acquire the club. Negotiations have been complex from the start, further complicated by issues regarding our tenancy at Brentford’s stadium and unrealistic demands from the governing body.

“But throughout, I have remained confident a deal could be made that would secure the long-term future of London Irish.

“As we neared the completion of the deal, I continually received promises, from both NUE Equity and Redstrike,

that the acquisition would be completed imminently, and that funds would arrive within days.

“Right up to the final deadline, we continued to receive verbal assurances from the group.

“Sadly, the promises have failed to materialise, and, despite our very best efforts, it was not possible to meet the conditions set by the RFU Club Financial Viability Group yesterday afternoon.

“Its subsequent disappointing decision to force our suspension has proved the tipping point where we will not be able to meet our current and future financial obligations.

“And after assessing our options last night, we agreed that administration offered the safest path forward for the club.”

Regarding the future for the club, Crossan confirmed he was no longer in a position to support it financially.

“Since acquiring London Irish in 2013, I have made a significant financial investment to ensure we could compete at the highest level once again.

“We have worked tirelessly over the last few years to develop a more sustainable business model, trying to tap into the Irish community, developing new revenue

streams, investing in our fantastic academy to develop future stars, and of course bringing the club back to its spiritual home in West London after 20 years away.

“However, the reality is that professional rugby in this country is going through a hugely challenging time and, as we know, many clubs are sadly still struggling to get back on a stable path following the pandemic.

“I have publicly stated, on numerous occasions, that I would be willing to pass on the stewardship of the club if we could find the right person or group to take it forward and secure its long-term future.

“After a decade of supporting the club financially, it is not feasible for me to continue absorbing the multi-million-pound losses of the club each year, indefinitely.

In his final remarks, Crossan also urged for a “radical transformation” in English rugby.

“The professional game in this country needs to be radically transformed, and the current leadership must urgently review its practices from top to bottom if it has a desire to see professional rugby continue in England,” he said.

‘LAST RESORT’: London Irish owner Mick Crossan Picture: Getty Images

TROUBLED TENANCY: Gtech Community Stadium, Brentford, England prior to a match between London Irish and Exeter Chiefs Picture: Getty Images