The Irish Post - March 25, 2023

The Late Late Show host announces his departure See Page 6

Our photographers were out and about across Britain

Man suspected of supplying passport to Irish crime boss

Anthony Beard provided criminals with fraudulently-obtained passports

BY GERARD DONAGHY

A MAN suspected of supplying a fraudulent passport to Irish crime boss Christy Kinahan has been convicted in Britain for providing similar documents to a range of dangerous criminals.

Anthony Beard, 61, from Lewisham in London, is believed to have been procuring fraudulently-obtained genuine passports (FOGs) for two decades.

Beard’s co-accused, Christopher Zietek, 67, of Sydenham, London, and Alan Thompson, 72, of Sutton, Surrey, were found guilty at Reading Crown Court of being involved in a conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to make fraudulent passports and Latvian ID documents and money laundering.

Beard had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to make fraudulent documents on the first day of the trial in January.

“This organised crime group supplied fraudulent passports that enabled some of the UK’s most serious and dangerous criminals to operate internationally under false identities and pose a sustained threat to the public,” said Craig Turner, Deputy Director of the NCA.

Beard and Zietek – who was formerly known as Christopher McCormack and split his time between Sydenham, Ireland and Spain – were the ringleaders of the operation.

The crime group exploited vulnerable people – often with drink or drug problems – who were around the same age as the

gang’s criminal clients and had similar facial features.

They were paid for providing their expired passports and their details were used to apply for new ones but

Sam Neill given cancer diagnosis

BY MAL ROGERS

THE actor Sam Neill has revealed that he was diagnosed with “a ferocious type of aggressive” non-Hodgkin lymphoma a year ago in March 2022. Lymphona is a type of cancer that is treatable, and although Neill is reported to have stage three of the disease, with equally aggressive chemotherapy his cancer is now in remission. But Neill believes he’ll have to have treatments monthly for the rest of his life. “I’m not off the hook as such, but there’s no cancer in my body,” he

said, adding. “I’m just pleased to be alive,” reports the BBC Neill (75), who was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, has family roots in Belfast. He was brought up largely in New Zealand. He writes in his new memoir Did I Ever Tell You This? that when he was given the news of his cancer diagnosis by doctors he thought: “I’m crook, I’m dying.”

The star of Jurassic Park, The Piano and Peaky Blinders – in which he played Royal Irish Constabulary Chief Inspector Campbell from Belfast – was unable to work. So he

with photographs of the criminals. Recipients of the documents Liverpool drug trafficker Michael Moogan, and Manchester fugitive David Walley.

Criminals paid between £5,000 and £15,000 for the documents, which enabled them to cross borders and conduct illegal business undetected. Beard faces further charges in relation to FOGs used by other criminals including Kinahan, Jamie Acourt and firearms trafficker Richard Burdett.

The gang was caught by an NCA five-year covert surveillance investigation that was run in partnership with the Dutch National Police and HM Passport Office.

Beard was involved in every aspect of organising and applying for the passports, including collecting

started writing his memoir as a distraction and to “give me a reason to get through the day,” he told the BBC. He began writing down a few incidents from his career that has spanned more than fifty years, and these eventually morphed into a book.

In the book, Neill also goes into detail about his reaction to the news that he had cancer

He first noticed he had lumpy glands in his neck on a publicity tour for Jurassic World Dominion last year. He sought medical advice, and was subsequently diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma

When doctors gave him the diagnosis Neill said that he took stock of his life. He told the

application forms and planning the details to be provided by the applicant and the counter-signatory. Zietek acted as the FOG broker and exploited his criminal connections to obtain clients for the crime group.

The NCA captured audio recordings in Zietek’s house of incriminating conversations with Beard and others about the application processes and their customers.

“The investigation demonstrates the NCA’s unique role in tackling the most serious and complex crime threats facing the UK,” said Turner. “We have identified a chronic, under-the-radar conspiracy that enabled drug and firearm traffickers, murderers and fugitives to evade justice and we have worked across borders to dismantle it and the bring the masterminds to account.”

All three men will be sentenced at Reading Crown Court at a later date.

BBC: “I thought I need to do something, and I thought, ‘Shall I start writing?’”

Which is exactly what he did, and a year later he has the finished product, without the aid of a ghost writer.

There are, he says, “dark days”, he told The Guardian in an interview. He lost his hair after his first treatment of chemotherapy and writes in the memoir that when he looks in the mirror, “There’s a bald, wizened old man there.”

A spokesperson for Neill confirmed to CNN that the actor is in remission, and that he’s doing “very well”, having returned to work: specifically a project for Peacock called Apples Never Fall, co-starring Annette Bening.

CONVICTED: Anthony Beard Picture: NCA

Boy George’s mother dies at 84

DINAH O’Dowd, the mother of Boy George (real name George O’Dowd) died last week. She was 84.

Boy George (61) was very close to his mother and is reported to be “terribly upset”.

Dinah was born in Dublin, and emigrated to England where she met Jeremiah O’Dowd, who was also from an Irish family. He died in 2002.

Boy George has compared his family history to a “sad Irish song.” His maternal grandmother was permanently taken from her family at age six after being found outside the family home alone, and placed into an Industrial School. His great uncle Thomas Bryan was executed by the British in 1921 during the War of Independence.

DJ Fat Tony, a friend of Boy George, paid tribute to Dinah on Instagram: “God bless you

you amazing woman Dinah ….my heart goes out to @boygeorgeofficial and the entire O Dowd family what an incredible beautiful strong woman we will miss you. x”

Last year, Boy George took part in I’m A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! He was reported to have almost left the show when the former, and largely disgraced health minister Matt Hancock made a surprise entrance into the show. Boy George found it hard to disguise that he was aghast at this turn of events, explaining that the controversial arrival in the camp truly upset him. He explained that his mother almost died during the coronavirus pandemic when she was in hospital in Greenwich.

At the time Dinah told the Daily Mirror: “George and I are very close and I’m so very proud of him.

“He is always there for me, so his reaction wasn’t a surprise, and I am waiting to hug him when he gets home.”

World’s press marvel at Irish Six Nations victory

England: “The bullying and mockery in the European press touched the pride of the English who attacked the game at full speed, to rival the Irish intensity.”

The Spanish newspaper El Pais called it “an imprecise afternoon’s rugby” and I think most observers would know what they meant. It wasn’t the stylish, emphatic victory that might have been hoped for. But as El Pais pointed out, Ireland have beaten both their near neighbours and the big three to the south: New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.

BY MAL ROGERS

MEDIA, pundits and journalists across the rugby world have been posing the question – how have Ireland ended up as the No. 1 rugby nation in the world?

From New Zealand to South Africa, and from Australia to Argentina, Ireland’s success in the Six Nations, and before that their convincing wins against the All Blacks, has been mulled over.

Ireland won a nervy match on Saturday against England.

THIS WEEK they said...

“May I congratulate the Irish rugby team for their fantastic achievement in winning the Grand Slam. The team has had a tremendous Six Nations campaign and thoroughly deserve the championship which they have won. It is particularly pleasing to see the Grand Slam being won at home and it will provide a great boost to all those across the country who have come together to will the team on.” President Michael D. Higgins, speaking bout Ireland’s success in the Six Nations championship.

“I think it will happen, but, you know, everybody has to be appeased. The Protestants in the North of Ireland have a strong voice. I hear them, I know where they’re coming from, and they have to be respected.”

Liam Neeson, saying that he thinks a united Ireland will come.

Ireland team are just Leinster in disguise.” Certainly, the starting lineup on Saturday boasted 11 out of the 15 being Leinster players, but in the overall squad there are representatives from all four provinces, and it is this strength in depth that has also seen Ireland emerge seemingly invincible.

“At the Washington Ireland Program event today, the Taoiseach was reminiscing about his time in Washington DC as an intern 23 years ago. He made an ill-judged off-the-cuff remark which he regrets. He apologises for any offence caused to anyone concerned.”

They had seen their lead trimmed to a point by 14-man England, and defending a lineout 10 metres inside their own half.

But just over three minutes later, Robbie Henshaw burst through a gap to cross for the second try. Johnny Sexton added the conversion, and Ireland had moved into a two-score lead from which they comfortably saw out the game for a 29-16 win. They took the championship, the Grand Slam and the Triple Crown, and confirmed their position as the No. 1 team in

the world, according to World Rugby rankings.

As the New Zealand Herald put it: “The Irish came into the championship as the favourites and swept through it to underline its world No 1 status and make a huge statement six months out from the Rugby World Cup, where they have never won a knockout match.”

The French newspaper Le Figaro said: “Unsurprisingly, the XV du Clover defeated the XV de la Rose (29-16) on Saturday.” But Le Figaro praised a rejuvenated

But Media across the world are intrigued to know how a country where rugby is arguably only the fourth most popular team sport, have become world beaters.

One Argentinian rugby expert cited Ireland’s domestic set-up. There are only four senior level sides –representing the four provinces – and although rivalry is intense, cooperation is also very evident as well, he said.

This strength of the provincial sides has been alluded to by more than one pundit, with one English commentator saying: “Basically the

But of course it could just be happenstance, something which has also been pointed out. A collection of gifted players has come along at the same time as an extraordinarily gifted coach in Andy Farrell has arrived to take charge. The team ethos has seen Ireland triumph even after losing some of its main players, as in the case of the match against Scotland.

This team spirit has resulted in a seemingly unbeatable side. As a commentator on French radio said: “The Irish appear to have forgotten how to lose.”

But it was perhaps an Italian commentator who came up with most poignant, yet salient, observation: “It is amazing,” he said, “what this country can do when they are united across their border.”

A spokesperson for Leo Varadkar, after the Taoiseach said that he was an intern in the US “when some parents would have had cause for concern about what would happen to interns in Washington”. This was widely interpreted as referring to President Bill Clinton.

“Our starting point as a society must be to recognise migrants and refugees as people. We need to understand their stories, their reasons for leaving their homelands and hopes for building a future here.”

Bishop Paul McAleenan, Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees in England and Wales.

“I’m crook. I’m dying,”

Actor Sam Neill’s initial reaction to his diagnosis of lymphoma.

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HAPPIER TIMES: Dinah O’Dowd, Boy George and Andrew Lloyd Webber Picture: Getty Images

CAPTAIN FANTASTIC: Johnny Sexton celebrates Ireland’s victory Picture: Getty Images

Ireland’s victory in the Six Nations championship confirming their No. 1 position in the rankings has caused worldwide speculation as to how it has been achieved

President’s message on St Patrick’s Day

BY FIONA AUDLEY PRESIDENT of Ireland

Michael D Higgins has urged members of the Irish community worldwide to embrace their role as “global citizens”, by “extending a hand of support to all those in need with whom we share this planet”.

Making his annual St Patrick’s Day address, the President recalled the character traits and “inspirational teachings” of St Patrick, while suggesting that the modern-day Irish person could embrace them to ensure they play their part in keeping the planet and the people who inhabit it safe and secure.

Taoiseach apologises for ‘intern’ remark in US

Day celebrations.

He also condemned the rise in racism being experienced across the globe, describing it as a “poisonous xenophobia”, which has “taken hold in so many places”.

“In these times of multiple interacting crises, human and natural, it is vital that we

recognise the need for a solidarity that binds us together as humans, and acknowledge the responsibility we share for our vulnerable planet and for all those who dwell on it,” he said.

He added: “Today, as we recall the life of our patron saint, we can invoke his spirit in acknowledging our role as global citizens, opening our minds and hearts to our universal human family in all its complexity, circumstances and vulnerability.”

“Mar Uachtarán na hÉireann, may I send my warmest greetings and good wishes to our Irish family, and friends of Ireland, across the world, on this day of celebration of our national patron, Saint Patrick.

Neeson believes united Ireland will come during his lifetime

BY MAL ROGERS

LIAM Neeson has said he expects to see a united Ireland during his lifetime.

The 70-year-old Co. Antrim actor was speaking to Sky’s Beth Rigby Interviews... programme ahead of the release of Marlowe, his 100th film.

He told Rigby: “I think it will happen, but, you know, everybody has to be appeased. The Protestants in the North of Ireland have a strong voice. I hear them, I know where they’re coming from, and they have to be respected.

“If there’s going to be a united Ireland, their voice has to be heard and they have to be represented, if a united Ireland comes about.”

Neeson, brought up Catholic in Ballymena, a predominantly Protestant town that was the hearland of Rev Ian Paisley’s constituence and now has his son Ian Jnr as its MP, began his acting career on stage in Belfast performing during The Troubles.

Prior to going on stage he had attended Queen’s University Belfast where he began playing football. He excelled at this and had a trial for Bohemians, playing one match against Shamrock Rovers. However, the stage was the real lure.

He told Beth Rigby: “There were a couple of nights where the theatre would get a telephone call to be told there’s a bomb, and we’d

have to go out onto the street with the audience, and the soldiers came in and searched, and maybe an hour I say, okay, you can go back in again.

“It was dangerous but I guess because of my age and because I loved what I was doing, I was just in a bubble.”

His “rude awakening” to the horror of the situation in Northern Ireland came after Bloody Sunday in Derry in January 1972. He said he needed to “learn something about the history of my country”.

When the Good Friday Agreement was finalised – something he described as “an extraordinary achievement” – Neeson was living in he US. But he knew that change had come .

“There was just a feeling in the air, you know, of change – and change for good.”

When asked by Rigby if British politicians have been responsible for stoking divisions, he said: “You’re opening a big book there.

“...On the world stage, when you see what’s happening in Ukraine and stuff and there’s a politician talking about [how] we have to get our sausages in from Britain into Belfast, it’s like, come on, seriously is this where we’re at?”

He called for Northern Ireland’s politicians, meanwhile, to get back to work, saying: “They’re representing the people of the North of Ireland – get back to work. You’re drawing the salary still.”

“Whether we are Irish by birth or Irish by choice, we are all part of a rich and vibrant global community that is bound together by a shared love of life, a shared love of our national heritage, language and culture.

“As we gather to celebrate that spiritual culture and legacy that speaks so deeply to us of a common but complex past, we can draw a shared strength from recalling the inspirational teachings from the life of Saint Patrick, our national Patron Saint.

“In these times of multiple interacting crises, human and natural, it is vital that we recognise the need for a solidarity that binds us together as humans, and acknowledge the responsibility we share for our vulnerable planet and for all those who dwell on it.”

US President Joe Biden welcomed Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to the White House last week to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

Taoiseach Varadkar hailed the Irish-American relationship as one of “two proud democracies, close friends and economic partners” at a reception hosted at the residence of Ireland’s ambassador to the US Geraldine Byrne Nason.

But a whiff of controversy hung about the event and the Taoiseach’s office were forced to issue an apology for an off-the-cuff comment he made at an event for Irish interns in Washington, prior to the St Patrick’s

Speaking at the launch of the Washington Ireland Program Class of 2023, an event for a group of interns from Ireland on work placement in America, the Taoiseach told them about his own days as a Washington intern in 2000.

He remarked it was a time “when some parents would have had cause for concern about what would happen to interns in Washington”.

That was taken to be a reference to then president Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Later, his office issued a statement saying: “At the Washington Ireland Program event today the Taoiseach was reminiscing about his time in Washington DC as an intern 23 years ago. He made an ill-judged off the cuff remark which he regrets. He apologises for any offence caused to anyone concerned.”

For more information and advice contact the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse

In these times of multiple interacting crises, human and natural, it is vital that we recognise the need for a solidarity that binds us together as humans

President Higgins warns against “poisonous xenophobia” which has taken root globally

Leo Varadkar Picture: Getty Images

would not stand in the way.

Then there was another historic gesture.

In 2011 Queen Elizabeth II visited Dublin for the first time. I was cynical about that but astonished by the result.

This was a highly creative diplomatic mission.

On the one hand it undermined radical nationalism by demonstrating that people in the Republic had a strong affection for the British monarchy, illogical as that might be.

The streets were crammed with people wanting to shake the British queen’s hand.

But it also sent a powerful message to loyalists and unionists. The queen bowed before the memorial to the dead of Irish revolution. She paid homage to Patrick Pearse and his followers who had declared the Provisional Republic and fired on British forces in Dublin. We know the whole story.

What the queen had effectively said to unionists was that they could not insult Irish nationalism in her name.

And given that they had enormous regard for the monarchy that gave them something to think about. She also met and shook hands with Martin McGuinness. McGuinness was obviously chuffed though many republicans did not like that.

The agreement that still harbours discord

MALACHI

SO it is confirmed that Joe Biden is coming to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

I had been hoping that he wouldn’t because the GFA is in bad shape and nothing will be gained by having him congratulate our imaginative peacemakers once again. He should be well warned in advance not to recite the Seamus Heaney lines about the great sea change and Hope and History rhyming because they don’t.

The fact is that the Agreement is in trouble and needs to be reframed.

At the heart of the deal was the idea that two communities would share power and learn to

accommodate each other. Instead it was changed in the St Andrews Agreement in 2006 into an arrangement by which the largest parties in each of the two communities would share power.

This created an incentive for the two communities to gather round

one party each, the DUP and Sinn Féin and to sideline the more moderate parties, the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists.

Seen to be clever at the time this has produced a result which appalls the DUP. It represents the larger community, Unionism, but Sinn Féin is the largest party.

If they had left well enough alone Sinn Féin would not now be in a position to claim the First Minister’s seat.

But Biden will come and it will provide some footage for his election campaign next year, gladhanding in the old country.

So what might help right now?

We have a system that can be

brought down by one of the main power sharing parties walking out.

It is also a system that disadvantages those who do not designate as nationalist or unionist, mainly the Alliance Party.

We need to start a momentum towards breaking the two communities model.

The peace process started with a statement from the British.

That statement was that Britain had ‘no selfish strategic or economic interest’ in Northern Ireland. There was some discussion afterwards about whether there should have been a comma after selfish or if there was an unselfish interest perhaps.

At this distance the statement doesn’t seem to mean much. Britain has, for instance, a very clear interest in getting the parties in Northern Ireland to accept the Windsor Framework for changing the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.

Still, it enabled people within nationalism to say that Northern Ireland is not a colony, that the British are not here to plunder us the way they plundered India.

The statement was taken on face value to intimate what was finally agreed, that if the people of Northern Ireland voted to leave the UK, Britain

Now Elizabeth is gone but King Charles worked a good move on his UK wide tour before the funeral when he met and accepted warm sympathies from Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill and Alex Maskey. This made it almost essential that Ms O’Neill should attend the queen’s funeral.

So these were imaginative gestures of a kind that it is difficult to imagine Joe Biden matching, but let’s leave it to his advisers to come up with something.

Queen Elizabeth made her gesture and undermined the historic unionist sense that the old religious wars rumble on and made them irrelevant.

The only possible reciprocation of that message can be from Pope Francis.

Of course, Ireland is rapidly secularising and the impact of a papal intervention could not be transformative. Pope John Paul had not been able to stop the violence or the hunger strikes with his appeals.

But what if a pope were to match the queen’s undermining of old religious loyalism by saying something similar to what the Brits had said at the start, that the papacy has no interest at all in a united Ireland or the preservation of Gaelic culture.

The calamity of Northern Irish politics is that the big parties are still grounded on religiously definable communities, Catholic and Protestant.

Such a statement from Pope Francis might make it easier for some Protestants to contemplate a united Ireland and advance us a little way towards a time when how we vote will not be so predictable by reference to our baptismal lines or the school we attended.

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

We have a system that can be brought down by one of the main power sharing parties walking out

Can President Biden, Pope Francis or King Charles help to untangle the Gordian knot that still threatens to strangle politics in the North ?

O’DOHERTY

VATICAN MEETING: King Charles and Pope Francis enjoy an informal chat Picture: Getty Images

Guilty of garda’s murder

Accused is found guilty of capital murder of ‘kind, caring’ Detective Garda Colm Horkan

BY GERARD DONAGHY

A MAN was last week found guilty of the capital murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan.

Stephen Silver, 46, of Aughavard, Foxford, Co. Mayo, shot Garda Horkan 11 times with his own gun in Castlerea, Co. Roscommon on June 17, 2020.

Silver had managed to take possession of Garda Horkan’s gun during a struggle after he had resisted arrest.

Paying tribute to his brother, Brendan Horkan described him as ‘the glue in our family’.

“Colm was the best of us, a gentleman through and through. He deserved this verdict today,” he said.

“We were horrified and shocked to the core to learn of the circumstances which led to Colm’s death as he went about his job, policing the streets and keeping the general public protected and safe at all times.”

He added: “Colm was a fantastic son, brother, uncle and friend. His memory remains etched in our minds every minute of every day. Today’s verdict, while giving us some closure, will never replace him, the man who was the glue in our family and bound it all together.

“We love him dearly.”

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris meanwhile described the 49-yearold Garda as ‘a kind, caring man’.

“Colm went to work in Castlerea Garda Station on June 17, 2020. It was a routine day’s work for Colm,” he said. “Colm was murdered on duty and never came home to his family. His death reinforces to every member of An Garda Síochána the reality of the dangers and the

Colm was the best of us, a gentleman through and through. He deserved this verdict today

Brendan Horkan

uncertainty of the work that we face every day.

“I want to pay tribute to the Garda investigation team in Castlerea Garda Station, supported by the wider Garda organisation, that

professionally investigated all the circumstances of Colm’s murder.

“That investigation is a tribute to the professionalism of An Garda Síochána and to Colm. Finally, today we stand with and support Colm’s father Marty, his siblings, wider family and friends and we remember his mother Dolores and twin sister Colette.

“Today, as every day, we remember our colleague Colm who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the local community he served so well.

“He will always be remembered as the kind, caring man, and professional and empathetic

Car thieves in Manchester jailed

A GANG of car thieves have been jailed for over 11 years after being rumbled by detectives combatting organised crime across Greater Manchester.

On March 3, 2022, the gang’s spree was swiftly ended when specialist officers from GMPs Tactical Vehicle Intercept Unit (TVIU) stopped the men in a stolen car they were travelling in.

Alan McCabe has been sentenced to nearly four years

After leading police on a pursuit of over 100mph through Gatley, all four were swiftly detained with help from GMP dog handlers who sniffed the gang out, finding one hidden under a sofa.

On Wednesday, March 15, the four men appeared at Manchester Crown Court to be sentenced for their offences.

Declan McClusky, 20, of Boothfield Road, Wythenshawe, was jailed for three years and four months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, and driving whilst

disqualified and without insurance.

Alan McCabe, 21, of Boothfield Road, Wythenshawe, was jailed for three years and 11 months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary. Kade McEwan, 20, of Moorcroft Road, Manchester, was jailed for one year and ten months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.

Kade McEwan is sentenced to one year and 10 months

Christopher Ward, 20, of Ninfield Road, Wythenshawe, was jailed for two years and eight months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, dangerous driving, driving without insurance, possession of a bladed article and possession of cannabis.

In 2022, detectives from the GMP Serious Organised Crime Group (SOCG) launched a proactive investigation targeting criminals involved in burglaries and car thefts across Manchester.

Garda, that he was.”

Detective Garda Horkan was born in Charlestown, Co. Mayo, the eldest of seven children. A proud member of the local Sarsfields GAA club, he also represented Mayo at U21 level. He joined An Garda Síochána on July 25, 1994 and was stationed in Finglas, Castlerea and Ballaghadereen stations.

Shortly before midnight on the night of his murder, Detective Garda Horkan had responded to reports of two males driving erratically on a motorcycle in the Knockroe area of Castlerea.

Although they had since left the area, Garda Horkan continued his

Chris Ward has been jailed for two years and eight months

They were able to link the gang to 13 incidents that saw a range of cars, including Audis and Porsches, being stolen from public car parks, town centres, and private driveways across Manchester.

The stolen cars would then often be used in other burglaries as the conspiracy continued to terrorise innocent victims across the region.

Detective Constable Chris Bromley from GMP Serious Organised Crime Group said: “This group were prolific thieves, and these were really intrusive crimes where they would often break into people’s homes and steal the cars from their drives, leaving people unable to get to work or take their children to school.

“These men had no regard for public safety with their behaviour and reckless driving, and I hope this incident demonstrates that no matter how organised a gang may think they are, we will use all the experience and resources available to available to put these individuals behind bars.”

patrol and came across two males fitting the description on Main Street, Castlerea.

He stopped his unmarked car and spoke through the window with the males, one of whom he knew.

The other male, Silver, then became aggressive and Garda Horkan exited his car.

As he attempted to make an arrest, Silver resisted and a struggle ensued.

During the struggle, Silver managed to take possession of Garda Horkan’s firearm, shooting him 11 times and fatally injuring him.

Silver is due to be sentenced on April 19.

Lancashire arrest in connection with Antrim child abuse

BY GERARD DONAGHY

A MAN has been arrested in Lancashire in connection with child sex offences in Co. Antrim.

The 51-year-old was detained in England last week by Lancashire Constabulary before being conveyed to Northern Ireland.

He is currently being questioned by PSNI detectives over a number of non-recent sexual offences against a child.

The arrest relates to allegations of grooming, sexual assault, rape and possessing indecent images of children in Co. Antrim from 2009 to 2012.

He remains in custody at this time.

“As a Police Service, safeguarding children and locating potential offenders of these crimes remains a top priority,” said Detective Inspector Judith Hamill, from the PSNI’s Public Protection Branch.

“Those who seek to harm children in this way in Northern Ireland should be fearful of the consequence of their actions.”

Detective Garda Colm Horkan, left and, right, Colm Horkan’s brother Brendan, centre, and father Marty, right, outside the Criminal Courts of Justice in Dublin

Picture: Courtesy of An Garda Síochána

Picture: RollingNews.ie

with...

IRISHJamaican singer Jazzy has just launched her debut single Giving Me via CHAOS Records.

and reared. My mam is originally from Swords.

What’s on your smartphone playlist at the minute?

It’s Your Time - Bklava

Take It Easy - Spencer Ramsey

Shinin - Ethan Healy

More Money Girls - Joshwa

Pantomime or opera?

Pantomime for sure. I’m not an opera kinda girl.

What is your favourite place in Ireland?

Dublin is my home so that will always be my favourite, but if I had to say somewhere else it would probably be Galway. I love visiting, it always feels super homey and the people are so nice.

What would be your motto?

“Live in the now”.

Which living person do you most admire?

New head of Manchester Irish charity

IRISH Community Care Manchester (ICCM) has appointed Patrick Morrison as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The charity supports some of the most vulnerable members of the Irish community living in the city.

Mr Morrison, who was born in Liverpool to Irish parents, has over 17 years’ experience working in the Irish community and with Ireland’s diaspora internationally.

“With a background in cultural and community work, Patrick is joining us from Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann and, is a former chair of Irish in Britain, so has an already established network and knowledge of the community which can only strengthen and

grow ICCM as it continues in its mission of promoting care, culture and community,” ICCM said.

Mr Morrison said: “I am looking forward to bringing my experiences of being Irish to ICC, and developing a deeper understanding of the needs and achievements of the Irish community across Manchester as together we continue building a thriving and resilient community across Manchester,” he said this week.

Martin Connolly, Chair of ICCM, said of the appointment: “The board of trustees and staff are excited to welcome Patrick to the role with his experience and leadership, as we embark on this new chapter for ICCM.”

Ryan Tubridy to step down

The Dublin man, will present his last Late Late Show in May, after 14 years at the helm

BY CATRIONA GRAY

What are you up to?

Right now I am spending as much time in the studio as possible – making new music!

Which piece of music always sends a shiver down your spine?

Everything But The Girl – Missing,

Which musician has most influenced you?

Lauryn Hill would have been one of the first who influenced me to start singing. As of late we have so many amazing artists who inspire and influence me too though; RAYE, Eliza Rose, Carla Monroe, Hayley May, Karen Harding… the list goes on!

Who would be in your ideal band?

My ideal band would be with my friends because I’d just love to spend that much time with them messing about and working together, but sadly none of them sing.

How did you get started in music?

The school I attended had an amazing music programme so everyone had the chance to learn a string instrument. I went on to do all my grades in violin before I started to sing because of that, so actually I guess I started on the classical side.

If you were told musicians are no longer welcome where you live, where would you go?

Anywhere with a temperature over 28 degrees. Answer inspired by the miserable Dublin weather as I’m writing this.

Where are you from in Ireland, and what are your roots?

I’m from the south side of Dublin – born

My niece Savvanah, she’s more like a little sister to me to be honest. She’s only four but she could teach us all a thing or two I swear.

Who will act you when they make a film of your life?

I’d be hoping we could get Zendaya in for the part.

Bowie or Beyoncé? Beyoncé.

If you weren’t a musician what other job would you be really good at?

I think I would have been good in hospitality of some sort, I like taking care of people.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given this year?

If you say you can’t you can’t, and if you say you can you can.

Have you a favourite line from a song?

“I’ve walked through the valleys of the wilderness in time” from Sonnentanz

(Sun Don’t Shine)

In terms of inanimate objects, what is your most precious possession?

I would say my violin. I’ve had it since I was big enough for a full size. So I reckon that’s about 15 years

What’s the best thing about where you live?

It’s a very close community everybody looks out for each other when in need, like one big family  . . .  . and the worst?

Sometimes those families fight.

What’s the greatest lesson life has taught you?

Never ever doubt, and always be kind to others and yourself.

RYAN Tubridy (49) is to step down from The Late Late Show at the end of the season.

The host, who has been at the helm for the last 14 years, spoke about his decision and his pride in having helped guide the chat show – widely acclaimed as the oldest in the world – through changing times. He said: “It has been a privilege to host the national institution that is The Late Late Show for the last 14 years.

“I want to thank the tremendous teams of producers, researchers, crew and executives who have done the hard work to keep the show on the road over the years. Many have become dear friends.

“Also, to the viewers, I am so grateful for the loyalty you have shown to The Late Late Show, week in, week out. Not only did you raise €30m for Irish charities, including over €15m for children’s charities all over the island that are particularly close to my heart, but you showed incredible generosity of spirit for which I am profoundly grateful.

“I was often touched by the kind comments of viewers stopping me on the street or at the supermarket on a Saturday to say ‘thank you’ or ‘well done’ for highlighting an issue that affected them or their families on the previous night’s show. Go raibh maith agaibh.”

Tubridy also praised his

family who, he said, “ stood by me every day of every week, year in, year out. To my daughters especially, they put up with so much and I am as grateful to them as I am awestruck by them.”

RTÉ has not yet made any decision regarding the next presenter of The Late Late Show and said in a statement that an announcement will be made later in the summer.

Tubridy added: “I will continue on the radio show which I love and will talk about other projects in the future that will embrace my love of books, history and Ireland but that’s for another day.

“For now, we have exciting plans for the remaining shows this season. Stay tuned!”

THE LATE LATE SHOW PRESENTERS

When Gay Byrne left in 1999, RTÉ gave the show to Pat Kenny.

In 2009, he announced live on air, without warning, his intention to stand down.

He was replaced by Ryan

Tubridy, once described as “South Dublin on a stick”. He presented his first programme in September 2009.

Guests included Brian Cowen, Saoirse Ronan, Brian McFadden, Joan Collins, Cherie Blair, and Niall Quinn. With an overall audience share of 62 per cent, it was the most watched since Gay Byrne’s retirement in May 1999. This promising start would not last, however; audience ratings had declined by Tubridy’s sixth season.

While hosting The Late Late Show, Tubridy has often clashed with his guests, including Gordon Ramsay, who criticised – not Tubridy’s interviewing style, but the size of his ears.

More recently, Tubridy caused controversy by asking Derry Girls’ Jamie-Lee O’Donnell her age.

But another criticism aimed at Tubridy is that he’s too easy on guests – mainly because they’re hawking around their latest merchandise, be it a book, album or film.

A former director of television at RTÉ, Helen O’Rahilly, said of current iteration of The Late Late Show: “If I was back in charge of RTÉ, you wouldn’t see this utter shite on Friday night.”

 Tubridy will present his final Late Late Show at 9.35pm on Friday, May 26. He will continue to present his radio show on weekday mornings from 9.00am10.00am on RTÉ Radio 1.

Jazzy

Picture: Juanita Richards

RETIRING HOST: Ryan Tubridy Picture: Getty Images

Water UK President Biden to visit Ireland next month

US PRESIDENT Joe Biden has confirmed he plans to visit Northern Ireland next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Speaking at a press conference in California last week following a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the Point Loma naval base, the President said it was his intention to visit both Northern Ireland and the Republic in April

Biden responded positively to an invite from Mr Sunak, who said: “I look forward to our conversations and also importantly, to invite you to Northern Ireland, which hopefully you will be able to do and so we can commemorate the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

“I know it’s something very special and personal to

you – we’d love to have you over.”

Biden said: “Twenty-five years? It seems like yesterday. It’s my intention to go to Northern Ireland and the Republic.”

The Good Friday Agreement was signed on April 10, 1998, bringing an end to three decades of Troubles conflict in the North.

It is believed that President Biden may visit some

of the places from where his ancestors came. One branch of the family is from the Ballina area in Co. Mayo, another on the Cooley Peninsula in Co. Louth.

The president has spoken about his Irish heritage on several occasions, including during his visits to Ireland as vice president and during his presidential campaign in 2020.

According to the BBC, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has asked for 330 officers from other UK forces to help with security during the visit.

The PSNI said the officers will provide “additional search capabilities” and other specialist functions.

The request for extra officers has been made through the National Police Chiefs’ Council under long-standing mutual aid arrangements.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said “mutual aid officers are a vital part of the vast policing and security operation for these events”.

Ruth Kelly appointed chair

of

BY MAL ROGERS

THE Right Honourable Ruth Kelly has been appointed as the new Chair of Water UK. She replaces Anthony Ferrar who has concluded his threeyear term that he has held since April 2020.

Kelly, who is from Limavady in Co. Derry, was MP for Bolton West 1997-2010, and served in the Cabinet for four years as a secretary of state under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Kelly briefly lived in the Republic before moving to England.

Since stepping down as an MP, Kelly became the Global Head of Client Strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at St Mary’s University, Twickenham.

Currently she is the Chair of Thames Freeport, a Director of Heathrow Airport,

advises the Vatican on its financial portfolio and, last year, was appointed Senior Fellow at the Policy Exchange think tank.

Commenting on her appointment, The Rt Hon. Ruth Kelly, said: “This is a crucial time to be joining the water industry where there is, rightly, increasing scrutiny on its performance. I know how important water and the environment are to all of us, especially as we face the increasing pressures of

climate change and population growth.

“I look forward to working closely with company chief executives on the transformation that is required to meet the understandable and increasing public expectations for improved rivers and seas. Water UK has a crucial role to play and I am excited to lead it as it supports the water industry to rise to the challenges before it.

Kelly is a practising Catholic, and a member of the Opus Dei, an official institution within the Catholic Church. Her new role at Water UK will bring her into direct contact with a fellow Derry exile in England – Feargal Sharkey, formerly the lead singer with The Undertones. Sharkey is Sharkey is a lifelong fly fisherman and has campaigned against the pollution of British rivers (particularly chalk streams). He is currently the chairman of the Amwell Magna Fishery and has become the high profile figurehead for the campaign to prevent water companies dumping sewage into UK waterways and coasts.

Catholic hierarchy slams Britain’s asylum policy

BY GERARD DONAGHY

THE MOST senior Catholic prelate in England and Wales has claimed that Britain’s asylum policy is ‘dramatically lacking’.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, made the claim following the release of a new publication outlining a Catholic response to migrants and refugees.

The publication Love the Stranger has the full support of Belfast-born Bishop Paul McAleenan, Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees for the Bishops’ Conference.

The publication has been produced by the Department for International Affairs at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, which is presided over by Cardinal Nichols.

The publication was released a day after the British Government’s controversial Illegal Migration Bill passed its second reading in the Commons.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster (Image: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

Cardinal Nichols said that Love the Stranger calls for ‘safe and controlled access and a fair hearing to those seeking asylum’.

“Love the Stranger draws together more than 100 years of Catholic teaching to guide our response to migration in England and Wales today,” he said.

“While it does not propose detailed solutions to complex problems, it clearly calls for procedures which permit safe and controlled access and a fair hearing to

those seeking asylum.

“Present arrangements in this country are dramatically lacking in both of these requirements.”

The publication was also supported by Belfast-born priest Bishop Paul McAleenan, who said it looked beyond labels such as ‘asylum seeker’ to see the person who has left their homeland in search of a better life.

As Lead Bishop for Migrants and Refugees, he emphasised the need to uphold the innate human dignity of those seeking refuge.

“Our starting point as a society must be to recognise migrants and refugees as people,” he said.

“We need to understand their stories, their reasons for leaving their homelands and hopes for building a future here.

“We should never view people arriving from elsewhere as a political problem to be solved, but rather as brothers and sisters who we have a responsibility towards, and who

greatly enrich our communities.”

Bishop McAleenan said those seeking refuge can ‘greatly enrich our communities’ (Image: Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales)

Bishop McAleenan, an Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, added: “People are driven to leave their countries, sometimes making dangerous journeys or risking exploitation, because of conflict, poverty, oppression, or lack of

opportunities.

“Looking beyond our own borders, we have a duty to help people flourish in their homelands, as well as welcoming those who leave in search of a better life.”

Among the principles underpinning Love the Stranger are the support for the right of anyone seeking a better life to migrate, and a call on the government to help other countries address the factors that drive people from their homelands.

Ruth Kelly PIcture: Getty Images

President Biden PIcture: Getty Images

SPEAKING OUT: Bishop McAleenan, centre Picture: Courtesy of the Diocese of Westminster

The government’s response to the refugee crisis is woefully lacking, according to the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales

We should never view people arriving from elsewhere as a political problem to be solved

The leader who presided over a looming disaster

KEVIN

division, the so-called ‘B-Specials,’ served as a militia for the Unionist government at Stormont. They could also call upon the Special Powers Act, granting them draconian measures, to keep things in line.

But the more I researched O’Neill and that period, the more sympathy I started to feel for him.

He was hemmed in on all sides. Radical reform was needed to make Northern Ireland even barely habitable for Catholics, but O’Neill, a patrician One Nation Tory, who was born in Knightsbridge in central London, was a fish out of water.

The Ulster Unionists started to resent what they took as his condescending attitude towards them. Nationalists saw him (justifiably) as all talk and no action. While

Ian Paisley and his mob castigated any hint of reform, likening O’Neill to a bridge. They both crossed over to the other side.

Now, I don’t want to overstate things: O’Neill was in charge and ultimately responsible; but he was also embarrassed by the petty sectarianism of his fellow unionists and was trying – albeit too slowly – to challenge them.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, this month is the 60th anniversary of Terence O’Neill becoming Northern Ireland’s prime minister. Between 1963 and 1969 when he was ousted by his party, Northern Ireland sunk into the abyss.

Those five or so years were critical but no one did enough to avert the catastrophe that was to come.

O’Neill talked the game but couldn’t bring his party with him to deliver basic reforms that were crying out to be made. If they had been, the Troubles might have been avoided.

TERENCE O’Neill reminds us that good intentions are never enough.

What was the point at which events in the late 1960s in Northern Ireland spiralled out of control?

When, if different decisions had been made – if people in charge had been bolder, or wiser – things might have turned out differently?

I found myself asking these questions over and over as I wrote my book, What A Bloody Awful Country: Northern Ireland’s Century of Division a couple of years ago, to coincide with the centenary.

I kept coming back to one man and one specific period.

Terence O’Neill, the unionist prime minister of Northern Ireland. He was elected in March 1963, before

O’Neill pondered how he was going to welcome the Taoiseach when he arrived at Stormont. “Welcome to Ulster” might “rub salt into the wound”, he wrote in his autobiography

the Troubles broke out, but by which point tensions were already building beneath the rotten Orange state.

Since partition in 1921, Catholics had faced fifty years of appalling, state-sponsored discrimination.

The place was built as a unionist fief and Catholics were expected to know their place – which was, invariably, at the bottom of the pile.

Borrowing Kennedy’s famous line that ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’ O’Neill tried to throw the focus on modernising Northern Ireland’s moribund economy. Improving living standards for all might help bridge the near impossible divide.

On one side, legitimate Catholic grievances about unionist abuses of power that saw rampant discrimination in jobs, housing and electoral boundaries. On the other, his own side’s unjustified sense of entitlement at presiding over this state of affairs as a birthright.

The allocation of social

housing, run by corrupt unionist councils, discriminated against Catholic families. Electoral boundaries and the voting system were gerrymandered to lock-in unionist control. Protestant business owners openly discriminated against Catholics because of their names or where they lived.

The Royal Ulster Constabulary and its part-time

Perhaps O’Neill’s signature gesture was to try and normalise relations with Dublin.

In 1965, he invited Taoiseach Sean Lemass to Belfast –the first time that an Irish premier had ever set foot in Northern Ireland.

O’Neill pondered how he was going to welcome the Taoiseach when he arrived at Stormont. “Welcome to Ulster” might “rub salt into the wound”, he wrote in his autobiography. While “Welcome to Northern Ireland” might seem like “troublemaking”. So, with commendable tact, he greeted Lemass with, “Welcome to the North.”

Can you imagine Arlene Foster being so gracious?

For the most part, Westminster was oblivious. Members of Parliament could not even ask questions on the floor of the House of Commons about Northern Ireland as it was a ‘reserved matter.’

Eventually Harold Wilson’s Labour government intervened, making the fateful decision to send-in the troops to quell rampaging loyalist mobs that had been stirred-up by Paisley.

Writing his memoirs in 1971, O’Neill expressed his “personal sorrow” that his efforts at modest reform had been “wrecked by wicked men”. He was, of course, referring to Paisley.

It’s a sorry tale, but Terence O’Neill’s example reminds us that we should always demand greater boldness from our politicians.

Good intentions are simply never enough.

 Kevin Meagher is author of A United Ireland: Why Unification is Inevitable and How it will Come About and What A Bloody Awful Country: Northern Ireland’s Century of Division.

MEAGHER looks back at one of the key players in the history of 20th century Northern Ireland – reforming leader Captain Terence O’Neill – and how in the end his efforts towards a more equitable society, however well meaning, foundered badly

REFORMIST: Captain Terence O’Neill (standing) at the Wilson Homestead Museum in Co. Tyrone Picture: Courtesy of Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum RIGHT: Terence O’Neill Picture: Wikipedia

Television stars feature in Tourism Ireland ad

BY FIONA AUDLEY

WRITER and actor Sharon Horgan and Derry Girls stars Saoirse Monica-Jackson and Jamie-Lee O’Donnell feature in a new advert which will aired for the first time last week.

The stars lead a television advert for Tourism Ireland’s Fill your heart with Ireland campaign, which went live in Britain on St Patrick’s Day.

The advert, sees the trio talk about their love for their homeland.

In it Horgan, who has written and appeared in comedy hits such as Bad Sisters and Catastrophe, claims “the Irish are the funniest people in the world, they just are”.

She adds: “I think the reason I see comedy in everything is because I was surrounded by it growing up.”

Derry Girls stars Monica-Jackson and O’Donnell can be seen enjoying the sights of Northern Ireland, including a now iconic Derry Girls mural.

Tourism Ireland has commissioned a series of adverts for their new campaign, which will be seen in Ireland’s key tourism markets – including Great Britain and Germany, followed by France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the Nordic countries.

The campaign will continue to be rolled out in other markets over the coming weeks, including in the United States.

“The Fill your heart with Ireland campaign is all about celebrating the different ways in which the island of Ireland fills the hearts of our visitors and of locals –and inviting potential holidaymakers to come and experience those for themselves,” a Tourism Ireland spokesperson explained.

New way to source your furnishings

Flourishing discovery platform is the brainchild of Sligo couple

BY FIONA AUDLEY

A HOME furnishings start-up launched by Irishwoman Deirdre McGettick has now raised more than £5million in seed funding. Ufurnish.com, the brainchild of the Sligo native and her husband Ray, was founded in 2019 from their London home.

Since then it has grown steadily to become the UK’s top search and discovery platform for home furniture and furnishings.

This month Ms McGettrick confirmed that the firm has raised £3.4million in seed funding following on from a £1.8million pre-seed in 2020 – bringing the total funding to over £5.2million since the platform launched.

Announcing their achievement, Ms McGettrick said: “It feels really important to draw attention to female founders but also to female investors.

“I am particularly proud that 30 per cent of my investors are females and includes experienced businesswomen who have a strong record in building and growing businesses from whom I can draw down on advice when required.”

Ms McGettrick has attracted an impressive list of investors, both male and female, over the years, who have a varied background and therefore “bring different insights and value add to ufurnish.com”.

They include Amanda Burton, a portfolio non-executive director, Camelia Robu,

the Head of Leveraged Finance EMEA at Macquarie Capital, and Caroline Worboys –founder of data company HDM Worboys, which she sold to News International.

“It is invaluable to be able to reach out and share challenges and opportunities from my business with my investors,” Ms McGettrick said.

“Often given their experience, they have insights over and above what I might have considered”.

Being a tech company, the Irishwoman is very cognisant that most tech investors are male, making up over 70 per cent of her cap table, but claims that doesn’t mean you can’t attract a balanced investor profile.

Among her male backers are

Darren Ryemill who sold Opus Talent Solutions to Graphite Capital, Tony Smurfit, CEO of paper and packaging giant Smurfit Kappa Group, and Pat McCann, former CEO of Jury’s Hotel Group and founder of the Dalata Hotel Group, who is the Chairman of ufurnish.com.

The government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) has also been a big driver in ufurnish.com being able to attract investors, Ms McGettrick admits.

It reduces the risk of investing in early stage companies for investors,” she says.

“As many of my investors are first time investors, being able to explain the tax benefits of EIS investments was key to securing their investment”.

Woman sentenced to 16 years for hammer attack

A WOMAN who murdered a former work colleague by striking her on the head around 50 times with a hammer has been jailed for 16 years.

Ludmila Poletelova, 61, was found dead in her home in Limavady, Co. Derry on Friday, April 23, 2021.

Several news outlets report that Poletelova had been brutally attacked three days earlier by 47-year-old Svetlana Svedova, who then took money from the victim’s property to pay off a debt.

“This was a brutal attack on a defenceless woman who was entitled to feel safe in her own home,” said prosecutor Kirsten McKevitt of the Public Prosecution Service.

DERRY

The two women, who were both originally from Latvia, had previously worked together in a local wine bar in Limavady.

It is believed that Svedova went to Ms Poletelova’s home on the afternoon of Tuesday,

Boy’s fall highlights walkway dangers

April 20, 2021.

Svedova claimed the pair argued, which led to her attacking the victim.

A post-mortem examination showed Ms Poletelova had died from severe head injuries consistent with being struck repeatedly with a claw hammer.

Svedova initially denied any wrongdoing but eventually pleaded guilty after a collaborative investigation between the PSNI and prosecutors in the Public Prosecution Service.

Cash seized by Revenue service at Dublin Airport

AROUND €1,780,000 in cash was seized by officers from Ireland’s Revenue service from an inbound passenger at Dublin Airport. The discovery was made as a result of routine profiling when officers stopped and searched a passenger who had disembarked a flight from London Gatwick.

A Taiwanese national in his 50s was arrested and taken for questioning.

At Dublin’s Criminal Courts of Justice, Judge Bryan Smyth granted Revenue officers a threemonth cash detention order

in relation to the seizure.

It is suspected that the money is the proceeds of, or intended for use in, criminal activity and has been detained by Revenue in accordance with proceeds of crime legislation.

The seizure is part of work targeting smuggling and shadow economy activity.

Huge trawler sparks environmental concern

A MOTHER has appealed for fencing or lighting to be put in place along the Bowers Walk in Ballinrobe after her 14-year-old son fell into a nearby river last Monday night.

The Mayo News reports that the boy was out walking when he fell into the river along an unlit section of the path near the metal footbridge before being helped to safety by a passer-by.

MAYO

His mother, Evelina Vainoriene, said that she was ‘very much concerned’ that a similar incident would occur in future unless action was taken.

The Bowers Walk has been a popular outdoor recreational facility in Ballinrobe for many years.

Speaking to The Mayo News, local county councillor Michael Burke said that fencing would disturb the heritage of the area and ruled out the installation of lighting due to concerns it could attract anti-social behaviour.

Cllr Burke told The Mayo News: “We do not encourage walking down there late at night. We have a walkway that’s lit up at night on the Green that’s used at night, in preference to people walking along the river, because it is dangerous. There’s no question about that,”

THE world’s second-largest factory trawler, the giant FV Margiris, has been spotted fishing off the Cork coast, reports Cork Beo Critics say it clears large swathes of ocean of virtually all marine life, including pods of dolphins that Greenpeace claim have been pictured caught in its nets. The vast nets are dragged at mid-depth level fish are pumped aboard using a vacuum system.

The Lithuanian-registered, Dutch-owned and operated Factory Trawler is capable of catching and freezing up to 250 tonnes of fish a day. Its operators have been accused of leaving many tonnes of unwanted and dead fish in its wake, the so-called ‘bycatch’ that is not commercially valuable.

Factory trawlers have already been banned from Australian waters and fishing sector and environmental groups in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere in Europe have called for these giant ‘vacuum cleaners of the seas’ to be banned outright.

But the company which operates the FV Margiris, Dutch fishing giant Parlevliet & Van der Plas, has insisted that the vessel does not create the amount of bycatch critics claim and that by targeting shoals of fish at mid-depth in the sea rather than dragging a net across the seabed, it can actually cause less damage to marine environments that traditional trawlers.

CORK

MALROGERS Hard news the easy way

Historic harbour

MANY notable voyages have begun on the ancient quayside of Bristol. The most recent was the journey of Edward Colston, the noted 17th and 18th century slaver, from his plinth into the deep waters of the harbour in 2020. Those who threw him in were found not guilty at a subsequent court case. Bristol is that sort of place.

But it was also the starting off point of a journey almost as famous as any in history – even though, strictly speaking, it didn’t actually take place. On May 4, 1699, Lemuel Gulliver sailed out of Bristol Harbour on board the Antelope – bound for Several Remote Nations of the World. It’s not known if Jonathan Swift ever visited Bristol – he lived variously in Dublin, Carrickfergus, Belfast, Co. Meath and Surrey. But his creation Gulliver certainly put the city on the map.

OK, that’s enough chatter about journeys that might-have-been, or journeys that only went from the quayside into the deep waters of Bristol harbour. With the seamlessness of a yard of linoleum, we turn from old sea dogs to real dogs, namely the HMV dog Nipper, who was also a Bristolian.

Sadly, this column has to report, that the breed that Nipper belonged to the breed known as a smooth fox terrier which is in danger of dying out. I’m not quite

Spying on the birds

STOP! Don’t move on to the next page yet, please! I’ve got some expensive habits to support, and these people doing marketing surveys are everywhere. Anyway, what I’ve got to tell you is only riveting.

I’ve just read about an excellent job. It’s in Tarifa, at the southern tip of Andalucía, and if you like bird watching and a spot of sunshine, it could be for you. First of all, a bit of ornithology. Tarifa looks out over the Straits of Gibraltar – just 13km away is the continent of Africa. The area is known for its strong winds, beautiful beaches, and as a hotspot for bird migration across the Mediterranean.

Each year, millions of birds from Europe and Asia migrate across the Mediterranean Sea to their wintering grounds in Africa. The

COMMENT&OPINION

A parky Patrick’s Day

ST PATRICK’S Day this year was a case of Erin Go Brrrrrr. Temperatures were around average throughout much of these islands, but it poured down in Dublin and in London, and in Glasgow the temperature struggled to reach 7 degrees. Still it was slightly better than the earlier part of March when temperatures were lower than normal with snow, rain and devastating Atlantic frontal systems frequent occurrences. Which was all very confusing. This is the sort of weather we expect in the summer.

For ever and ever, Amiens

BRISTOLIAN: Nipper the Dog Picture: Wikimedia Commons

ALL AT SEA: Lemuel Gulliver, left Picture: Getty Images

sure why this is happening, but presumably fashions in dogs come and go.

Nipper lived in the late 19th century, shooting to fame posthumously when his last owner, Francis Barraud, painted him next to a gramophone in 1898.

He entitled it His Master’s Voice. The image became This image became one of the world’s best known trademarks.

You can visit the terrier’s statue in Bristol. Go along, pay your respects, and tell his statue there’s little chance of its ending up in Bristol harbour.

AMIENS Cathedral in Picardy is celebrating 750 years in the business of saving souls in this region of northeast France. This is the same Amiens as in Amiens Street Station in Dublin, now called Connolly Station. The Dublin station was originally named after the World War I battle in France. Meanwhile, back in Picardy, the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Amiens was begun around 1220 and finished some fifty years later. Amiens is crisscrossed by tendrils of the Somme River, leading to the Hortillonnages – a network of canals cut out of the marshlands of the Somme valley 2,000 years ago. Tours on motorised punts through these waterways – which used to drain Amiens’ market gardens – give a fascinating view of the city. But it’s doubtful if this is the canal trip which gave Jules Verne his inspiration for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Could have, of course, as the novelist lived here and takes his eternal repose in La Madeleine Cemeterie in rue Saint Maurice. You can take a Jules Verne walk, disappointingly not called Journey To The Centre of Town, or visit the Jules Verne International Centre on rue Charles-Dubois.

The stories of two Eddies

Strait is one of the narrowest points on this migration route, so queuing up to fly across are thousands upon thousands of avian A-listers.

Some of the most common bird species that pass through Tarifa during migration include raptors such as honey buzzards, black kites, and ospreys, as well as storks, eagles, and a variety of songbirds.

The importance of the Tarifa route lies in its strategic location as a bottleneck for bird migration. This is the only natural gap in the mountain range that runs from Europe to Africa, and this narrow passage forces birds to funnel through a small area, making them easier to observe and study.

Because the area is so windy, many wind turbines have been put up in the area – around 800 close to the coast. This, particularly in

FLIGHT PATH: A honey buzzard Picture: Irvin Calicut via Wikimedia Commons

the early days of operation, was disastrous for the birds. Casualty rates were exceptionally high. Particularly among the bigger birds. The solution was to have lookouts positioned on the site, particularly during heavy migration periods. Today, if the lookouts spot large flocks, they telephone through to the energy company and the turbines are

switched off. This has led to a dramatic decrease in bird fatalities – and leads to a decrease in energy supply of .1 per cent.

So it’s a great job – sitting in your lookout tower, binoculars in hand, maybe a few tapas to get you through the day. Plus the chance to see some of the most magnificent birds in Europe – and being able to do something to help them.

WHEN Edward Colston’s statue was turfed into the harbour in Bristol in 2021 the statue of Edmund Burke – standing only some twenty metres away – was left untouched. That’s because the Dublin man, who served as MP for Bristol from 1774 to 1780, was an abolitionist, while Colston was a slaver.

In addition to his work in abolishing the British slave trade, Burke laid down much of today’s parliamentary ethos, including one statement which seems particularly apposite for today’s populist politicians. This is what he said about the duty of those in the body politic to those who elect them:

“Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

The voice of the Irish in Britain since 1970

The message of the presidential visit

PRESIDENT Biden will visit Ireland, both sides of the border, next month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA). The treaty which heralded the end of the Troubles is something fervently supported by the White House.

But there is more to President Biden’s visit than a celebration of the Good Friday Agreement. He will be showing his total support for the Windsor Framework – the proposed post-Brexit legal agreement that addresses trading between the European Single Market and the UK, and the land border on the island of Ireland.

President Biden, a proud Irish American, believes that the Windsor Framework agreement is a “vital, vital step” for Northern Ireland.

But DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has said the deal requires further changes before his party signs up to it, and he has attracted the support of a grouping of right wing Tories.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak knows that Britain must remain on good terms with the US because of a wide range of shared interests, from trade to defence, and that the GFA and the Windsor Framework are non-negotiable.

Sooner or later the penny will drop with the DUP and the more intransigent members of the Tory party that they too must toe the line. The Windsor Framework is the only deal on the table, and if they don’t accept this, they are likely to find themselves on the wrong side of history.

The grandest of slams

IRELAND winning the Grand Slam with a victory over England in the Six Nations rugby championships, confirming their status as the world’s number one international rugby side, was expected. Nonetheless, the whole campaign, and before that their beating of all the Southern Hemisphere teams, is an extraordinary feat.

Ireland played with verve and passion, but also with stout, integrated teamwork. As reported in The Irish Post, the international press have been intrigued by the phenomenon, because in Ireland rugby takes fourth place to Gaelic football, hurling, and soccer.

But that supposes that rugby is played to the exclusion of other sports. This may have been true in days gone by. Today, many GAA players make the transition across to rugby with ease. But that is only part of the equation. The backbone of communities in rural Ireland is the GAA. This fosters an ethos of taking part in sport whether hurling, camogie, handball – or rugby.

There is another aspect to Ireland’s victory, alluded to by more than one international commentator: the rugby team is an all-island enterprise. It shows the heights that can be reached when Ireland is united in common purpose.

The other Emerald Isle

MARY Kenny’s review of Alannah Hopkin’s book about St Patrick was a very interesting, thoughtprovoking article. But the argument seemed to be that it was either commercialism or spirituality.

But why can’t the two exist side by side? Early Christianity certainly knew the value of commercialism – visions, relics, sacred sites all played their part in helping spread the word of the gospels.

Now, I haven’t had a chance to read Alannah Hopkins book, but certainly aim to do so in the next few weeks. So this aspect of St Patrick’s Day may already have been covered.

But to see it in practice, you could do worse that go to the island of Montserrat

I was lucky enough to go there last year – my son works with an NGO on the island – and learned why they take St Patrick so seriously and so commercially.

The Caribbean island has strong connections to Irish culture and heritage. Irish Catholics arrived in the 17th century, who had been deported from neighbouring St Kitts by the British. The Irish immigrants established a colony on the island.

Over time, the Irish population on Montserrat intermarried with the local Afro-Caribbean population. Today, Montserrat has one of the biggest communities of people of Irish ancestry in the Caribbean.

My son is now engaged to a woman from Montserrat, so hopefully he will carry on the tradition! And their family too, should they be so blessed.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated

on Montserrat as a national holiday of course, both religiously, sprititually and certainly commercially. People come from other islands to join in the craic. It is a significant event on the island’s calendar. And you would be amazed at the ‘commercialisation’ there. Huge lavish floats, incredible costumes, and bands playing a mix of Caribbean music and Irish ballads.

And yet everyone knows what the day is about – the Apostle of Ireland and his religious message. But it’s done with enthusiasm and colour. Yet nobody I talked to felt that the day had become over commercialised.

I honestly believe that there is room for holiness and celebration – as there is on Montserrat.

Shirley Donnan London N22

The presidential vote imbroglio

WHILE having a lot of agreement and empathy with Gerry Molumby who wants a vote in the next election for the Irish presidency – which seems a very unlikely outcome at this stage – I think the arguments on either side don’t add up. I am convinced there is no all round, one-solution-fits-all, answer to this question.

This is precisely why various Irish governments have dragged their feet on the issue.

On one hand what Gerry, and others, says is absolutely true: the flight from Ireland of thousands in the post-war years (World War II that is), probably for many

decades, most certainly helped alleviate the financial crisis that Ireland faced. In fact they helped keep Ireland afloat. So the Irish government does owe us in the diaspora. I agree with that argument because I left Leitrim in 1973. The chances of getting a job there at the time were very limited. So I headed for Luton where I’ve been ever since. And Luton, and Britain has, overall, been good to me and my family.

So, yes, certainly, I would like a say in the democratic process in Ireland.

But the overwhelming problem, and one that I don’t think can be satisfactorily answered is quite simply – who on earth would qualify?

We could narrow it down to people who were born in Ireland – but that’s hardly the diaspora, or the “global Irish” that Gerry refers to, I don’t think. That’s just the people who were born in Ireland and left for one reason or the other, like myself and Gerry.

So could we adopt the condition that you must have an Irish passport before you could vote in the presidential election? That is surely too broad a sweep. For instance, Tony Blair’s four children all travel on Irish passports. They qualify through their Donegal grandmother Hazel who was a staunch unionist. Should they really have one iota of input into the affairs of Ireland?

Tommy Robinson, the far right activist recently boasted that he travelled on an Irish passport. The same goes for him, although probably more so.

I am sure there are many more equally anomalous examples. I only have to look at my own

sons – they are proud (enough) of their Irish heritage, like the music, enjoyed holidaying in Ireland when they were little. But now that they are grown they wouldn’t have the remotest clue about Irish politics. They might know the name of the Taoiseach, but I severely doubt if they could name one Irish government minister. Should they really be entitled to a vote in the running of Ireland?

I’m afraid I just don’t see how this circle can be squared.

Dan McIntyre Leeds

A wretched sketch

Re. Oscar sketch which tapped into terribly hackneyed and offensive stereotypes of Irish people.

AS an American, I would like to offer both my apology for the ridiculous sketch that Saturday Night Live did about Irish Oscars [where actors portrayed Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson’) and let you know that it has been many, many years since SNL has had much of a following here in the U.S., due to its complete lack of quality.

I wouldn’t have even know about the sketch had I not seen the article in The Irish Post. No one here watches it anymore, and no one talks about it other than the Hollywood crowd, and they too are entirely out of touch with the rest of the country. Again, our apologies. Hollywood might find that amusing. The rest of us don’t.

Gary Turner Denver, Colorado, USA

GLOBAL DIASPORA: St Patrick’s Day celebrations, Montserrat style

The forum of the Irish in Britain

Vol. 53. No. 12.

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SHARON NÍ CHONCHUIR

This month, Sharon reflects on recent success in the film world has re-ignited interest in the Irish language

Déanann An Cailín Ciúin ana chuid gleo

As Gaeilge

TÁIMID i gceartlár Seachtain na Gaeilge agus mise ag scríobh an t-alt seo. Mar chuid don tseachtain, tá imeachtaí ar siúl ar fud na tíre agus i bhfad i gcéin chun céiliúradh a dhéanamh ar ár dteanga dúchais.

Is dóigh liom go bhfuilimid ag nóiméad spéisiúil don dteanga. De ghnáth, le linn Seachtain na Gaeilge, bíonn scéalta ins na meáin ag gearán faoin slí ina múintear an Ghaeilge, faoin slí ina theipeann ar dhaoine áirithe í a fhoghlaim ar scoil agus ar dhaoine eile í a labhairt tar éis dóibh an scoil a fhágaint. Cad is fiú an teanga, a deireann na h-altanna seo go léir. Níl ciall ar bith le í a mhúineadh ar scoil más é seo an toradh a bhíonn ar an t-iarracht go léir. Ba chóir ligint di bás a fháil.

Tá na h-argóintí seo le cloisint arís i mbliana ach tá guthanna eile níos treise ná iad. Ceann dos na cúiseanna atá leis seo ná an rath atá ar an scannán ‘An Cailín Ciúin’ Muna bhfuil an scannán seo feicithe agat fós, scéal tochtmhar coscrach is ea é faoi chailín óg i dteaghlach mór in áit éigin in Éireann ag deireadh na seachtóidí nó tús na hochtóidí. Níl a tuismitheoirí in ann aire ceart a thabhairt di, nó b’fhéidir nach dteastaíonn uatha amhlaidh a dhéanamh, agus mar sin, iarann siad ar ghaolta leo in áit éigin eile sa tír aire a thabhairt di ar feadh tamaill. Caitheann sí laethanta saoire an tsamhraidh ina dteannta agus insíonn an scannán scéal an tsamhraidh úd.

Insíotar an scéal ó dhearcadh an chailín óig. Tugtar léargas lom, ionraic neamhbhreithiúnach dúinn ar na daoine tímpeall uirthi agus an méid a dhéanann siad agus í ag iarraidh iad a thuiscint. Téann sí agus an méid a thárlaíonn di i bhfeidhm orainn agus geallaim díbh go bhfágfaidh siad a rian ort tar éis don scannán críochnú.

The Quiet Girl makes lots of noise

muna labhairimid í. Mar dhuine go mbíodh Fraincís líofa agam ach nár labhair an teanga ach corr uair le blianta beaga anuas, tá cruthúnas pearsanta agam ar sin.

Bhí Paul beagáinín náirithe faoina chuid Gaeilge ach níor lig sé don náire sin é a stopadh. Léirigh sé dearcadh dearfach i leith na teangan. Dúirt sé go gcreideann sé gur cheart dúinn go léir pé cúpla focal atá againn a úsáid agus nár cheart d’éinne sinn a cháineadh dá réir. Dúirt sé freisin gur bhreá leis scannán a dhéanamh as Gaeilge uair éigin.

Labhair aisteoir eile faoi An Cailín Ciúin agus é ag na BAFTAs freisin.

B’shin é Brendan Gleeson agus dúirt seisean gur cheap sé go raibh sé spéisiúil go raibh an téacs ar a bhfuil An Cailín Ciúin bunaithe (Foster le Claire Keegan) scríte as Béarla ach gur tógadh an cinneadh an scéal a insint trí mhéan na Gaeilge. Bhí scéal le insint ag foireann an scannáin agus thuigeadar gur cuma go raibh an scéal sin scríte as Béarla agus gur theastaigh uathu é a insint as Gaeilge. Bhí a fhios acu go n-oireann an dá theanga do scéalta Éireannacha.

Sin an teachtaireacht a thógaimse as an gcaint seo go léir. Is dóigh liom go bhfuil dearcadh na ndaoine, go mórmhór dearcadh an t-aos óig, ag athrú maidir leis an Ghaeilge. Tuigeann siad go bhfuil an t-ádh linn dhá theanga a bheith againn, dhá theanga a thugann slite éagsúla dúinn sinn féin a chur i láthair agus in iúil don domhan mhór. Nach iontach go bhfuaireamar an seans é seo a chéiliúradh i Londain ag na BAFTAs, i Hollywood ag na Oscars agus ar stáitse iomráiteacha eile an domhain?

As Béarla

WE’RE slap bang in the middle of Seachtain na Gaeilge as I write this article. As part of the festivities, events are being organised all over Ireland and the world to celebrate our native Irish tongue.

Our language appears to be having a moment. Usually, during Seachtain na Gaeilge, the same old culprits rattle off the same old stories in the media complaining about the way the language is taught in schools, about how many students leave school unable to speak it and how even those who do succeed in mastering Irish don’t get much opportunity to speak it once their secondary school days are done. What’s the point of the language, these people ask. It’s not work teaching it if this is the end result of all that effort. Would it not be better to allow it to wither away and die?

Those same arguments are being trotted out again this year, but louder voices are drowning them out. One of the reasons for this is the ongoing success of a movie called An Cailín Ciúin or The Quiet Girl

If you’ve yet to see this film, I’d recommend it. It’s the moving tale of a young girl from a big family living somewhere in Ireland in the late seventies or early eighties. Her parents don’t have the time, energy or perhaps the motivation to look after her and they ask relatives inn another part of the country to mind her for a while. She spends her summer holidays with those relatives and the film tells the story of that formative time.

The story unfolds from her perspective, which is that of an innocent child living through what turns out to be a fateful summer. The people she encounters and their behaviour towards her and each other are rendered in spare, honest and unjudgmental detail. We, with our experience of the world, understand them and can interpret their stories. It takes her a little longer.

It’s a story that leaves a mark that lasts long after the closing credits. It’s no wonder it was nominated for BAFTA and Oscar awards. It’s no wonder so many people have been talking about it.

What has been a source of wonder to some is that people are talking about it in Irish. TG4 interviewed actor Paul Mescal about it. It was clear from this interview that it had been a while since Paul had spoken Irish as he stumbled over some words and struggled to find others. This provided ammunition to the anti-Irish brigade who came out all guns blazing with their tired old argument about the ineffective way Irish in taught in schools.

What was different was that people appeared uninterested in listening to them. We all know that we lose fluency in a language if we don’t speak it. As a formerly fluent speaker of French, I can personally attest to that.

Paul admitted to feeling embarrassed of his stuttering Irish, but he didn’t let that stop him. Instead, he said that we should all use what little Irish we have and that nobody should criticise or shame us for doing so. Nobody should gatekeep the language because it belongs to us all. He also said that he’d love to do a film in Irish some day.

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Ní h-aon ionadh gur ainmníodh an scannán do ghradaim na BAFTAs agus na Oscars. Ní h-aon ionadh go bhfuil daoine ag caint faoi ach an oiread.

Ach tá ionadh ar roinnt daoine faoin slí go bhfuil daoine ag caint faoi as Gaeilge. Rinne an t-aisteoir Paul Mescal agallamh as Gaeilge ag labhairt faoin scannán le TG4. Bhí sé soiléar óna chuid cainte nach raibh taithí ag Paul ar bheith ag labhairt Gaeilge a thuilleadh mar nach bfhéadfadh sé cuimhneamh ar fhocail áirithe agus thug sé seo armlón don seana dream céanna a n-argóint faoin slí neamhéifeachtach ina múintear Gaeilge a caitheamh amach arís.

Ach ní raibh puínn daoine ag éisteacht leo. Tá a fhios againn go léir go gcaillimid ár líofacht in aon teanga

Paul’s fellow Irish actor Brendan Gleeson also spoke Irish on the BAFTA red carpet. One of the points he made was how interesting he thought it was that the source material that An Cailín Ciúin is based on (Foster by Claire Keegan) was written in English but the film production team decided to make the film in Irish. They saw no issue with this. They knew the essence of the story would remain the same. They believed that both Irish and English were equally suited to telling tales of Ireland.

That’s the message I’m taking from the furore surrounding Paul Mescal, Brendan Gleeson and An Cailín Ciúin Our perception of Irish appears to be changing. We’re beginning to understand how lucky we are to have two languages herein Ireland, two languages that give us two uniquely different ways of presenting ourselves the world. Isn’t it wonderful that during Seachtain na Gaeilge 2023, we got the opportunity to celebrate our native language in London, in Hollywood and on other illustrious stages around the world?

FLUENT GAEILGEOIR: Catherine Clinch, star of The Quiet Girl Picture: Getty Images

Yes, Mr – or Mrs – President

Actually no. Mary Robinson was a surprise winner in 1990. Brian Lenihan (Snr) was the shoo-in, but his ineptitude on television sunk him. Thus Mrs Robinson from Mayo became Ireland’s first woman president.

She did well, though?

Very much so, although there was some negative comment over her not completing the full term. Probably the most intellectually able of all of Ireland’s presidents, she was the first person to refer to the ‘Irish diaspora’. She gained Ireland huge international prestige and was a champion for the Irish in Britain.

And our other Mary was equally sure-footed?

London, de Valera in New York. During the Troubles, Mary’s family were forced out by loyalists – but in fact she proved to be a great force for peace in the North. In an interesting footnote, she beat both Albert Reynolds and David Trimble to a job –Reynolds for the presidency, and Trimble as head of law department at Queen’s University Belfast. She eventually became the first female Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University, and as such did away with God Save the Queen being played at graduation ceremonies. But your private life and your career are put under the microscope during the election process?

ensured that Ireland got its first Protestant president, Douglas Hyde.

So, skulduggery is part of the election process?

Can be. In 1945 de Valera decided to kick his Tánaiste, Sean T O’Kelly, upstairs. O’Kelly was seen as too right wing even by de Valera – he was seen as the bishop’s spy in the cabinet. This was despite a few peccadilloes in O’Kelly’s own private life –sneaking out of the Dáil to have pints in the Hole in the Wall pub near Leinster House, and patting Grace Kelly’s bottom at the Galway Races.

SO what are the qualifications of the job – if I live in East Ham or West Lothian, can I still become President of Ireland?

In theory yes. There are, in truth, very few qualifications, as long you’re an Irish citizen. You have to be over 35, but you don’t have to live in the

State. However, if you’re a member of our community in Britain and do get elected, you’ll have to get the Irish government’s permission every time you leave the State. Which probably means you won’t be able to hold down your day job over here. When Mary McAleese

became president and still had a house in Rostrevor, Co. Down, she had to ask the Taoiseach permission to go home for her tea.

But it’s pretty hard to get elected isn’t it – it’s usually the favourite who wins?

A date with history

What happened on this day...

Saturday, March 25:

1738 – Death of Turlough O’Carolan, Ireland’s greatest harp player and composer.

Sunday, March 26:

1932 – Death of Horace Plunkett who had come up with radical plans to administer Ireland as a dominion, much like Canada. The unionists rejected his plans out of hand, and the republicans burned his house down during the Civil War.

Monday, March 27:

1965 – Margaret Sweeney from Mayo marries Thomas

Gallagher from Meath. Two of their children, Noel and Liam, went on to form Oasis.

Tuesday, March 28:

1881 – Birth of Martin Sheridan, athlete in Bohola, Co. Mayo.

Wednesday, March 29:

1990 – Denis Taylor and Alex Higgins meet in the Irish Masters snooker championships. In a famous ill-tempered grudge match Taylor emerges triumphant.

Thursday, March 30:

1880 –Birth of playwright Sean O’Casey in Dublin.

1896 – An Irishman wins an

Olympic gold medal for the first time, when John Pius Boland takes gold in the tennis.

Friday, March 31:

Mary McAleese’s presidency had a different emphasis. She probably spent more time in Britain than all her predecessors put together. And again, we got a president who was an outsider, born in Belfast. In an astonishing election Bertie Ahern got Albert Reynolds to seek the Fianna Fáil nomination. But he was widely believed to have been shafted by the Fianna Fáil hierarchy. Mary McAleese, the “tribal timebomb” – as she was called at the time –romped home as winner.

How did that play?

Mary McAleese, from the Ardoyne in Belfast, became the third president of Ireland to be born outside the jurisdiction – Erskine Childers in

You betcha! In 2011, Micheál Martin invited Gay Byrne’s application to stand for election. For a while it seemed that the former Late Late Show host expected to be swept into the Áras by a grateful Irish nation. Instead, he came under immediate media scrutiny – and decided the cut and thrust of politics was not for him.

But the presidential elections are usually straightforward enough?

To be honest, chicanery has sometimes been part of campaigns. In 1938 everyone expected the popular Lord Mayor of Dublin, Alfie Byrne to head for the Áras. However a stitch up between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael

MARTIN SHERIDAN

Martin Sheridan was considered one of the greatest all-around athletes of his time. Born in Co. Mayo in 1881, he immigrated to America with his family when he was a teenager.

But, overall, our presidents have been a talented bunch?

No doubt about it. Our local historian Donal Kennedy reckons that the combined royal families of Europe don’t have the brains of any one of our presidents.

And if I want to become president?

You should get campaigning ASAP. Michael D only has another two years in office. It seems unlikely he’ll ‘pull a Trump’, as we call it in the business. That is, he’s unlikely to hole up in Áras an Uachtaráin refusing to leave, and probably won’t encourage crowds to march on Leinster House to wreck the place. It seems more likely that Michael will retire to write more poetry.

the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri. He also won gold in the Greek-style discus at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.

1547 – The main cathedral at Clonmacnoise is badly damaged by a severe storm. Speculation abounds that St Malachy had prophesied the tragedy several hundred years earlier, and was a result of ‘heretical activities’.

1871 – Birth of Arthur Griffith, founder of Sinn Féin, in Dublin.

1953 – The Princess Victoria ferry capsizes off the coast of Co Down with the loss of 228 lives – one of Ireland’s worst maritime disasters.

Sheridan’s athletic career began as a member of the Irish-American Athletic Club in New York City. Excelling in many different events — including the shot put, discus, hammer throw, long jump, high jump, and pole vault. — he won numerous national and international championships in the process setting many world records.

Sheridan was especially renowned in the shot put and discus throwing — winning the gold medal in both these disciplines at

Sheridan was famous for his unique throwing style, which involved a quick spin before releasing the implement. This technique, which he called the “Irish Whirl,” is still used by many modern track and field athletes.

Sheridan was also known for his sportsmanship and leadership qualities. He served as captain of the U.S. Olympic team in 1908 and 1912.

Sheridan retired from competition in 1911 and later worked as a customs inspector in New York City. Sadly he died in 1918 at the age of 37 from pneumonia during the influenza pandemic.

PRESIDENTIAL DUTY: Michael D Higgins meets the Derry players and mascots before the Derry City v Shamrock Rovers match in the FAI President’s Cup match Picture: Getty Images

As discussions continue about whether the Irish diaspora should have a vote in the presidential election, we look at the job and its perks

Irish productions up for awards across several categories

Page 20

Choice-RTÉ albums of the year

Ireland’s most influential music and music-makers are honoured at an awards ceremony in Dublin.

GRAINNE CONROY reports

CMAT has been declared winner of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year 2022 for the album If My Wife New I’d Be Dead.

The vibe is a little bit pop, a little bit country, but not in the way you might think, and a shedload of personality

Tony Clayton-Lea

Last year’s winner Dave Balfe (For Those I Love), made the announcement in Vicar St after the judging panel, made up of Irish music media professionals gave their decision.

CMAT received a cheque for €10,000, a prize provided by the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) and the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). As Tony Clayton-Lea described her in The Irish Post just prior to the awards: “CMAT is one of

the best songwriters contemporary Ireland has had in years. Although she may not be the best speller — see the title.

“The vibe is a little bit pop, a little bit country, but not in the way you might think, and a shedload of personality. The danger here is that the word ‘novelty’ rears its head, but if you can shove that aside then you’ll bask in the luxury of songs that fuse decidedly feminist ideas with layers of confidence and dejection.”

Irish drag queen Lavender collected the award on her behalf as CMAT is on tour. Moncrieff was voted the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year for his song Warm. The song was selected from a shortlist of 10 songs by public vote. Choice Music Prize websites. Fans were given the chance to get behind their favourite Irish song of 2022 until midnight last Sunday.

Conor Curley from Fontaines D.C. picked up their Irish Artist of the Year prize.

Dave Fanning presented Sinéad O’ Connor with her award for the Classic Irish Album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got And Cian Ducrot won the Irish Breakthrough Artist of the Year.

AWARD WINNER: CMAT — Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson Picture: Getty Images

Bing Crosby heads for the charts again with his Irish songbook

THE lilting baritone voice of Bing Crosby features on a new album previously unreleased Irish songs, was released. Bing Crosby’s Irish Songbook showcases Crosby’s interpretation of traditional ballads, folk songs and Irish American compositions, never before released.

The album has already had a huge response from fans. It’s the second album release of the year from The Crosby Estate following A Valentine from Bing in February.

influential artists of the 20th century.

Although the singer had many hits across the decades — including Did Your Mother Come from Ireland, penned by Tyrone man Jimmy Kennedy — White Christmas is his most famous recording. He first performed the song on December 25, 1941 live on his NBC radio show The Kraft Music Hall. No recordings of the broadcast are believed to have survived. But the song, the biggest hit of Bing Crosby’s career, was recorded again in 1942; thereafter it became the biggest selling single of all time.

associated with the song. Track list:

1. St. Patrick’s Day Parade

2. Dear Old Donegal

3. Peg O’ My Heart

4. When Irish Eyes Are Smiling

5. Johnny Doughboy Found a Rose in Ireland

6. Top of the Morning

7. Two Shillelagh O’Sullivan

8. The Isle of Innisfree

9. McNamara’s Band

Harrigan had family roots in Schull, Co.

Bing Crosby, arguably the world’s first multimedia star, was from an IrishAmerican family. His mother Kate Harrigan had family roots in Schull, Co. Cork. Bing himself was born in Tacoma, Washington state, one of seven children He can regarded as one of the most

Bing Crosby remained dismissive of his role in the success of White Christmas, subsequently saying that “a jackdaw with a cleft palate could have sung it successfully”.

However, he remains forever

10. My Wild Irish Rose

11. Did Your Mother Come from Ireland?

12. Galway Bay

13. The Rose of Tralee

14. How Are Things in Glocca Morra?

15. Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral

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

Join Martin each week as he meets the community around the UK with an Irish connection Every Thursday evening at 7.30pm

A capital feast day

LONDON

Irish Post proprietor Elgin Loane and director Greig Fairclough

LEADING FROM THE FRONT: Mayor of Islington Cllr Troy Gallagher and Minister Heather Humphreys

Minster Heather Humphreys with parade Grand Marshal Catherina Casey from Cork

PICTURES BY BRENDAN VAUGHAN

Parnells Youth GAA

SMART TURN OUT: The Fire Brigades Union

More Midlands celebrations

Yorkshire town goes green all over

IN STEP: Dancers fron the Cassidy School, Huddersfield

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Flying the flag; Windrush community solidarity; Parade secretary John Lambe; and inset, centre – the entertainment in full swing

RIGHT: Leonard Durac from the Irish Embassy in London, Pat Reilly Chair of the Birmingham Irish Association and Shafique Shah Deputy Lord Mayor of Birmingham

PICTURES BY CHRIS EGAN

HUDDERSFIELD

PICTURES BY PETER FAWCETT

South Birmingham Comhaltas give a performance at the Midlands Arts Centre

Rambling for Patrick

Leeds folk come out in force Community spirit fills the air

Dignitaries and dancers

The Lord Mayor leads the procession

St Pat watches over the floats

Kieran Doody from Kildare with friends

Joan Logue with roots in both Galway and Kerry

LEEDS

PICTURES BY PETER FAWCETT

LEICESTER

PICTURES BY ELLEN TROOP

Sally Boyce and Pat Gallagher from Donegal

Festival fever comes to Manchester

PREPARATIONS: The Kate O’Malley School of Irish Dance get ready for the parade

BRISTOL

Bumper year for IFTA awards

A DOG’S LIFE: Frank, left, and Róise from the film Róise & Frank Picture: Courtesy of IFTA

THE Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has announced the 2023 IFTA nominations for the Irish Academy Awards across 28 categories in film and drama.

The upcoming 20th Anniversary IFTA Awards Ceremony, hosted by comedian Deirdre O’Kane, will take place on Sunday, May 7 at the Dublin

SUDOKU

Royal Convention Centre.

Best Film nominees

The Best Film Nominees this year showcase a diverse lineup of Irish feature films, from dark comedies to epic adventures, and from tragic stories to historical dramas.

Frank Berry’s Aisha stars Letitia Wright as a young Nigerian woman caught up in Ireland’s immigration system. The film also stars Josh O’Connor and Lorcan Cranitch.

After a roller-coaster year –success in the BAFTAS, disappointment at the Oscars — The Banshees of Inisherin could strike it

CROSSWORD

No.

lucky at the IFTAs. Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy, set on a remote island in the west, sees Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson reunite and relive their In Bruges shtick.

God’s Creatures stars Emily Watson and Paul Mescal, and tackles themes of abuse in a small-town community.

The deeply affecting drama Lakelands focuses on a young midlands GAA player whose life is thrown into disarray by a sudden injury.

In the Irish language production Róise & Frank, a widow discovers she can still connect with her late husband via a stray dog.

The Wonder is a haunting drama starring Florence Pugh, which follows an English nurse in 1862 caring for a young Irish girl who has stopped eating.

Clues Across

1. The tin-pot omen that could be all-powerful. (10)

6. Crust formed over a sore. (4)

10. Give the multitude an article, Flower. (5)

11. One who lives locally - in Ramsay St.? (9)

12. Mobile home. (7)

15. It communicates pain etc to the brain. (5)

17. Golf club which can smooth things out. (4)

18. Lady - perhaps Russian - found in gaol. (4)

19. Now, Ed may make a gift like this. (5)

21. Inconsequential. (7)

23. Stow the saint in front of the tree. (5)

24. Above. (4)

25. One vehicle might have been Terrible. (4)

26. Note part of the camera in the valleys. (5)

28. The red raft broke up here in Kerry. (7)

33. Horrifying. (9)

34. Thick-skinned animal (in short). (5)

35. Twenty-four hour periods. (4)

36. With which to bind one’s ancestors? (6,4)

Clues Down

1. At which one stands when throwing darts. (4)

2. This emotion ain’t what it used to be! (9)

3. Square found in La Paz. (5)

4. Country also known as the Friendly Islands. (5)

5. Tack. (4)

7. O rich group of voices! (5)

8. Pointed fencing material. (6,4)

9. At airport customs, this might be red, green or blue. (7)

13. Five get Melody a fur. (4)

14. Perfect state aspired to by Buddhists. (7)

16. One may save your life, but must they protect the shoreline? (5,5)

20. This detour makes Sid rove in confusion. (9)

21. Let’s hit that Scottish weed! (7)

22. Extremely dry. (4)

27. Vacant. (5)

29. One of the daughters of King Lear. (5)

30. Car-transporting ship. (5)

31. Jetty that’s ripe for destruction. (4)

Best Drama nominees 2023 Bad Sisters – developed by Sharon Horgan, the drama is et in Dublin and filmed on location in Ireland. Based on the Flemish series Clan which was created by Malin-Sarah Gozin. Starring Horgan herself, it also features Anne-Marie Duff, Brian Gleeson, Eve Hewson and Claes Bang.

Conversations with Friends – adapted from the Sally Rooney novel, this modern Dublin romance was developed by Element Pictures for BBC Three and Hulu in association with RTÉ. They’re the same people who previously adapted Rooney’s Normal for television in 202.

Derry Girls, subtitled The Agreement – the special hour-long final episode of the globally successful series.

Smother — the third series of the thriller drama series written by Kate O’Riordan and directed by Dathaí Keane. It stars Dervla Kirwan as Val Ahern, a mother determined to protect her family at any cost. The series is produced by BBC Studios and Treasure Entertainment for RTÉ

The Dry – a darkly humorous family comedy-drama series created by Nancy Harris and produced by Element Pictures. It stars Ciarán Hinds, Roisin Gallagher, Siobhán Cullen and Moe Dunford. Valhalla – the second series of the epic Vikings filmed in Ireland.

No.

Ciarán Hinds Picture: Getty Images

CHARLIE WILKINS’ GARDENING COLUMN

In the garden this week...

 A SOURCE OF IRON: Ericaceous plants such as rhododendrons azaleas, heathers and the Pieris (Flame of the Forest) need to be able to draw iron from the soil to maintain healthy green foliage. Because many of these may have been

damaged by crippling frosts earlier on, give one application now of Sequestrene.

This will supply the sequestered iron and balanced plant foods to help recover from cold, excess wet and poor growing conditions.

The Cuckoo Flower QUESTIONS &ANSWERS

century herbalist John Gerard as: ‘These flower for the most part in April and May when the Cuckoo begins to sing her pleasant notes without stammering’

For all that, my planting of Cardamine / Dentaria has been flowering for the past six weeks and the cuckoo bird is nowhere to be seen. Other common names include the very popular Lady’s-smock, because the flowers were often seen on Ladies Day which is celebrated each year on the 25th of March.

How do I clean my cacti collections?

Due to their thorny spikes, it is hard to address this problem. Use a soft artist’s brush to gently remove dust from all the ‘furry’ varieties. Never wet these. The spiny cacti are best cleaned with an old toothbrush.

GARDENING is repetition on a grand scale. Sowing, reaping, propagating and discarding, are all part and parcel of the gardening year. It never fails to impress me in its seductive slowness, how fascinating it can be in detail, and how absorbing as we attempt to control (and succeed) at getting it right.

Best of all, its relatively cheap (if you choose your plants carefully) and work within recognised limits. People want to know more,

not less about gardening so let me introduce you (yet again) to one of those plants which deserves a more

general planting in gardens large and small. I refer now to the spring flowering, greenleafed cuckoo flower sold as Cardamine pratensis. This spreading herbaceous perennial which slowly rises to nine inches or less (30cm) with five-lobed green leaves and clusters of many pink-lilac flowers from early spring; the leaves very obligingly die down in early summer, but until then it provides good ground cover without becoming invasive.

If you Google this plant

DOGS OF APRIL A SEED WORTH SOWING

APRIL sees seed sowing reach its climax and one gem of a container plant gem I would not garden without for summer non-stop flowering is Bidens ferulifolia, a good tempered ferny annual with small yellow flowers held well above the plant from late May to the end of October.

It requires no dead-heading or attention of any kind, and it survives well in dry, exposed even high ground conditions. Perhaps this is why the plant is used with such enthusiasm as subjects for window boxes and hanging baskets. Whichever, most Irish towns are awash with it during summer and none are the worse for that.

the first Cardamine you will be confronted with is Cardamine hirsute, commonly known as Hairy Bittercress. You all know and probably have, this persistent annual weed. It’s a heart scald in the garden and impossible to eradicate. I battle with it annually and lose every year.

Instead, look to Cardamine pratensis, the Cuckoo flower. If I’m not mistaken, this name may now changed to Dentaria quinquefolia.

The name ‘Cuckoo flower’ was explained by 16th

THE arrival of Erythroniums, (Dogs Tooth Violets) are in my opinion, the very essence of quality spring gardening. Woodland plants essentially, they love loamy, leaf-enriched soil or similar whenever possible. If you can grow primroses well, then you’ll certainly succeed with these and one of the best to begin with is the pink E. revolutum which delights in self seeding when happily sited. This variety is ideal for creating a naturalistic effect in any-sized ‘wild’ meadow setting. Planted with the creamy white form E. Californicum and the pale yellow E. pagoda, the collection will look stunning.

These are plants to thrill throughout spring so if you come across potted specimens in garden centres, invest. How glad I am now, that, in a moment of wanton extravagance, I bought and planted so many. They give a shaded part of the back garden a strong theme where otherwise there would be none.

This of course is only half the story. Author Geoffrey Grigson writes, the cuckoo flower is a ‘spring flower associated with milkmaids and their smocks, the cuckoo, and the Virgin Mary’

So be it, all I know about it that it has a distinct preference for partial shade an it thrives in areas of high rainfall during late winter through to the end of spring. It’s foliage is toothed with seven lobes and it arrives just before the lavender blooms, in a dark shade of green.

Attractive and welcome at a very bleak period in early spring I encourage it at every opportunity to spread and cover more ground.

TOPICAL TIPS

THE edge of a lawn, that area between the grass and the soil of the surrounding border is difficult to keep sharp and clean. All too often, the mower can fall off the edge reducing the grass to its roots.

To avoid this, and to give easier mowing, set a layer of bricks along and around the entire grass area. Lay them so that they are just below the level of the lawn.

Before you start, consider cutting sweeping curves to the edges rather than sticking to straight lines. The effect will be much more pleasing, I assure you.

I have begonia tubers saved since last year. How do I start them for them for the season ahead?

Start them in shallow trays of moist compost. The depression in each tuber should be uppermost and not covered over with the compost. Spray with water on a daily basis. Buds will form in a week or two, followed by developing foliage. Grow on but do not plant out until all danger of frost has passed.

Spiky cactus

Picture: Getty Images

Begonia tuber

Picture: Getty Images

Pieris japonica (Flame of the forest)

Picture: Getty Images

[The cuckoo flower is] a ‘springflower associated with milkmaids and their smocks, the cuckoo, andtheVirginMary’ Geoffrey Grigson

WELCOME ADDITION: The cuckoo plant spreads wonderfully and charms in its spot beneath a deciduous maple

Edited by Mal Rogers

Luxurious new lookout in the heart of Galway

New boutique hotel offers stunning views of one of Ireland’s best-loved cities, writes FIONA AUDLEY

YOU don’t have to look very hard to find a reason to visit Galway.

This charming city in the west of Ireland remains the cultural capital of the nation – with a bulging events calendar boasting something for all every night of the week.

From live Irish music and comedy nights to poetry readings and all manner of festivals, the city oozes enjoyable, life-enriching activities, meaning whatever entertainment or escape you are after you’ll find it there, somewhere.

Add to that the cobbled streets, historic buildings, boutique shopping, great food and even better Guinness, and you pretty much have a city that can’t be beaten in terms of desirable holiday destination.

But there is so much more to it than that.

For me, to visit Galway is to spark a lifelong connection to a city unlike any other.

Galway has long been a favourite haunt for Irish people and tourists alike, but year on year it retains that popularity and its ability to draw visitors old and new to its shores.

That can’t be easy, but it certainly helps that this is a city that somehow manages to continually reinvent itself.

On the many trips I have taken there I always find something new to rave about or some hidden gem that I had yet to uncover.

And then there are the people. Galwegians are some of the most welcoming people you will find in Ireland.

Full of great craic and even better stories, they brim with pride in their city and the county it lies within.

And you don’t have to just take my word for it – in 2021 readers of the international travel magazine Condé Nast voted Galway the friendliest city in Europe, and not for the first time.

That is just one of many awards and accolades that have been assigned to Galway over the years.

The city is regularly recognised on the international stage for everything from its culture scene and local heritage preservation to its eco-friendly ideals and its welcoming nature.

Known as the ‘City of the Tribes’, historically Galway was home to 14 merchant families – or tribes as they were known – who prospered from trade with continental Europe.

Those tribes are now long gone, of course, but the city – which is one of the oldest and largest in Ireland –has retained its nickname and is

ACCENT ON THE ANGULAR: Staircase at The Dean

UNASSUMINGLY CHIC: The Dean, Galway

still full of ‘tribesmen’.

From its multitude of university students and its constant steam of tourists to the proud Galwegians who have called the county home for generations, there is a crowd for everyone here.

And playing host to such tourists and short-stay visitors for so many years has made Galway a multicultural Irish city like no other.

It is a city where old meets new on a daily basis and the landscape becomes all the more sweeter for it.

Both historic and modern, traditional and cutting edge, proud of its heritage but keen to evolve, Galway is full of opportunity and possibility for anyone visiting. And that is something that I love about it.

So, on my most recent visit I was excited and yet unsurprised to learn that a new hotel – which has opened post-pandemic – brings an entirely

as the Burren in the neighbouring County Clare, but there is plenty to be said of the view of the city itself –with the perfectly pitched location offering a 360-degree perspective of town that you simply cannot find in any other Galway restaurant.

There is also a spacious terrace seating area so you can soak up that view whilst you take your breakfast, lunch or dinner al fresco, if the weather allows - another unique offering not widely found in the city.

But there is absolutely no need to brave the elements if you don’t want to, as the restaurant is windowed from end to end, meaning you can savour the sights from wherever you are perched inside.

And there is plenty to savour in there too.

The sumptuous art deco style décor of the restaurant and bar is an extension of what is to be found throughout the hotel.

new offering to a city which has hosted the visiting masses for many many moons.

Nestled in amidst the historic streets of Bohermore, just a stone’s throw from the city’s busy Eyre Square, is a luxurious new boutique accommodation offering, which looks as if it has been there forever but is in fact cleverly designed so that its limestone exterior fits in perfectly with its Prospect Hill location.

It’s little over a year since The Dean hotel opened in January 2022.

It’s the third instalment by the Press Up hotel group, which also has sister hotels located in Dublin and Cork, which opened in 2014 and 2020 respectively.

And upon entering this unassumingly chic building it is clear that you have reached new heights on the Galway hotel scene.

Well, actually the feeling is there from the lobby, but it’s not until you take the lift to the top floor that you really see the heights The Dean has taken Galway to.

Perfectly positioned at the top of the hotel is Sophie’s – the hotel’s classy rooftop restaurant, which offers stunning views of Galway city.

On a clear day you can see as far

Think leather benches in cosy booths, gold-gilded barstools with floral decor and a glittering u-shaped bar boasting pink tiles and every possible glass and bottle you can imagine, and you are starting to get a picture of the effortlessly plush yet comfortable Sophie’s setting.

booths, gold-gilded barstools with u-shaped bar boasting imagine, and you are starting to get a picture of the effortlessly

From the food to the décor, cocktails and even the leisure facilities, there is a very clear sense of attention to detail throughout The Dean.

The hotel rooms, for example, boast all the required elements. There’s a bed, bathroom, hairdryer, towels, etc.

Another surprise came when we ventured into the gym.

Now this is part of the hotel’s leisure offering, but is open to membership by locals, who have lapped up the opportunity.

button. Need I say more.

It’s nuggets such as this which are the beauty of The Dean.

too – from breakfast through to dinner

The food is great too – from breakfast through to dinner we were continually impressed.

But they feel like something extra special by way of a few small additions and the eclectic, fun and mismatched décor and furnishing that surrounds you.

We quickly found out why, as The Dean’s Power Gym is not your average gym.

Lots of little things, nods to the attention, detail and thought put into each and every segment of this hotel, are what makes it so special. It feels like something shiny and new, but also like home.

It feels like being somewhere fancy while wearing your favourite, cosiest slippers – which is a bit like being in Galway itself, really.

eggs benedict, with succulent Irish glazed ham, or with Jerusalem artichoke, every dish was flavourful and cooked to perfection.

Whether enjoying eggs benedict, with succulent Irish glazed ham, or pan-fried hake, served with Jerusalem artichoke, every dish was flavourful and cooked to perfection.

Notably, the addition of a ‘Munchies’ wall and a drinks shelf –the Dean’s funky version of a mini-bar – which were both full of our favourite drinks and nibbles when we arrived, was a pretty special touch.

Oh, and there was also a working record player in there too, with vinyl, just waiting for us to give it a spin.

No this is as boutique as the hotel it finds itself within, with mounds of space, an impressive amount of equipment and even its very own boxing tunnel – a true hidden gem in the heart of Galway.

It was a bustling hive of activity on both occasions that we headed in for a workout, which was absolutely no surprise to us.

It also boasts a sauna, steam room and an outdoor hydrotherapy pool – which is decorated with flamingos and boasts a ‘press for champagne’

As new finds in this city go, this is one of the best. So if you’re after a decent slice of luxury, some hearty cuisine – or a high-end workout –The Dean is a must-visit on your next trip to Galway.

 For information or bookings at The Dean hotel in Galway visit www.thedean.ie/galway

ECLECTIC FURNISHINGS: Bedrooms at The Dean

PICTURE PERFECT: Art at The Dean

ROOFTOP RESTAURANT: Sophie’s at The Dean

B. Movers

10th Anniversary Liam (John) McCann

Who passed away 20th March, 2013. Of Small Heath, Birmingham and formerly Dublin. We thought of you with love today, But that is nothing new, We thought about yesterday, and days before that too.

God has you in his keeping –We have you in our hearts. Much missed by his wife Bernie and his children Joanne, Andrew and Anthony.

May He Rest In Peace

Notification of Death WILLIAM KIELY

of Harrow and Aetha, Co. Limerick passed suddenly 19th February.

Funeral, Friday 24th March – 12.00pm

Saint Gregory the Great Church, S. Ruislip HA4 0EG Place of Committal – 13.30pm. Breakspear Crematorium – East Chapel. Breakspear Road, Ruislip HA4 7SJ Loved his GAA, and his family more. RIP

Notification of Death RITA FORDE

Rita passed away in Whittington Hospital on 2nd March 2023, aged 90. Originally from Roscommon, she settled in the Holloway area where she met her beloved husband, Patrick. Much loved Mum to Brian, Colin and David. Wonderful Nanny to Leah, Amber and Emy. Will be greatly missed by family & friends. Funeral will take place 10am, 31st March, 2023 at Sacred Heart of Jesus, Eden Grove, followed by the committal at Islington Crematorium, East Finchley.

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Notification of Death

McNeill Elizabeth (Marie) née Rogan

Peacefully in St. Joseph’s Nursing Home, Longsight, Manchester on Monday, 13th March, 2023, surrounded by her loving family and fortified by The Rites Of Holy Mother Church.

Formerly of Killyleagh, County Down, Rusholme and Longsight, Manchester – Marie aged 101 years. R.I.P.

The dearly loved Wife of the late Edward [R.I.P.]. Now reunited and much loved Mum of Julia, Eddie [R.I.P.], Owen, Annmarie, Terence, Cathy, Anthony, Teresa and Paul. Also a treasured Grandma, Great Grandma, and Great Great Grandma.  A dear Auntie and Mother-in-Law. She will be sadly missed by all her family and friends. Requiem Mass to take place at St. Edward’s R.C. Church, Thurloe Street, Rusholme, Manchester M14 5SG on Friday 31st March at 10.00 am, followed by Burial at Southern Cemetery M21 7GL. Family flowers only please but donations, if desired, may be sent to: The Little Sisters Of The Poor, or The Cystic Fibrosis Trust, or Children With Cancer UK. All donations and enquiries to: Eamonn A. Kennedy Funeral Directors,  390 Palatine Road, Northenden, Manchester M22 4FZ Tel. 0161 945 2097.

The death has occurred of TOM

(Tommy)

MORAN of Rathfarnham, Dublin / Athea, Limerick.

TOM MORAN (Red Cow Moran Hotel & Inn – Rathfarnham, Dublin and Athea, Limerick) died peacefully on March 12, 2023 at St James’s Hospital.

Beloved husband of Sheila and loving father of Tommy, Karen, Tracey, Michael, Stephen, Brendan and the late Sean.

Very sadly missed by his sisters Mary, Joan, Helen and brother Michael. Also missed by his son-in-law Thor; daughters-in-law Sarah, Tina, Geri, Laura; 20 grandchildren – Ben, Charlotte, Abi, Trudy, Leon, Beth, Ellie, Noah, Meghan, Max, Erik, Oscar, Kamen, Maya, Alice, Stella, Yana, Nesa, Paddy, George; brothers-in-law; sisters-in-law; nieces and nephews; extended family; his colleagues and many friends.

Predeceased by his son Sean, father Thomas, mother Cathy, brothers Sean & Patrick and son-in-law Nardus.

The funeral took place at 1pm on Thursday, March 16 at Church of the Annunciation, Rathfarnham, followed by cremation at Newlands Cross Crematorium. May he rest in peace.

Neither The

Post or its employees can be held responsible for the failure of advertisers to meet any of their responsibilities.

Stadiums are the stars in new TG4 documentary

NaGoirtÓrgais a new series of three hour-long TG4 programmes celebrating the world’s great sporting arenas in Ireland, Britain and much further afield

FORMER Kerry GAA football captain Dara Ó Cinnéide presents a series on famous sports stadiums, from Croke Park to the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on the Irish language channel TG4. English sub-titles are available. Stadiums are much more than architectural wonders of steel and stone, Dara reckons. “They are living cathedrals where communities come to bond, as they worship their sporting heroes. This is true whether you are at a county final in Kerry or the World Cup Final in Mexico City.”

This series peeks behind the curtains of three of Ireland’s most revered sporting locations, while also bringing TG4 viewers on a trip around the world: to venues in Mexico, China, Korea, Croatia, Portugal, Wales and England, An intangible aura

surrounds these stadiums, and each one has its own unique identity. Dara talks about the culture, history, architecture and design in more than a dozen stadiums, and meets the people that bring these places to life.

EPISODE ONE (March 23)

• Dara Ó Cinnéide visits the work-inprogress refurbishment at Anfield,, where Irish links with Liverpool FC run deep. A lifelong Reds fan, Dara gets access to the dressing rooms and the famous ‘boot room’.

• In Braga in Portugal, the architect Eduardo Souta De Moura fashioned a unique arena in his home town for the 2004 Euros: literally carving the pitch out of a cliff – leaving a stone quarried wall at one end and an open vista at the other. The architect received an award from Barack Obama for this imaginative design.

• Meanwhile in Jeonju in Korea, the design and engineering of the local football stadium – built for the World Cup in 2002 – is inspired by the area’s maritime past.

• In Derry’s Brandywell, Dara experiences the ways in which sport embodies

EPISODE TWO (March 30)

• In this episode, Dara’s journey begins in Dublin as he is granted unique access behind the scenes of the All Ireland hurling final in Croke Park. The stadium is named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals, it has servesd as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the GAA since 1891. This makes Croke Park the third-largest stadium in Europe, and the largest not usually used for soccer.

before joining the home team, the “Ultras” on the terraces to witness a match for local team Club America. Passions run high at their matches.

important stadiums,

The highest attendance ever recorded at an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final was 90,556 for Offaly v Down in 1961. Since the introduction of seating to the Cusack stand in 1966, the largest crowd recorded has been 84,516.

Braga, from Croatia to Croker, this series visits a host of the planet’s most including Seoul’s Olympic Stadium, the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and Anfield in Liverpool. Their morale in the town and galvanised is

• Next stop is North Wales, where the new owners of the local football club in Wrexham are Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Their arrival has boosted morale in the town and galvanised the fanbase in the Racecourse, one of the oldest football stadiums in the entire world. It is the world’s oldest international football stadium – perhaps the oldest, claimed by

some – that still hosts international matches. Wales’ first home international match was held here in 1877. The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957, when Wrexham hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators. The Football Association of Wales – whose CEO is Limerick man Noel Mooney – has now made it known that Wales international sides are to appearunder their Welsh designation Cymru.

Dara delves into the fascinating history of soccer in a country where soccer usually takes second place to rugby.

• Back in the Kingdom of Kerry, Dara reflects on his home turf and spends a morning in the storied Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney, reminiscing in the company of his friend Tomás Ó Sé.

EPISODE THREE (April 6)

• The Azteca stadium in Mexico City is one of the world’s most famous sporting arenas. It was here that Bob Beamon set a world record for the long jump in the 1968 Olympics and where Pelé won his third World Cup two years later. But many will remember the venue above all as the place where Diego Maradona scored his famous ‘hand of God’ goal gainst England en route to winning the World Cup in 1986. Dara talks about this precious past with local soccer broadcaster Marion Reimers,

• While in Mexico City, Dara also excavates a sporting spectacle from a bygone era. The ancient Aztec game of pelota reveals how seriously the Aztecs took their sport –passionate pelota clashes often ended in death or decapitation for the losers.

• Dara heads to north London where one of England’s most modern grounds Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was constructed over the footprint of its old stadium: White Hart Lane.

• On the flat grass plains of the Curragh in Kildare, Dara explores the enduring spectacle of horse racing in a natural amphitheatre that has attracted spectators for thousands of years. Racehorse trainer Willie McCreery, acts as his tour guide in the lead-up to biggest race of the year: the Irish Derby.

Na Goirt Órga is the latest in a line of international co-productions between TG4, Welsh language broadcaster S4C, the international distributor TVF and production companies Loosehorse and Cwmni Da.

 TG4 is available in Britain across a wide number of streaming platforms.

GOOD GROUNDS: Dara Ó Cinnéide at The Curragh (Episode 3)

DIVINE INTERVENTION: Diego Maradonna gets his ‘hand of God’ on the World Cup at the Azteca Stadium (Episode 3)

Farley penalty brace not enough for London

Allianz National Football League, Division 4  WATERFORD   2-09  (15) LONDON          2-05  (11)

BY ANTHONY MCLAUGHLIN

LONDON find themselves rooted to the bottom of Division 4 of the National Football League after a four-point defeat away in Waterford last Saturday.

In the clash between the two bottom counties in the division, Michael Maher’s side would have been aiming for an opening win of the season in Lemybrien but despite holding a one-point lead at half-time they were unable to hold on as the home side hit 1-2 midway through the second-half to ultimately take the points.

In a low scoring opening period London hit the front from the

penalty spot thanks to corner-forward Farley, the St. Kiernan’s man sending his effort beyond Paudie Hunt between the Waterford sticks. The lead lasted all of two minutes as Darragh Corcoran struck a goal in reply for the home side to bring the teams level before London restored their slender advantage by half-time.

It remained tight in the opening phases of the second-half before Waterford struck for a vital second goal thanks to Sean Whelan Barrett, while London played the final quarter with fourteen after James Gallagher picked up a second yellow. Staring down a six-point deficit in the closing ten minutes, London rallied and grabbed a second Farley goal from the penalty spot but it proved their last score as Waterford secured their first win of the campaign. London will conclude

their campaign this Sunday (26th March) at home to Laois, the game at McGovern Park free to watch for spectators.

Meanwhile London’s hurlers pushed table toppers Meath to the very limit in their final league fixture last Sunday. Kevin McMullan’s side were pipped by a single point at McGovern Park despite going toe to toe with the promotion favourites in Division 2B in what was a dead rubber fixture ahead of this Sunday’s relegation play-off against Sligo (time and venue to be confirmed at the time of writing).

An early Eoghan McHugh goal set the tone for the afternoon in Ruislip, Ronan Crowley adding four points from frees thereafter as the two sides traded scores before Jack Goulding bagged his side’s second goal after twenty minutes to nudge London four

ahead. A rally from the visitors – including the first of two Éamon Óg Ó Donnchadha goals – was negated by scores from Crowley, Goulding and Emmett’s half-forward Dylan Dawson as London came off at half-time holding a three-point lead.

There was an immediate sting at the start of the second-half though, Ó Donnchadha grabbing a second goal to bring the teams level before Meath edged two in front. Back came London with Goulding and Crowley (free) restoring parity as the game became a back and forth scoring contest. The Goulding-Crowley axis kept tagging on points for the home side before Sean Glynn sent over the leading point in added-time.

Unfortunately for London, two last ditch points by Meath full-forward Jack Regan proved decisive

before the full-time whistle to salvage his side’s 100% record ahead of a final against the winners of Wicklow and Donegal. Despite the result, London will take plenty of plus points into this weekend’s relegation play-off – the task is a simple one: the winners stays, the loser goes.

Teams:

WATERFORD: P Hunt; E McGrathButler, D O’Cathasaigh, L Fennell; D Ryan, B Looby, J O’Sullivan; B Lynch, M Curry; J Curry, S Whelan Barrett, C Murray; D Corcoran, D Fitzgerald, M Kiely.  LONDON: N Maher; E Flanagan, M Clarke, N McElwaine; L Gallagher, E Walsh, A McLoughlin; J Obahor, O Kerr; N O’Leary, M Walsh, S Dornan; C Farley, J Gallagher, D Clarke.

Referee: S. Mulhare (Laois)

LANCASHIRE WIN EARNS

DERBY BRAGGING RIGHTS

Allianz National Hurling League, Division 3B

LANCASHIRE                   5-20  (35) WARWICKSHIRE              1-15  (18)

BY ANTHONY MCLAUGHLIN AT PÁIRC NA HÉIREANN

IT may not have been enough to qualify for the Division 3B promotion play-offs but last Saturday’s victory in Birmingham has given Lancashire a timely confidence booster ahead of the Lory Meagher Cup next month.

Both Lancashire and Warwickshire will compete in the six-team Meagher Cup, with Liam Knocker’s side aiming for a better result in their opening game against Longford after their loss at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park proved the defining factor of their league campaign. Last Saturday at Páirc na hÉireann gave them an opportunity to bounce back to winning ways which they duly delivered thanks to a powerful second-half performance including five goals, despite missing Conor Kennedy in attack.

For Warwickshire, who were missing their captain John Collins, their opening half performance was arguably their best of the league campaign but once again they faced an uphill battle in a second-half that only yielded two scores from open play. With the Meagher Cup the ultimate goal for 2023, attentions will now turn to their opening clash at home to Cavan – a must-win if they have any ambitions of making their mark in All-Ireland competition.

After twenty minutes this game was all level with Robin Spencer clinical off frees for

Lancashire and Jack Grealish doing likewise at the other end, St. Barnabas wing-back Matt Keane and Borris-Ileigh wing-forward Ray McCormack striking sensational points out wide for Warwickshire and Lancashire respectively. A sweeping move from back to front almost forged an opening goal for Warwickshire, Luke Hands on the end of a tremendous team move only to be denied by a firm Patrick Coates save. Yet Lancashire doggedly kept themselves in front, two more Spencer set pieces and a long-range strike by Eamonn Kearns ensuring they went into the changing rooms two points ahead.

The change of ends saw Lancashire take a

grip on proceedings, after Darragh Carroll and Spencer (free) extended their advantage a direct move down the middle released midfielder Conor Madden for the opening goal of the game. Indeed, both Maddens from Fullen Gaels, Conor and Shane, were prominent in the second period as Lancashire took control of midfield and a penalty moments later required a superb diving save from Paddy Hands to deny Spencer. Back they came undeterred, points from Shane Madden and Carroll preceding a second major for Madden while at the other end a defiant Grealish drilled a bullet free high into the roof of the Lancashire net.

Yet Lancashire were raiding in waves, McCormack cutting in from the right to lash a close-range effort beyond Hands for a third goal with less than ten minutes remaining before Madden added a fourth straight afterwards. McCormack ended the day on 2-2, the Tipperary forward grabbing his side’s fifth before Warwickshire responded through Hands (free) and Grealish.

It was left to Shane Madden to round off the scoring with his side’s twentieth point from out wide, ensuring a second win of the league season for Lancashire. For both these sides now it’s all about Championship season in what could prove a very open Meagher Cup competition; Leitrim and Monaghan – the only county of the six playing in Division 3A – make up the other sides all aiming for a run out at Croke Park later this year.

Teams and Scorers:

LANCASHIRE: P Coates; P Shine, C McCormack, L Burns; F Henry, S Nugent, A Morgan; C Madden (1-1), S Madden (2-4); R McCormack (2-2), E Kelly, D Burke; E Kearns (0-2), D Carroll (0-2), R Spencer (0-9, 1 Pen, 6f, 1’65). Subs: C O’Shea (for Kearns 48); B Slattery (for Burns 51);

D Duffy (for Spencer 53); D Fitzell (for Morgan 60); C O’Brien (for Carroll 66).

WARWICKSHIRE: P Hands; S Jordan, T Kelly, S Clarke; M Keane (0-1), N Eames, M Holland; P Lancaster, J Grealish (1-8, 6f, 1’65); M Quinn, P Crehan, A Hands; B O’Sullivan, L Hands (0-5, 4f), P McMahon. Subs: K Murphy (0-1, for McMahon 47); A Hanley (for Jordan 51); D King (for Lancaster 51); N Lenihan (for A Hands 54).  Referee: C. Doyle (Tipperary)

MIDFIELD TUSSLE: Both teams fight for possession (Lancs in black)

DARA AT THE CURRAGH

New TG4 documentary series featuring Dara Ó Cinnéide makes sports stadiums the stars

Page 26

FAI AND NISSAN DEVELOP ONGOING PARTNERSHIP

Governing body and Japanese auto manufacturer strike deal

BY CONOR O’DONOGHUE

NISSAN has announced that it is to continue as the Official Vehicle Partner of the Football Association of Ireland for a new three-year term up to 2026.

Nissan has played a pivotal role in driving the development of football in communities all over Ireland since it became an FAI partner in September 2019.

It will continue to supply a fleet of 55 vehicles to FAI Development Officers and other personnel working across Ireland to promote football and to attract girls and boys of all ages and abilities to play the game.

The total value of the vehicles is €2 million and the fleet includes the all new Nissan Qashqai e-POWER which allows drivers to experience the thrill of EV driving without ever having to plug in the car to recharge it.

The FAI’s team of Development Officers have also been supplied with cars from Nissan’s award-winning range of 100 per cent electric, mild hybrid and hybrid vehicles as part of an ongoing green initiative which is helping the FAI to reduce its carbon footprint.

Russell responds to Ryanair boss

BY GERARD CASSINI

JOCKEY Davy Russell has responded to Gigginstown owner Michael O’Leary’s claims the jockey made a mistake in returning to the saddle.

The Ryanair boss made his remarks last week in an interview who reporting from Cheltenham.

RTÉ reports that Davey Russell retired just before Christmas last year, after a long successful career. His record includes being Irish jump racing Champion Jockey three times, winning the Grand National (twice), the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.

Last December the jockey, from Youghal, Co. Cork, had partnered the Gordon Elliott-trained Liberty Dance to victory at Thurles in his final days in the saddle – or what he thought would be the swan song of his career.

But when Jack Kennedy broke his leg at Naas in mid-January, Elliott persuaded Russell to return to the saddle to help him out. The 43-year-old then jockeyed a number of Elliott’s leading horses at the Cheltenham Festival.

Last week O’Leary said in an interview with ITV Racing: “He’d retired and, personally, I wish he’d stayed retired. He has a young family with young children and at a certain point in time you should

It is great news to see the FAI and Nissan continue their partnership... Nissan have been a great supporter over the last few years Republic of Ireland Manager, Stephen Kenny

“Nissan is delighted to extend our partnership with the FAI and to support the great work that the Development Officers are doing at grassroots level to attract players, coaches and volunteers to play and enjoy football,” said Seamus Morgan Managing Director of Nissan Ireland.

“We want to see even more coaching programmes taking place in schools, clubs and communities across Ireland. We are helping the FAI to hit that goal and our fleet of electrified vehicles will support its Development Officers as they travel thousands of kilometres across Ireland each year to grow the sport,” he added.

Welcoming the partnership

put your family first and not your riding career.

“When you get out at that age in your early 40s you don’t bounce, you don’t mend the way you did before, particularly if you’re married and you have children you put your family first.

“He’s had a glorious career and he has nothing to achieve by coming back and I don’t think he should’ve come out of retirement.”

Russell responded to the comments, telling ITV: “I have about as much respect for Michael O’Leary’s opinion as he has for my opinion, do you know what I mean?

“I didn’t see any father of the year awards being thrown out yet. I’m happy enough with my responsibilities at home. That’s about as much as that I’d like to... I said it yesterday and that’s about it.”

extension, Republic of Ireland Men’s National Team Manager, Stephen Kenny said: “It is great news to see the FAI and Nissan continue their partnership, a partnership which is extremely important to the Association.

“Nissan have been a great supporter over the last few years, providing cars to our coaches up and down the country which is a great resource for every Development Officer and High Performance member of staff as we try to develop the game across Ireland. Further to that, by providing electric and hybrid vehicles, it helps the association become more sustainable and care for the environment.”

Commenting on the partnership, FAI CEO, Jonathan Hill said:

“The FAI is delighted that Nissan is extending its partnership as our Official Vehicle Partner until 2026.

“The 55 electrified vehicles that Nissan supplies to the FAI keep our Development Officers on the road, enabling the many grassroots initiatives all over the country and help drive greater participation across our game. Our partnership with Nissan has also helped the FAI to transition to a more sustainable fleet and to reduce our carbon footprint.”

A DAY AT THE RACES: Jockey Davy Russell with Michael O’Leary Picture: Getty Images

WELCOMING DEAL: Stephen Kenny Picture: Getty Images