Irish Democrat March 1987

FOUNDED 1939 

Organ of the 

Connolly Association 

No. 517 MARCH 1987 30p 

THEY DONT 

The 

09- i/-.. . i . 

LONDON 

MEMBERS 

ALL paid-up members in London and the Southeast 

are entitled to attend the meeting in Marchmont 

Street Community Centre (Russell Square) at 2.30 

pm. on Saturday March 14th. 

This is to continue the process begun last month 

of trying to draw all members into the work of the 

Association. There will be a political discussion on The 

General Election results. 

The attendance on February 14th was modest, 

but there was a good feeling about, as if the 

Association, the oldest Irish political organisation in 

Britain was going to take off again. 

E.C. will be held a fortnight later. 

i 

TRUST HAUGHEY BUT 

ABOLISH 

WONT HAVE FITZ 

THE 

—LUMP— 

THE importance of the conference to 

be held at the Marchmont Street 

Community Centre at 2.30 pm on 

March 21st is thrown into relief by 

-events at McCarthy and Stones in 

Sutton. Surrey. 

This firm sacked their directly 

employed workforce and brought in 

"self-employed lumbers." 

The result was Union action. But 

the High Court issued an injunction 

•gainst the workers and compelled the 

TGWU and UCATT to cease backing 

the men's picket. 

The allegation is that safety 

standards have plumetted and workers 

are lugging cement to the site in their 

•wn cars. 

• Conference has the support of Mr 

Eric HefTer, MP, who writes as 

follows: 

Dear Desmond, 

Thank you for your letter and I 

would like to say how much I 

welcome the Conference that is 

being organised concerning the 

Construction Industry which was 

outlined on page two of the Irish 

Democrat for January. 

It is vital that Irish and other 

workers, including British 

workers, should unite in their 

appropriate Trade Unions, to 

fight for better conditions in the 

Construction Industry, and 

especially against the Lump. 

Some years ago I attempted to 

get a Bill through Parliament 

which would have outlawed the 

Lump, but did not get enough 

support. Also, the Labour 

Government in 1970 was putting 

through a Bill which would have 

marginally helped to combat it, 

but it was lost when Labour lost 

the election. 

We need, action in the country 

by the unions and workers to 

Combat the Lump, but we also 

need a future Labour 

Government to introduce 

legislation to deal with it. 

Safety is still a vital question, 

as are many other issues, and so I 

wish, the > Conference every 

success. The real need is to build 

the unions, get properly 

Organised, defeat the Lump, 

ensure that the Working rules are 

observed and that the laws on 

Health and Safety are not only 

kept to but improved. 

All the very oest, 

Youfs fraternally, ' 

RICS. HEFFER, MP 

SO FITZ CLIMBS ON HAUGHEY'S BACK 

STATISTICAL man, supreme 

adjudicator of aspiring politics 

has given his verdict on Charles 

ley and Fianna Fail. 

It is that though they are the 

best of a bad bunch, the people do 

not trust them an overall majority. 

There is more safety in a hung 

parliament. 

Fianna Fail has eighty-one 

seats, but for an overall majority, 

The Taoiseach requires the 

suffrages of Neil Blaney and Tony 

Gregory. The Labour Party are 

putting up their own man, and the 

Workers Party now with 3 TDs, 

are supporting nobody. 

The danger of this situation is 

that Mr Haughey may become 

dependent on Fine Gael, who 

Nottingham 

Social 

NOTTINGHAM members of The 

Connolly Association are holding a 

social at the EARL MANVERS 

pub, Manvers Street, Sneinton, on 

Friday, 27th March, with live music 

from one of the finest folk groups in 

the Midlands, PATTI O'DOORS, 

7.30 pm start, admission £1.00 on 

the door. By public transport catch 

the number 20 bus outside the main 

Post Office in Nottingham. Plans 

are also underway for an Easter 

public talk in Nottingham. Further 

details available at the social and in 

next month's Democrat. Local 

contact: J. Logan, 78 Lenton 

Boulevard. 

SPRING WINS BY FIVE VOTES 

have promised to back him if he 

puts through a tough monetarist 

budget, with implied emphasis on 

reduced public spending and 

• privatisation. 

There is no way in which the 

smaller parties could dislodge 

what would be in effect a National 

Coalition directed against the 

ordinary people. 

In this situation, the Labour 

Party, whose leader secured 

election by four votes, is talking 

about a "Coalition of The Left." 

There is no such thing as a 

"Left" in Ireland that does not 

include the demand for National 

Independence and the reunification 

of the country. 

If James Connolly were alive 

today and leading the party he 

founded, there is good reason to 

think he would urgf Labour to 

support Fianna Fial on condition 

that there was no weakening on 

Neutrality, public industry, and 

progress in the direction of ending 

partition. 

If this were to take place the 

mould of Irish politics would be 

truly broken. But while 

sppkesmen of the Left persist in 

regarding the most progressive 

potential Taoiseach as Enemy 

Number One, the whole balance 

of politics is thrown into disarray. 

Meanwhile, evidence accumulates 

of constant British 

interference and Mr Haughey is 

always at the receiving end of the 

sneers and insults. 

There are revelations of 

attempts to plant Whitehall 

agents in the Garda Siochana. The 

British Armv recently planted a 

listening device across the border 

in County Monaghan. 

A file on "Dirty Tricks" 

operations against the Republic 

by MI6, has been sent to Mrs 

Thatcher, and we have the ironic 

situation where the British 

Government is investigating 

"under cover" operations against 

the Republic which the 

Government of the Republic has 

refused to consider. 

The merest chance that Mr 

Haughey will refuse to play ball is 

justification for supporting him, 

even if there remained some 

doubts about his ability to stand 

firm. British Imperialism thinks 

he is the worst choice. Therefore 

he must be the best. 

WANTED 

A DUPLICATOR, preferably 

Roneo or Gestetner, for use by the 

Connolly Association in Liverpool 

in ansence of full facilities in 

London office. Has anyone got one 

that is not wanted, and would be 

prepared to donate or sell at a 

reasonable price. Get in touch with 

Connolly Association, 244/246, 

Grays Inn Road, London, WC1, 

telephone 01-833-3022. 

IRISH SEA POLLUTION CONFERENCE 

SOMETHING legs than two 

years ago Liverpool Connolly 

Association pioneered the first ever 

conference to discuss the pollution 

and militarisation of the Irish Sea. 

The conference took place at the 

Shaftesbury Hotel, and was 

attended hy representatives from 

Cumbr'j in the north to 

Meiri nydd in the wesf. The report 

is still available price £1. 

Now one of the aspects pinpointed 

by the Association is being 

taken up by the prestigious Royal 

College of General Practitioners, 

Merseyside and North Wales 

Faculty. 

They are calling an International 

conference of General Practitioners, 

other health professionals, 

environmental groups, etc. It will 

meet at the Prince of Wales Hotel, 

Sov.ihport on Saturday and 

Sunday 14th and 15th March, and 

particulars can be obtained from 

Miss Hilary Smith, at the 

Department of General Practice, 

University of Liverpool. The 

address is Box 147, the telephone 

number being 051-709-6022. 

BUT the militarisation aspect 

must not be lost sight of. On 

February 19th, an Irish trawler was 

hooked by an American submarine 

and dragged ten miles before being 

freed. The 57-foot Summer Morn 

with a crew of four had been fishing 

about fourteen miles north-west oj 

the Isle Of Man. 

The U.S. authorities would have 

liked to keep quiet about h but a 

communications buoy was 

detached from the submarine and 

gave the game away. 

Simultaneously under pressure 

from MPs, the British government 

rushed out in proof form a massive 

report on cancer deaths near the 

nuclear installations. This showed 

that numbers of people aged under 

24 contracting leukaemia in the 

vicinity of Windscale/Sellafield 

was substantially above the normal. 

This is the main pollutant of th 

Irish Sea and there have been 

demands in Ireland that it be closed 

down. It has moreover overreached 

Its projected period of life 

and there might be a serious 

accident any minute.

Page Two 

LAST COPY FOR 

NEXT ISSUE 

March 15th 

LETTER 

A chara. 

'I 111 London Strategic Policy 

I mi in conjunction with Format 

Photographers lias produced a 

portable I 2 x A I panel 

Photographic exhibition with text 

on the range ol Irish culture life in 

London. The exhibition is lively, 

informative and accessible to all. 

The exhibition will be launched 

olticiallv on lhursday, March 

5th, I9K7 at an evening reception 

in the Irish Centre, 52, Camden 

Square. NWI from (>.30-9.00pm. 

'1 he exhibition will be displayed, 

leallets and posters will be 

available and there will be live 

musical entertainment from the 

Shcelas and the London Pipers 

Club. 

I he exhibition is available to 

Borough Councils who are 

members ol the London Strategv 

Policy Committee and also to 

voluntary sector projects. There 

v\ ill he no hire charge although the 

exhibition will need to be insured 

bv the hirer. 

Please contact me lor any 

lunhei information and booking 

arrangements on (>.v'-2%l or 633- 

I e meas. 

C I AIKI 

kl ATING 

• MUSIC • 

Ml BURN Polytechnic in Priory 

Park Road will echo to the sound 

ol Ireland's |igs, reels, hornpipes, 

slides and polkas this weekend as 

hmidicds ol budding young 

traditional musicians from all 

ovei north-west London compete 

lor the championship titles in the 

Irish instrumental section of this 

year's Brent festival of Music and 

Dance. 

flic competitions will be 

adiudicated by some of the best 

known local Irish musicians, 

including b u 11 o n-a cco rd i o n 

maestro Paddy Hayes of 

Ilailesden: popular banjo master 

Mick O'Connor ol Kilburn; and 

all-Ireland flute champion 

Siobhan O'Donnell of Cricklewood. 

v 

tin.' (.oiuests get under way this 

evening (I nday. January 13th) at 5 

pin with entries lor the Fiddle. Tenor 

U.ni|o. Whistle and Miscellaneous 

Insti uiiients. and continue all day 

loiiuii row (Saturday) from 9am. with 

Button Accordion. Concert I lute. 

Concertina, fiddle. Tenor Banjo, 

duels, uios. groups, and ceili bands. 

IRISH DEMOCRAT March 1987 

LONDON JOTTINGS 

A NEW day centre for single 

homeless people in the area is the 

priority of Cricklewood Homeless 

Concern in I9R7- the International 

Year of Shelter for the Homeless - 

and the organisation is to step up its 

campaign for this facility. 

This was stated by Neasdenbased 

housing worker Gerry 

Molumby, chairman of the 

registered charity, in his address to 

its annual general meeting last 

week at St Agnes's church in 

Cricklewood lane, where the group 

was founded just four years ago. 

"We started in 1983 because of 

concern amongst the priests and 

some parishoners of St Agnes's at 

the number of people calling at the 

presbytery for a food handout - 

many of the men were sleeping 

rough", he said. 

"From the very beginning 

Homeless Concern has been 

involved with single homeless 

people who have special needs as a 

result of alcoholism, mental illness 

or poverty. Our service is available 

to any homeless person regardless 

of race, colour or creed." 

"Our Sunday Club at St Agnes's 

Community Centre is now attended 

by up to 90 users and we are also 

open on Tuesday afternoons. We 

want the club users to see it as a 

social event, as their place, where 

they can chat, watch TV, or read 

newspapers." 

"Our development worker, Paul 

Hinge, is available to meet the 

welfare needs of club users. But 

LECTURES 

THE two last lectures of the 

London series are those of Dr John 

Hoffman on James Connolly's 

politics on Marefrlst and of'the 

Celtologist Peter Berresford Ellis 

on April 5th, both: at Marchmont 

Street Community Centre, WC1. 

Time - 6.30 pm„ 

Those still to run in (he Liverpool 

series are from Flann Campbell on 

March 8th (John Mitchel) and from 

Professor Iaplin (James Larkin)on 

March 22nd, and the final lecture 

on De Valera will probably be given 

bv Desmond Greaves. 

a. a A 

NORTHERN CONFERENCE 

"The Irish question and the British 

Labour movement" 

13 APRIL, 1987 

Socialist Club, Bolton, Lanes. 

- BOOK THE DATE - 

ENQUIRY COUPON 

Please send me particulars of membership) of the Connolly Association 

Name 

Address 

Cut out and post to: 

CONNOLLY ASSOCIATION,. 

244/246 Grays Inn Road, London WC1 

with the increase in numbers of 

people coming for help during the 

week and the need for a daily club 

facility, it is obvious that we need 

our own day centre." 

Parish priest Fr. Herbert Haines 

told the meeting that although the 

recent sub-zero temperatures had 

focused attention on the homeless 

and aged, their needs are still there 

throughout the year. 

"Looking at Crick lewood and 

taking account of the daily calis at 

the Presbytery over the past year, 

the needs of the homeless have not 

lessened or gone away", he said. 

"The number of homeless people 

has stayed at a constant figure." 

Fr. Haines also drew attention to 

an issue which he feels is important, 

and not just for homeless people: 

"Cricklewood has no public toilet - 

and this must reflect a certain lack 

of sensibility on the part of the local 

authority." 

In his first year's report, 

development worker Paul Hinge 

said that a number of people who 

were living rough are new housed in 

local Council housing. Their 

housing applications had been 

speeded up by the existence of 

'Concern' and his efforts. 

"During the year we have started 

alcohol counselling for people who 

wish to avail themselves of this 

service," he said. "This counselling 

has often resulted in people being 

referred to detoxication units miles 

away. There is no unit in Brent." 

Tom Reynolds recounted the 

efforts made by the organisation 

to obtain joint funding from 

Cricklewood's three surrounding 

boroughs - Barnet, Brent and 

Camden - and the delays and 

difficulties before the grants were 

eventually received. 

"We are grateful that Brent 

Council has agreed the capital 

funding for our Day Centre", said 

Mayo-born committee member 

Mary Cribben. "We feel strongly 

that day-time, and how to kill those 

long, dreary hours is a problem 

many people fail to consider when 

discussing homelessness." 

In a moving address to the 

meeting, Maurice O'Connor, a 

native of Listowel, Co. Kerry said: 

"I have been a member of the 

Cricklewood Homeless Concern 

almost from its inception both on 

the management committee and as 

a 'down and out' in Cricklewood." 

' 'A t first it all seemed impossible, 

but by sheer determination and love 

how could it fail? Daily I was 

gaining confidence, so as to reestablish 

myself back into the 

community. By now I was strong 

enough to commit myself to a 

Detox Unit to get dried out." 

Members of the Management 

Committee elected at the meeting 

include: Gerry Molumby (chair), 

Margaret Egan (secretary), Brigid 

Keenen (treasurer), Len Cole, 

Mary Cribbin, Sr. Winifred Dowd, 

Leslie Dunn, Maurice 

and Tony Sheward. 

O'Connor, 

CAUSES OF EMIGRATION 

THE Director of the Irish 

Chaplaincy Scheme in Britain - 

which provides priests, nuns and 

brothers to work with emigrants 

from Ireland - has called for 

radical changes in the economy, 

structures and institutions, of the 

Irish State. 

"I'm fed up running the 

ambulance," says Galway-born Fr 

Bobby Gilmore. "I cannot continue 

trying to put people into the 

ambulance if the sources causing 

people to emigrate • are not 

examined." 

"Poverty is the absence of 

choice, and the young man or 

woman who has no choice about, 

whether they can stay at home or 

emigrate, are the modern victims of 

Ireland's poverty. They are . the 

people coerced to emigration." 

"Is it just to pay interest on our 

national debt to the international 

banking system which leaves our 

own people in poverty? Our foreign 

debts should be re-negotiated and a 

lower rate of interest paid." 

"The Church must bring about a 

situation where people can make a 

choice. Emigration should be 

voluntary, not compulsory. Ireland 

has to begin to find solutions itself 

and restructure its economy to give 

people a choice." 

Accusing the Church of being 

more concerned with bedroom 

rather than boardroom morality, 

Fr Gilmore appeals for a national 

debate involving the main power 

groups of Irish society - the church, 

trade unions, business and 

government. 

"It may take ten years," he says, 

"but a country that hasn't got a 

vision hasn't got a future. Ireland 

doesr't have a vision and sooner or 

later people will have to give it a 

vision if they want to keep their sons 

and daughters in the country." 

4 6" 

The building trade arid the 

Irish Community" 

Speakers: 

GEORGE HENDERSON (ITGWU) 

ERIC FLEMMING (ITGWU) 

TOM MERNAGW'(UCATT) 

Saturday, .21 Mferch 

2pm 

MARCHMONT STRflET CENTRE, WC1 

NUR PLEASE NOTE 

I BOARDED a train at 

Manchester Oxford Road Jo go t« 

Liverpool Lime Street. It had come 

I believe, from Cleethorpes and 

there was a clear notice to th« effect 

that refreshments were available on 

it. I needed something. I had come 

from a funeral. 

But there were no refreshmepts on 

it. I complained to the guard. "Those 

people are nothing to do with British 

Rail. If they want to stop at 

Manchester they do. They're 

privatised." 

I had not seen it published 

anywhere that British Rail was 

privatising its refreshments cars, 

though I understand it is privatising 

its toilets, so I wrote in to them. 

Well, it's true. And not only did I 

miss the expected refreshments, that 

train was going back to Cleethorpes 

and the Lime Street loudspeakers 

announced the refreshments that were 

not available. 

Did the crews want to have a drink 

in Manchester before going back to 

Cleethorpes. Don't imagine that all 

on British Rail are railwaymen. They 

are not. For the moment British Rail 

say they have not privatised "intercity 

services." But Liverpool to 

Cleethorpes is a good long run! 

HIGH COURT 

APPLICATION 

FOR SEAN STITT 

THE National Council for Civil 

Liberties has made an application 

to the High Court on behalf of Sean 

Stitt, research student in Northern 

Ireland, who has been banned from 

the rest of the United Kingdom 

since 1978. He is the subject of an 

exclusion order made under the 

Prevention of Terrorism Act. 

Under Part II of the Prevention 

of Terrorism Act a British citizen 

can be banned, by being made the 

I subject of an exclusion order, from 

being in or entering England, 

Scotland or Wales. 

NCCL, as Mr Stitt's lawyers, 

will argue in the High Court that 

the exclusion order against him is 

unfair because he has never been 

informed of the case against him, ie 

given reasons why he has been 

excluded, and he has suffered by 

being excluded to Northern Ireland. 

In particular he has been prevented 

from travelling to see members of 

his family, to set up his home in 

Britain and to pursue his career 

here, and from attending and 

participating as an elected delegate 

at official union conferences. Mr 

Stitt has never been a member of a 

political party and opposes the 

activities of all paramilitary groups 

in Northern Ireland, and has never 

been a member of such a group. 

Marie Staunton, Legal Officer 

and Mr Stitt's solicitor said 

recently: 

"It is a basic principle of 

British justice that a person 

should know the case against 

him. Yet Sean Stitt, and those in 

a similar position, are not given 

the reasons for their exclusion. 

This amounts to punishment 

without trial and we are taking 

this case because exclusion 

orders can give rise to< great 

personal injustice. We are asking 

the High Court to examine the 

way in which the powers to ex« 

elude British subjects from 

certain parts of the United 

Kingdom operate." 

Exclusion orders are reviewed 

every three years and the excluded 

person can make written 

representations and is generally 

offered- an interview,, to be 

conducted by a member of' the 

Special Branch; representations 

and interview may be of little value< 

to an excluded person however if he 

does not know the basis on which' 

tk*r*ehwioir order has been made." 

March ,1987 

T'S 

THE B!G BANG 

FARMERS LAND IN EEC MUCK 

BY JOHN 

THERE were great shouts of joy 

over another British 'victory' 

recently when Sir Henry Plumb 

was elected President of the 

European Assembly. This is the 

former leader of the National 

Farmer's Union (NFU), a 

Eurofanatic and leader of the 

Conservative group in the 

Assembly. Although this EEC 

body was officially renamed 

European Parliament its function 

is still only that of a nearly 

powerless assembly. This makes 

the victory a hollow one, as Sir 

Henry will, in practive, be 

chairing a very expensive chat 

show. 

Back in Britain, NFU members 

at their annual conference were 

calling for the head of the 

agricultural minister. He had 

revealed plans, that had hitherto 

been secret, to take land out of 

production in order to fit into 

Brussel's plans to reduce overall 

EEC food surpluses. The 

agricultural minister then got into 

trouble for upsetting farmers. The 

government then backtracked 

with the Prime Minister 

expressing complete confidence in 

the agricultural minister and 

telling farmers they were taking a 

selfish and short term view of-the 

farming community and its 

future. 

-„ ^ 

Part of the plans regarding 

agricultural land involves 

releasing 'surplus' farmland for 

building development. Planting 

large areas of softwood or conifer 

trees is also part of the scheme that 

has annoyed conservationists. 

Softwoods produce quick profits 

but do not do the land much good. 

WHY has the government, 

currently short on friends and 

supporters, taken measures that 

upset traditional allies in the 

countryside? 

One of the agreements made by 

Britain upon joining the Common 

Market was to abandon sovereign 

control over agriculture and 

accept in its place the Common 

Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the - 

EEC. EEC policies, directives, 

regulations, and agreed package 

deals take precedence over what 

ministers in Whitehall decide. 

Even Parliament in Westminster 

is overruled, when it is given the 

opportunity to discuss such 

matters, and that is rare these 

days, precisely because power on 

this subject rests in Brussels. 

All this was clear in the early 

I970's when Britain joined the 

EEC and when the NFU was one 

of the more vocal groups shouting 

for the Common Market. 

Farmers saw sacks of gold around 

the next corner but failed to look a 

little further ahead at the surplus 

mountains that would inevitably 

smother them too. Many would 

say "serve them right". However 

it is the small farmers that are 

suffering and the big farmers that 

have made a pile and would like 

an even bigger golden egg. Then it 

was the large farmer that 

dominated and led the NFU in the 

days when Sir Henry Plumb was 

NFU President. Now it is the 

^fnall farmer that is protesting but 

too late. It is useless fiddling with 

EEC quota systems that penalise 

the dairy and cereal producers. 

These hit the smallest man 

BOYD 

hardest. The problem is 

fundamental decisions and far 

reaching policies have been 

decided; it is these that have to be 

reverved. It is always better to get 

the correct policy in the first place. 

A REASON for lifting 

restrictions on developing 

agricultural land for building 

purposes is to accommodate the 

general move of the population to 

the South East of England. This 

move has been brought about by 

the influence of the EEC. 

Industries in the North and 

Midlands have been destroyed 

one after the other as the 

manufacturing centre of the EEC 

on the continental mainland 

develops. The nearest part of 

Britain to the centre of the 

Common Market is the South 

East. Pressure on housing is 

accute and sites, for warehousing 

and other buildings in a vast 

staging post, require land which 

means releasing agricultural land. 

The staging post is mainly for 

imports. A large part of those 

imports will involve.the transfer of 

mountain tops, lakes and swamps 

of surplus food from mainland 

Europe into Britain, and the rest 

of the imports will be 

manufactures once made in 

factories up and down Britain. An 

objective of CAP is to inhabit and 

even destroy Britain's agriculture 

so that it rests along with her other 

industries that have already been 

raised to the ground. 

The ability of the Government 

to cover up its role as EEC agent 

gets increasingly difficult, 

especially when its allies get hurt. 

What is needed is greater exposure 

of these traitorous acts, which is 

what they are, in order to help 

bring about some unity of all 

groups affected. This will go some 

way to ensuring the next 

government Britain gets takes 

steps to withdraw Britain from the 

EEC When, and only when, that 

occurs will Britain, and its 

farmers, be better ensured of a 

living and a decent future. 

BUY THIS! 

GOING through the press at the 

moment and shortly available is John 

Boyd's pamphlet, "The murder of 

British industry." It is a complete and 

scientific exposure of the result of EEC 

membership on the British economy, 

and the same considerations apply to 

Ireland. 

His first point is that the Treaty of 

Rome aims at maximising competition, 

and removing all restrictions on the 

movement of goods and persons, lliere 

is an economic principle known as that 

of the "centralisation of capital' which 

states that free competition inevitably 

leads to a concentration of industry in 

the central regions of a market area, 

draining the life out of the periphery. 

The second point is that handing over 

contral of economic policy to Brussels 

has robbed the country of its power to 

do anything against this process. It is 

the replacement of democracy by stateguaranteed 

market forces. 

This has produced the derelict 

steel-mills of Sheffield, the derelict 

docks of Liverpool and Manchester, 

and the process is nowhere near 

complete. For now agriculture is to go. 

Make sure of the pamphlet as soon as 

it come out. It will be obtainable at the 

"Four Provinces Bookshop" 244/246 

Grays Inn Road, London, by post 90p, 

post free, personal purchasers, 75p. 

IRISH DEMOCRAT 

Padraig O Conchuir 

CARNANDTHE 

CELTIC LEAGUE 

by 

PADRAIG O CONCHUIR 

EDINBURGH was the venue for 

the Celtic League's AGM last year. 

Its A GM rotates, being held in turn 

in each of the 6 Celtic countries. 

Concerned with the survival of the 

indigenous Celtic languages, the 

League accepts that today a 

language needs status and the 

support of an administration 

committed to its well-being. It 

encourages mutual support and 

understanding of the component 

countries with the long term aim of 

a Celtic federation. Alan Heusaff a 

Breton, has run the League for 24 of 

its 25 years, from Dublin. With his 

advantage Lord Randolph 

wife Brighd, Alan has raised a fine 

Churchill played what he called 

family of 6 Irish-speakers. Most 

"the Orange card". Unlike that 

fittingly his retirement to 

Tory godfather the Scottish 

Connemara more or less coincided 

National Party appears to pretend 

with the award to him of Gradam 

that Ireland does not exist, so 

an Phiarsaigh. Setup 7 years ago it 

neurotic has been its dread of an 

is an award made annually to 

Orange-Green struggle in 

someone who has made a 

Scotland. This psychology has 

worthwhile contribution towards 

constrained the party from rocking 

the attainment of Patrick Pearse's 

the political boat to such an extent 

ideal of an Irish Ireland. 

that it gives the impression of being 

a UK regionalist grouping, rather 

than a genuinely national entity. 

The new general-secretary is 

Manxman, Bernard Moffatt, a 

seasoned campaigner against such 

atrocities as Sellafield, the 6- 

Counties and reckless British 

submarine activity in well 

established fishing grounds. Also 

from the Isle of **an is Pat Bridson, 

now living in Dublin and editor of 

"Cam" the League's quarterly. 

Cam can be identified from its 

cover showing Brittany, together 

with the Celtic parts of these 

islands heavily shaded on an outline 

map. Although there are always 

contributions printed in each of the 

Celtic languages it is essentially an 

English-medium publication. 

f- 

PROBABL Y of greatest interest 

to Irish readers will be an article in 

the Scottish section of the current 

(No 56) edition. Fully a century has 

elapsed since for party political 

A CHARA, 

Donal Kennedy's recent article, 

Memento Mori, serves to remind us 

that we live in hazardous times. It is 

indeed alarming that the deaths of 

so many whose names are familiar 

should, for those of who know 

Donal, have occured so close to 

home. 

In taking a leaf from Donal's 

Latin textbook, with acknowledgments 

to Quintus Horatius 

Flaccus (or Wilfred Owen, 

depending on one's point of view 

regarding the fate of patriots), I am 

Page Three 

Celtic League founder Alan Heugaff 

In contrast the Big Man has 

never been unduly concerned with 

maintaining a respectable image. 

One result of the Anglo-Irish 

Agreement has been his formation 

of a Scottish Unicnist Party, 

resolved to punish Mrs Thatcher by 

fielding a general election 

cnadidate in most of the Scottish 

constituencies with a Tory MP. 

Phil MacGiolla Bhain who wrote 

the article "Paisley Plays the 

Scottish Card," is secretary of the 

Scottish branch of the League. He 

contends that, thanks to Paisley, 

the SNP can no longer ignore the 

Irish factor. Instead of viewing it as 

a terrible embarrassment, he 

contends that the opportunity 

should be seized to appeal 

specifically to the considerable 

Irish element in Scotland. An 

reminded of the words, "Dulce et 

decorum est pro patria mori," and 

cannot but reflect upon the 

likelihood of such an event 

prematurely taking place seeming 

all the more probable if one has 

made the acquaintance of the said 

man of Howth. 

Lest he should imagine that his 

friendship is not valued, let me be 

the first to put his mind at rest on 

that account. Nevertheless, until his 

friends' mortality statistics show a 

marked improvement I would be 

grateful were he to limit our former 

good relationship to the telephone, 

reverse charge if necessary. 

In the event that, upon the 

independent Scotland can reemerge 

through the break-up of the 

existing political structure. Phil 

himself exemplifies that Irish 

element, so well established in 

Scotland, and he could well play a 

very useful part in bringing about 

the rethinking that is necessary to 

seize the opportunity that Paisley 

has provided. 

ONE of the cliches most 

frequently parroted by people of 

many shades of opinion is "We, as a 

nation...." when Britain or the 

entire UK is envisaged. Whether 

conscious or spontaneous there is 

an impression of whistling in the 

dark. Enoch Powell's long selfbanishment 

from the civilisation of 

Wolverhampton to the exterior 

darkness of South Down probably 

stems from his realisation tht the 6- 

Counties is decidedly the weakest 

part of the UK political fabric. 

Ultimately, the Celtic card could 

trump the Orange one. 

There is much else of interest in 

Cam. See for yourself! If not 

available in your area a 

subscription of £5 can be sent to 

Seamus O Coileain, G42, Du Cane 

Court, London, SW17 7JR. That 

comprises a year's membership, 

including receipt of the four 

quarterlies by post. 

publication of this letter, I am no 

longer available for further 

comment I hope my friends in the CA 

may be relied upon to erect in my 

memory a gravestone bearing the 

legend: 

He chose his friends 

carelessly, 

And now lies here 

cheerlessly, 

FOr he knew Donal 

Kennedy 

When still alive, 

alive-o. 

Mise le meas, 

SEAN de BURCA

Page Four 


ONE HOLDS UP £300,000,000 

A ON I man battle for the soul of 

Ireland has been raging in the 

Irish Courts since Christmas Eve. 

It is being waged by Dr 

Raymond Crotty whose first 

action was to win an injunction 

against the Eit/gerald government 

preventing them from depositing 

in Rome the instruments of 

ratification of the Single 

I-uropean act. 

I his extends the treaty of Rome 

into many spheres in which it did 

not previously apply, tied any new 

Irish government economically 

hand and foot, and threatens the 

country's neutrality. It also 

commits Ireland to supporting 

dangerous polluting influences 

like the atom station and 

Sol la field Windscale. 

losing his case at the High 

Court, Dr Crotty proceeded to the 

Supreme Court where the hearing 

began on February 25th. 

Smce Christmans Eve the rest 

of EEC Europe has been waiting 

for the Act to come into force. As 

the laoiseach piteously 

remarked,"three hundred million 

people are being kept waiting." In 

fact of course they know 

practically nothing about the Act. 

That is in the hands of their 

treacherous and reactionary 

governments. Ami only one man 

in "Europe" plus his dedicated 

team of lawyers, has been willing 

lo stand out against it. 

CROTTY has been fighting 

populat causes all his life. He is 

one of the Kilkenny Crottys and a 

useful account of him recently 

appeared in "Phoenix." He set out 

to be a model farmer and was 

secietai v of the local farmers club 

a forties forerunner of the I FA. 

On his own farm which he 

inherited he found that though his 

output wa> well above the 

national average, he was making 

very little money. He noticed also 

that neighbours who did less got 

more, and concluded that under 

existing conditions the way to 

profit was not to maximise output 

but to minimise input. 

For the individual farmer, dog 

and stick agriculture is the best. 

But is it best for the country? This 

led him to the idea of a land tax 

based on quality of land, the 

original basis of the Griffiths 

valuable in the last century. 

IRELAND has seven times 

more good land per head of 

population than any country in 

Europe. Yet in general it grows as 

little as possible. This policy 

should be reversed. 

This will not commend itself to 

creators of milk lakes and butter 

mountains as a result of saturated 

indifferent land with dangerous 

chemicals. Nor will it commend 

itself to Mrs Thatcher who is 

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currently planning to withdraw 

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Crotty sold his farm, did an 

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Here he was repeatedly struck 

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PEOPLE will undoubtedly be 

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the old. The same phenomenon is 

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The reason is that in neither 

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but only on how an already agreed 

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Martin Eurner: "Illuminations — 

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March 1987 

CORK — A HUMAN DISASTER 

CORK CITY and County are 

being drained of employment on an 

unprecedented scale — far worse 

than the forties and fifties. Just 

think what has gone. The huge Ford 

and Dunlop plants. Not so long ago 

the city had three large bacon 

factories. Lunhams, Denny's and 

Murphy's. All are gone. There were 

three footwear factories, "Lee 

Boots", "Hanover Shoe Company" 

and "Cork Shoe Company.". The 

products were top class at a 

reasonable price. Instead the shops 

contain cheap useless imported 

rubbish, which the unemployed still 

find difficult enough to buy. 

The young people are bitter and 

disillusioned and are leaving in 

droves for Britain and the United 

States. A massive 75% of the senior 

pupils in secondary schools in 

Schull are considering emigration. 

The same is true of Skibbereen. 

Last year I mentioned that so many 

had emigrated from Dunmanay to 

the USA that they had been able to 

for a GAA club in San Francisco. 

SINCE our entry into the EEC, 

that most evjl of structures, one 

hundred thousand small farmers 

have been wiped out in the twenty six 

counties. Since 1980 up to 25,000 

jobs in agriculture have been lost 

The emigration of city graduates is 

four times what it was in 1982, and 

17% have gone overseas. 

The result of the high 

unemployment is that people are 

being expected to do sweated labour 

OUR worthy contemporary "An 

phoblacht" on February 12th 

reproduced the headline of last 

months "Irish Democrat" which 

ran "Sinn Fein sends up 27," but 

added as if puzzled "Whatever does 

this mean?" 

Actually it means what it says. 

That was an important piece of 

election news. And if our republican 

friends had been able to reproduce 

some of the text they would have 

shown an important reason we 

thought so. Mr Adams's and Mr 

O'Riordan's candidates were 

among the few who stood outside 

the consensus and raised some of 

the real issues in front of the 

country. At 2'/ 2 % of the poll they 

didn't do badly at a first attempt 

under their new policy. 

FROM 

JIM SAVAGE 

and there is a general assault on the 

trade unions. This is shown in a 

report drawn up by the Irish 

Transport and General Workers 

Union. 

The report names two US-based 

companies, Sea Ray who built 

power boats at Little Island and 

McDonald's of Winthrop Street, 

the fast food outlet, as being 

particularly anti-union. 

The report lists the case of a 17- 

year-old worker who was doing ten 

hours a day, six days a week for 

£30. There is another example of a 

shop assistant with a Shandon 

Street company, who was paid £50 

for a 40 hour week after 35years of 

service. 

THERE are cases where social 

welfare contributions have not been 

DEMOGRAMS 

PAX Christi, the international 

Catholic movement for peace, are 

to hold a "Vigil of Prayer and 

Fasting" on Saturday, March 

14th, at the Metropolitan 

Cathedral (St. Columba's Chapel) 

in Liverpool. Those wishing to 

join in should telephone Anne 

McCann at (051) 722, 2872. 

Masses will be said at 8 am., at 12 

am (crypt) and 3 pm. 

IT is time somebody said people 

should stop talking about 

"Thatcherism" and call a spade a 

spade. The direction that woman is 

taking Britain is the direction of 

Fascism. 

paid, employers telling workers 

that they need pay no tax, and they 

afterwards found out that they were 

not entitled to unemployment 

benefit. 

The above-mentioned 17-yearold 

youth lost his job soon after the 

ITGWU report came out. The 

employers attributed this to a 

slump in business. He happened to 

be the only one in a family of eight 

who was working, except for the 

mother. 

REPORTS from Mallow show 

that almost 100 extra signed on at 

the Labour Exchange in the past 

fhree weeks. In Newmarket the 

number was 200. Mill Street is 

badly bruised economically. The 

American trans-national Apple 

Computer and Molex were recently 

set up with IDA backing. But 

Apple-Molex closed last year, and 

more recently Coleman's garage 

went into liquidation. 

In the midst of this scene of 

human disaster people are asking 

about the new organisation that 

sent up Con O'Connel in Cork 

North Central with the slogan "The 

right to work." There have been 

suggestions that there is here an 

implication that trade unionism is a 

hindrance to securing work because 

of their insistance of standards. 

One hopes this is not so and that Mr 

O'Connell will make that clear. 

There is such a school of thought 

and it is hoped that he does not 

belong to it. 

DESPITE its execrable 

government, the United States is a 

far more democratic country 

that Britain. The New York 

Times blew the gaffe on a vast 

fiddle designed to circumvent 

Congress and normal policymaking 

from June 1982 onwards. 

It involves arms for the "contras" 

but under the title "project for 

democracy" first announced by 

Reagan in the sympathetic 

precincts of the English House of 

Commons, carries out dirty tricks 

in a whole range of countries. One 

especially scurvy stunt was an 

effort to persuade Iran to give the 

USA soeciments of a particularly 

sophisticated Soviet tank in return 

for arms for use against Iraq, The 

stink over Irangate gets thicker 

and thicker. 


LAGAN LIGHTS 

BY S. O. DIOCHOIM 

AGREEMENTS AND 

COMMONSENSE 

LAST month the Mori opinion 

pollsters made a survey, on behalf 

of the Daily Express, of the 

opinion of people in Britain on the 

various aspects of the political 

problems within the Six Counties. 

! On the following day "The 

! Newsletter", Belfast's daily 

j Unionist paper, headlined the 

' results of the Mori poll as 

"SHOCK POLL - ULSTER 

| PEACE TOO COSTLY — CUT 

AND RUN CALL." 66% of those 

intervied wanted the British Army 

withdrawn from Ireland and of 

these the majority preferred a 

phased pull-out. The political 

decision of the London 

Government which created the 

Ulster Defence Regiment as the 

largest unit in the British Army 

was not dealt with in the 

questionnaire. Perhaps they could 

be sent to bolster up the shaky 

position in the Malvinas or 

Gibraltar. When asked about the 

many millions of tax-payers 

money which are spent on 

upholding the British occupation 

in Ireland the majority 

understandably objected to this. 

Only 9% thought the future of the 

Six Counties should be left in the 

controlling hands of the 

Unionists. 70%, the highest figure 

in the poll, considered Ian Paisley 

to be a force for evil. The 

obsequious Peter Barry would not 

agree with that since he has 

described Paisley as "a gifted 

politician of presence, charisma 

and a marvellous Orator'". 

However if the British public see 

Paisley, and rightly so, as an evil 

influence they have yet to reckon 

with and act on the fact that he 

derives his force for evil from the 

conditions and types of society 

which has developed under their 

own Government's control over 

centuries, including direct control 

for the past fifteen years. 

As this was the first survey of 

British public opinion since the 

signing of the Anglo-Irish 

Agreement it is interesting to find 

that the response as to whether the 

Thatcher-Fitzgerald pact has 

produced beneficial results, or 

laid the basis for a settlement, does 

not match the optimism of 

Garrett Fitzgerald, Peter Barry or 

John Hume. Since those polled 

did not give any priority to the 

"Irish Question" as one of the 

problems facing Britain, they did 

not have to be brainwashed with a 

flood ofpropaganda, such as the 

Dublin Government unleashed on 

the Irish people, to get the Anglo- 

Irish Agreement on the table. 

SUBSEQUENTLY while the 

handling of the recalcitrant 

Loyalists was left to the British, 

the Dublin government and the 

SDLP conducted an intensive 

publicity campaign asserting that 

the Agreement has benefited the 

Nationalist people in the Six 

Counties. 

Garrett Fitzgerald, on BBC TV, 

claimed that the Nationalists are 

now equal citizens. Peter Barry 

says they can hold their heads high 

and touts for "Fenian" recruits to 

join the ranks of the reformed and 

impartial RUC. These fraudulent 

claims are indorsed and given 

increased currency in the 

editorials of the "Irish Times" and 

by influential journalists. Mary 

Holland wrote that the 

Hillsborough agreement stopped 

"a growing despair in the 

Nationalist community in the 

North which had been winning 

support daily for Sinn Fein at the 

expense of the SDLP". Here the 

word "despair" reveals the 

prevailing campaig.i to 

misrepresent the facts. At that 

period there was resilience and 

growing resistance within the 

nationalist community and one of 

«the main aims of the Anglo-Irish 

agreement was to bring this under 

control. 

It is instructive to note that 

Derryman, John Hume, and 

Seamas Mallon of Armagh are 

much more circumspect in their 

eulogies in support of the 

Hillsborough pact than the 

Dublin publicity squad. They 

have to cope with the people on 

the ground who know the real 

situation from their own 

experience. So Hume and Mallon 

keep repeating that the pact is not 

a solution huta process which, in 

the indetenrrtril^ future, will 

produce a better life for all 

Nationalists. Father Des Wilson 

at a meeting in Dublin cut through 

all this hypocrisy and bluntly 

accused Garrett Fitzgerald of 

"blatant and deliberate lying in 

relation to the alleged benefits to 

the Nationalists from the 

Agreement. The Agreement had 

not brought peace and stability 

but more intense suffering and 

repression". 

WITHIN the Unionist ranks 

the frustrated "Ulster says No" 

campaign has been upstaged, for 

the moment, by a set of proposals 

from the paramilitary Ulster 

Defence Association. They have 

issued a pamphlet entitled 

"Common Sense — Northern 

Ireland — An Agreed Process". In 

essence it is a process which would 

lead to a re-vamped Stormont. 

This time around it would not be a 

Protestant parliament for a 

Protestant people but would 

guarantee a minority stake to 

those Catholics who would be 

willing to participate. The specific 

proposals in the document are a 

• rehash of old material — a 

devolved government, written 

constitution, a Bill of Rights 

(jerms not defined) and an 

executive according to the number 

of seats in each party. 

There is an appalling proposal 

that nothing in this constitutional 

set-up could be changed execept 

by a two-thirds majority in a 

referendum. In other words it is a 

re-affirmation of Tom King'sinfamous 

remark — partition of 

the country in perpetuity. These 

proposals are not viable because 

they are based on the fundamental 

fallacy that there can be an 

internal solution to the political 

problem of the Six Counties. 

Common sense and the history of 

the statelet since 1920 have 

repeatedly confirmed that fact. 

The system is irreformable within 

the parochial and sectarian 

confines of the area under British 

rule. 

THE London and Dublin 


Page Five 

COOKING THE PRESIDENT'S GOOSE 

DR NOEL BROWNE was among of nuclear energy in the light of the spread throughout the world 

the thousand delegates from all Chernobyl disaster. It Mas argued Labour movement, because the 

over the world who attended an that ecology must go hand in hand Russian revolution was not an 

international forum "for a nuclearfree 

world". Also from Ireland was There can be no doubt, when one resolution was going on at the same 

with economics. 

isolated phenomenon. The Irish 

Mr Robert Barragh. 

compares this highly literate, time. Dail funds were utilised to 

Others present included former serious-minded and constructive help it. The Irish Progressive 

dissident Andrei Sakharov, Yoko international gathering with the League in New York held meetings 

Ono, and a galaxy of scientifictalent, 

advocacy of mass-murder from in "defence of the two republics." 

many of whose names were 

Dr MacC'a ten went to Moscow as 

household words. Eighty countries 

Dail rep esentative and the 

were represented. 

Russians agreed that the Irish 

Western newspapers scarcely 

ambassador should over-see all the 

noticed the event, which the BBC 

interests of the Catholic church. 

dismissed sneeringly as a 

THAT there was a need for the 

"jamboree" though its own 

reconstruction of the international 

journalists had only just completed 

that broke down in 1914, there is no 

a protest march and lobby against 

doubt. But was the third 

the police raid on its Glasgow 

international founded in the right 

headquarters ordered by the 

manner? It is not usually 

Thatcher quasi police dictatorship. 

appreciated that at one time the 

Centre piece was an address by 

Irish Trades Union Congress was 

Mr Gorbachov who referred to the 

within an ace of affiliating to it But 

new revolution that Is sweeping the 

it was pointed out that the third 

USSR, in manv wa vs as significant 

International did not accept Trade 

as that of 1917. 

Union affiliations. The result was 

Over 100 Americans took part. 

Irish association with the Berne 

Twenty of them, including Yoko 

International. But need there have 

Ono and Gregory Peck issued a 

been two separate internationals? 

statement urging a new relation 

Maybe there was such a need. But 

between the USSR and the USA. 

these are the questions that will 

Mr Gorbachov's theme was that 

need to be looked at again. 

nuclear weapons meant that the 

In the course of this reexamination, 

human race had lost its immotality. 

which is bound to become 

Ihe "nuclear sickness threatens all 

international in scope, possibilities 

life." There would be no Noah's ark 

will be seen for the reunification of 

after that flood. 

the left, the world Labour 

HE SAID he wanted "lasting 

peace, predictability and 

construetiveness in international 

relations." This was to enable the 

USSR to embark on a programme 

of internal construction and better 

the conditions of the people. 

In a session devoted to ecology 

the need for international cooperation 

to prevent further 

destruction of the environment was 

stressed by scientists and there was 

a debate over the question of the use 

— Frolrn column two 

governments, the SDLP and all 

the other elements behind the 

Anglo-Irish pact have welcomed 

this switch of policy by the UDA 

to power-sharing devolution. 

Never mind that the armed wing 

of the UDA assassinate Catholics 

because they are sue, never mind 

that they evict Catholics from 

their homes in fringe areas, never 

mind that they bomb and burn 

down businesses on the other side 

of the border. All that sort of 

terrorism can be played down 

because they are such, never 

enlarged their political 

vocabulary beyond the word 

"NO". They are now portraved as 

the grass-roots loyalist organisation 

best able to express 

Unionist opinion. What nonsense 

it all is! Nationalists in the North 

know that the UDA has its roots 

in the rank weeds of sectarian 

bigotry. Its main potoer base is in 

the shipyard, Shoots, and the 

power stations with their over 

90% Protestant wc^k-force and 

which are subsidised and kept 

going by the British tax-payers 

money. 

Leaving aside the political 

content of the UDA document the 

reader is struck by the high quality 

of its presentation and the 

capable and lucid exposition of its 

argument. The standard here is far 

and away above that of the usual 

material issued by this 

organisation for example that 

produces in their magazine 

"Ulster". Could it be that a 

hidden hand wielded the pen in 

the writing of "Common Sense"? 

Mr Tom King was very 

enthusiastic in his praise of the 

document and remarked that 

"much of it was consistent with 

the British Government's 

thinking". 

own 

outer space by the senile cretin in 

the White House, which of the two 

super-powers is the a pressor. 

There is no such thing as the 

Russian threat. 

At the same time the internal 

reorganisation being carried 

through by the Gorbachov regime 

will help people throughout the 

world to perceive it. 

The "Irish Democrat" has never 

attacked the USSR for the simple 

reason that it was impossible to do 

so without helping the Tory 

imperialists. For exactly the same 

reason the paper has never attacked 

the "provisionals." 

But refraining from attack is not 

the same thing as expressing 

approval of everything done. 

Nobody outside that country has 

the right to tell the Russians how 

they should run their affairs, just as 

nobody has the right to tell the Irish 

how to liberate their country. 

AT the same time it is satisfying 

to see international principles being 

put into effect. The Russian 

revolution was the most complete 

apd far-reaching that the world has 

seen. There were no blue-prints and 

almost unlimited facilities for 

making mistakes. 

The fast that past mistakes are 

being openly discussed and 

corrected will restore to the USSR 

the moral hegemony that was 

sacrificed by the excesses of Stalin. 

Sometime the Russians were to 

have to come clean about that 

period. 

And the re-assessment will 

movement and the international 

struggle against imperialism and 

for world peace. 

The most important country is, 

of course, the United States. 

When most of the people 

of that country see the Russians 

re-examining the past and 

throwing out what does not 

correspond to realities, it will be 

much easier for them to do the 

same, in the process cooking the 

goose of the lame duck president. 

CDG 

BAGHCAT NAIREACH 

TAMALL gearr o shin foilsiodh 

pictuir ar cheann de na nuachtain 

Bhaile Atha Cliath a thaispeain 

bean-mhuinteoir scoile ina sui go 

haonarach i seomra scoile folarnh 

gan ddlta ar bith os a comhair 

amach. Ba cuis naire e agus san am 

ceanna ba dushlan e do mhuintir na 

hEireann, go hdrithe do gaeilgeoiri, 

an sceal uafasach a leirigh an 

ghriangraf sin. Is i Brid Ni 

Domhnaill an muinteoiri gceist. Ta 

an scoil naisiunta i mbaile fearainn 

Sraith Saileach i gConamara 

faoina cur am. Oide abalta 

meabhrach atd inti a chuir a diiil 

agus a duthracht in oideachas a 

cuid scolairi. Gidh go raibh post 

maith aid roimhe i mBaile Atha 

Cliath thug si suas emar shil si go 

mbeadh si i ndan obair nios 

eifeachtai a dheanamh ar son na 

Gaelige i gConamara. 

Le tamall anuas ta baghcat 

suarach ar siul in eadan Brid Ni 

Domhnaill. Ni bhaineann an 

baghcat seo ar aon bhealach lena 

cuid oibair scoile. Baea tharla go 

raibh se de dhanacht aici a rd go 

poibfi nar choir don sagart aitiuil, 

an tAthoir 6 Gormain, bheith ag 

ceiliuradh an Aifrinn as Bearla san 

bhaile beag gaelach darbh ainm 

Bun na gCnoc i bfogas do Srath 

Saileach. Tharraing a seasamh ar 

son ceart phobal na Gaeltachta 

cinsearacht Ui Domhnaill. 

Baineadh na paiste uaithi agus 

cuireadh faoi churam mhuinteor 

neamh-oifigiuil iad in ainneoin 

agoide ceardchimann na muinteiri. 

Is udar dochais e, afach, gur 

toghadh coiste le linn na miosa seo 

thart faoi thionchar Phrionsias 

Mhic Aonghusa leis an aighneas 

seo, a d'eirigh as seoinineachas an 

sagairt ud, a reiteach agus cothrom 

na feinne a fhdil do. Bhrid Ni 

Domhnaill. 

SUSTENTATION FUND 

OOH! AH! The fund's badly 

down this month. There's a lot of 

work to be paid for — the 

conference on the building 

industry for which we're bringing 

a leading speaker from Dublin. 

Then there's the northwest 

conference in Bolton in April. The 

pamphlet on the "Murder of 

British Industry" will be out very 

soon and Padraig O Snodaigh's 

booklet on the story of literature 

in Irish has already been set. 

And then again come June we 

have the national conference and 

we're also looking for another 

full-time worker for the London 

office. So don't forget us this 

month. 

Our thanks to: P. J. 

Cunningham £4, Y. Lysandrou 

£2.50, South London CA £18. K. 

Doody £1, V. and M. Griffin 

£12.50, D.andS. Weston £2.50. F. 

Maher £10, A. Barr £4, J. 

Kavanagh £6,40, A. McNally £5, 

A. Walsh 70p, D. McLoughlin £4, 

M. Brennan £5, T. Smith £2, 

Tottenham UCATT £15, H. 

Bourne £10.50, J. O'Hare £4, F. 

Rushe £3.92, J. Bennett £2.55, C. 

Thomson 92p, M. Murphy £2, 

supporters in South London 

£9.37. Total: £125.86. 

-—

Page Six IRISH DEMOCRAT March 1M7 

SHANTY IN OLD LONDON TOWN 

(To the an l Slatterv's Mounted F ul. this ballad b> Donal Kennedy 

eommemoraliN his exploits when water poured from the flat above 

into the l our Pro\inces Bookshop in January from a burst pipe, and 

the stopcock was in the cellar to which entrance — normally — is 

pained from the said flat.) 

C OMK all >e dauntless mariners who chum the ragin' surf 

And cross the Western ocean filled with Double X and turf, 

Whose lust\ youth was tamed by belles with Polynesian charms 

And who spliced a rake of mainbraces beyant in Calthorp's arms 

Whose sires of yore manned Erin's Hope and drove the Fenian Ram 

Whose mothers roved with Granuaile and didn't give a damn 

For Drake nor Rodney's Glory, nor for Faerie Queen nor King 

But for our own Four Provinces would high and proudly swing. 

Down rushed the Cataracts and Hurricanoes pounded 

Be Neptune and ver man MacLir the bookshop nearly dhrownded 

As some spake in divers tongues "tosnaimis ag snamh" 

There goes our Buntus Cainte stock, "a victim to the thaw." 

Then up spoke Gerry C urran, "Mates, how can we stop a rout?" 

(The people from the flat above being tee-totallv out) 

"As they control the cellar too, tis Manifestly plain 

We can't get to the stopcock 'less we launch a bould Campaign" 

Sez I, "Me boys, let's burglarise, with jemmy steps and saw. 

If they're consintin' adults, sure 'tis not agin' the Law. 

We'll add our share of lustre to the Epic of the Gael, 

\nd when we're back in drydock we can hold a 'damaged sale'." 

Down rushed the Cataracts and Murricanoes pounded 

Be Neptune and yer man MacLir the bookshop nearly dhrownded; 

We nailed our Colours to the mast, sang "We shall overcome" 

And foiled the lashing elements with burglary and rum. 

MONTO 

( I lie slang name lor Montgomery Street, the former red-light area of 

Dublin.) 

WI LL, if you've got a wing-o, take her vp to Ring-o 

Where the waxies sing-o all the day; 

If you've had your fill of porter and you can't go any futher 

Gixe your man the order, back to the quay! 

And take her up to Monto, Monto, Monto 

lake her up to Monto, langeroo - bum - bum to you! 

You've heard of the Duke of Gloucester, the dirty oul' imposter 

He got a mot and lost her up the Furry Glen) 

He first put on his bowler and he buttoned up his trousers 

And he whistled for a growler and he sqys "My man . . . 

lake me up to Monto, Monto, Monto 

Take me up to Monto, langeroo - bum - bum to you." 

When Carey told on Skin-the-Goat, O'Donnell caught him on the boat, 

He wished he'd never been afloat, the dirty skite; 

It wasn't very sensible to tell on the Invincibles 

They stood up for their principles day and night. 

And they all went up to Monto, Monto, Monto 

lake them up to Monto, langeroo - bum - bum to you! 

Now when the C /ar of Russia and the King of Prussia 

Landed in the Phoenix in a big balloon 

They asked the policemen to play the Wearing of the Green 

But the buggers in the depot didn't know the tune. 

So they both went up to Monto, Monto, Monto 

l ake them both to Monto, langeroo - bum - bum to you! 

Now Queen Vic she came to call on us, she wanted to see all of us 

I'm glad she didn't fall on us, she's eighteen stone, 

"Mister Melord Mayor sez she, is this all you've got to show to me?" 

"Why no, ma'am there's some more to see, pog mo thon!' 

And he took her up to Monto, Monto, Monto 

And he took her up to Monto, Langeroo - bum - bum to you! 

TORRAMH AN BHAIRILLE 

SCKOLFAD teastas ar shloite Bhaile Mhe Oda mhaisuil mhuintc - 

Treoirt do chleachtas gach lo gan lagahd orthu, ol gan cheasna gan chuinse; 

Lcouta lannamhar ceolmhar greanmhar eomhach tach calma cuntach, 

Is is mor ant-aiteas go deo hheith eatarthu ar thorramh an bhairille a dhiughh. 

Htor ni taiscithear ico go dearfa: in or na in earra ni chumhdaid, 

Ach mor chuid heathuisce is beoir in aisce gan speois dascaipeaddh ar an nduthaigh; 

An dearoil ma (hagann gan Ion 'na spaga do gheobhaidh an casca gan cuntas 

Lc hoi gan bacadh go bord na maidne ar thorramh an bhairille a dhuigadh. 

Kona dtearmainn deonach tarraingid foirne dalla gan suile 

°S is leor do bhacaigh gan treoir go tapaidb 'na dhoid gan bata go siulaid; 

Nil stroinse dcalbh on g ( obh go C aiseal na fos i ghfearantas Dhubhagain 

Nach seoltar sealed 'na gcombair i dtigh tabhairne ar thorrah an bhairille a 

dhilugadh. 

IRISH 

SONGS 

Edited by 

PATRICK BOND 

RODY 

McCORLEY 

HO! see the fleet-feet hosts of men 

Who speed with faces wan 

From farmstead and from fisher's cot 

L pon the banks of Bann! 

They come with vengeance in their 

eyes - 

Too late, too late are (hey - 

For Rod> McCorley goes to die. 

On the Bridge of Toome today. 

Oh. Ireland, Mother Ireland, 

Vou love them still the best. 

The fearless brave who fighting fall 

Upon your hapless breast; 

But never a one of all your dead 

More bravely fell in fray. 

Than he who marches to his fate, 


Up the narrow street he stepped. 

Smiling and proud and young; 

About the hemp rope on his neck 

The golden ringlets clung. 

There's never a tear in the blue, blue 

eyes, 

Both glad and bright are they 

As Rody McCorley goes to die, 


The grey coat and its sash of green 

Were brave and stainless then; 

A banner flash beneath the sun 

Over the marching men - 

The coat hath many a rent this noon 

The sash is torn away, 

And Rody McCorley goes to die, 


Oh, how his pike flashed to the sun! 

Then found a foeman's heart! 

Through furious fight, and heavy odds. 

He bore a true man's part; 

And many a rcd-coat hit the dust 

Before his keen pike-play; 

But Rody McCorley goes to die, 


Because he loved the Motherland, 

Because he loved the Green, 

He goes to meet the martyr's fate 

With proud and joyous mien, 

True to the last, true to the last, 

He treads the upward way - 

Young Rody McCorley goes to die 


WANT A 

SONG BOOK? 

Call to . . . 

FOUR PROVINCES 

BOOKSHOP 

246 GRAYS INN ROAD. 

LONDON, 

WC1 

Phone 833 3022 

ONLY OUR RIVERS RUN FREE 

WHEN apples still grow in November 

When blossoms still bloom from each tree 

When leaves are still green in December, 

It's then that our land will be free. 

I wander the hills and the valleys 

And still through my sorrow I see 

A land that has never known freedom 

And only her rivers run free. 

I drink to the death of her manhood 

Those men who'd rather have died 

Than live in the cold chains of bondage 

To bring back their rights were denied. 

Oh, where are you now that we need you, 

What burns where the flame used to be, 

Are you gone like the snow of last winter, 

And will only our rivers run free? 

How sweet is life, but we're crying, 

How mellow the wine, but we're dry; 

How fragrant the rose, but it's dying 

How gentle the wind, but it sights. 

What good is youth when its ageing, 

What joy is in eyes that can't see, 

When there's sorrow in sunshine and flowers 

And still only our rivers run free? 

- MICHAEL McCONNELL 

GREEN FIELDS OF FRANCE 

WELL how do you do young Willie McBride? 

Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside? 

And rest for a while 'neath the warm summer sun, 

I've been walking all day and I'm nearly done. 

I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen 

When you joined the great fallen in 1916; 

I hope you died well and I hope you died clean, 

Or young Willie McBride was it slow and obscene? 

CHORUS: 

Did they beat the drums slowly, did they play the fife lowly 

Did they sound the "Death March" as they lowered you down, 

Did the band play "The Last Post and Chorus"? 

Did the pipes play "The Flowers of the Forest"? 

Did you leave e'er a wife or a sweetheart behind, 

In some faithful heart is your memory enshrined? 

Although you died back in 1916 

In that faithful heart are you forever nineteen? 

Or are you a stranger without even a name, 

Enshrined forever behind a glass frame 

In an old photograph torn, battered and stained 

And faded to yellow in a brown leather frame? 

The sun now it shines on the green fields of France 

The warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance, 

And look how the sun shines from under the clouds 

There's no gas, no barbed wire, there's no gun firing now. 

But here in this graveyard it's still no-man's land, 

A thousand white crosses stand mute in the sand 

To man's blind indifference to his fellow man, 

To a whole generation that were butchered and damned. 

Ah young Willie McBride I can't help wonder why 

Did all those who died here know why did they die. 

And did they believe when they answered the call 

Did they really believe that this war would end wars? 

For the sorrow, the suffering, the glory, the pain, 

The killing and dying were all done in vain. 

For young Willie McBride it all happened again 

And again and again and again and again. 

ERIC BOGLF 

THE SPANISH LADY 

AS I came down through Dublin City 

At the hour of twelve at night. 

Who should I see but a Spanish lady 

Washing her feet by candlelight? 

First she washed them then she dried them 

Over a fire of amber coal - 

In all my life I ne'er did see 

A maid so neat about the sole. 

As 1 came back through Dublin City 

At the hour of half past eight 


Brushing her hair in broad day light? 

First she tossed it, then she brushed it 

On her lap with a silver comb - 


A maid so sweet since I did roam. 

As I came back through Dublin City 

When the sun began to set , 


Catching a moth in a golden net? 

When she saw me, then she fled me 

Lifting her petticoat over her k»ee - 


A maid so blithe as the Spanish Ia4y. 

i 

March 1997 

From Kavanagb 

to Deane 

"The Faber Book of 

Contemporary Irish 

Poetry". Edited by Paul 

Muldoon. Published by 

Faber. 416pp. Price £5.95. 

ESCHEWING the temptationto play 

safe and include just a couple of 

poems by countless poets, this careful 

and intelligent anthology provides 

instead a generous selection of the 

work of ten established poets. 

With predictably generous space 

devoted to both Patrick Kavanagh 

and Louis MacNeice, the collection 

continues with Thomas Kinselfa, 

John Montague, Michael Longley, 

Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, Paul 

Durcan, Tom Baulin and finally 

Medbh McGuckian. 

A short prologue precedes the 

poems: an extract from a discussion 

between F. R. Higgins and Louis 

MacNeice, broadcast in 1939. "Irish 

poetry," stated Higgins, "remains a 

creation happily .fundamentally 

rooted in rural civilisation, yet aware 

of and in touch with the elementals of 

the future." This is most evidently 

true of the poetry of Patrick 

Kavanagh. Besides the complete 

rendering of "The Great Hunger", 

there are many Kavanagh poems here 

that bear witness to his startling 

originality. 

Heaney has said that Kavanagh 

"wrested.his idiom bare-handed out 

of a literary nowhere" and by 

anthology's end we can clearly see, 

Kavanagh's continuing influence on 

contemporary Irish poetry — not 

least on Seamus Heaney himself. 

MacNewe has hisiown particular 

view of • thfr poet — "a sensitive 

instrument designed • to record 

anything which interests his mind or 

afreets his emotions." Thfeselection of 

his work' certainty includes poems of 

such 'occasional' nature ('Snow' or 

The Brandy Glass') yet MacNeice 

speaks as warmly and tnovinglyas any 

about Ireland, as the extract from 

"Autumn Journal" shows. 

John Montague's accessible lyrics 

are in many ways reminiscent of 

Kavanagh's themes and, in thinking 

of themes, there is throughout a 

recurrence' of poems about fathers 

and, less often, motiiers, which makes 

an interesting sub-colIfcction of lyrics 

that teW fascinating stories of 

unhappier(lives.. 

Heaney) surely the most popular of 

contemporary Irish poets, is well 

represented by poems spanning all his 

collection ending with an extract from 

the lengthy."Station Island." 


- irm 

Father and Son 

Celtic Knot work by Iain 

Bain, 112pp. £10.95. 

Published by Constable. 

THIS new book on Celtic knotwork is 

not the best, but it is an addition to a 

subject that is fast attracting the 

attention of artists and craftworkers 

who appreciate Celtic Art. Certainly 

the demand for the Celtic design 

greetings cards produced by the 

Northampton Connolly Association 

continues to grow with the interest in 

our design and printing workshops. 

But where did this beautiful 

intricate art form originate? Persian 

art is not dissimilar and we know that 

the first tribes to arrive in Ireland 

The Perversion of Science 

and Technology in Ireland. 

By Derry Kellcher. Price 

£2.50. pps/48 Justice 

Books. 

IN this excellent pamphlet Kellacher 

deplores the fact that scientists and 

technologists play a subordinate role 

to accountants and salesmen in 

industry. It was C. P. Snow who tried 

to alert western capitalism to the 

dangers of science and art becoming 

two alien cultures. 

The dominance of accountants and 

Stockbrokers over engineers and 

scientists in Britain is well known as is 

the disastrous neglect of British 

industry in favour of the City: Mrs 

Thatcher and Nigel Lawson have a 

marked preference for service 

industries and tourism while working 

class lads are crying out for 

engineering apprenticeships. 

Mr Kellacher points to the same 

tendencies in Ireland. He describes 

Irish cultural and political life as antiscientific. 

He claims that the-antiscientific 

temper of public life in both 

countries stem in the first place from 

British educational policy,— 

"designed to create a species of home 

and colonial administrators to occupy 

posts in the army, the judiciary, the 

civil service and the police." 

Kellacher criticises the Romantic 

poets for failing "to understand that 

Derek Mahon's illuminating poem 

"In darrowdore Churchyard; at the 

graveof Louis MacNeice" provides its 

own insights into the earlier poet's 

wodb- And- it - is - another- marked 

feature of tfceoolloetion,ibis constant 

intcr-fefeml ofc«h6pootty wilhpoems 

ubots,' wand far saofckxhert 

MMbh McOuckJM* makes an - 

interesting fiitaMnohiatori-asthe onlyfemale 

poet. Her work -^occasionally 

inspired by .diverse historical figures 

— teases and surprises. 

Having made the brave decision to 

stick out his neck and settle for just ten 

poets, Paul Muldoon has succeeded in 

selecting a coherent and provoking 

anthology. 

C.P. 

trom the middle east. Our 

forbears carved their brilliantly 

twined and twisted knots; plaits and 

key patterns in stone. Later on metals 

(gold and silver) jewels and 

parchment, demonstrated to fine 

effect in ancient illuminated 

manuscripts. The best examples are 

the Book of Kelts and the Book of 

Durrow in Trinity College, Dublin. 

For those interested in learning the 

art of how to plan and create grids, 

cells, knotwork and interlacing the 

best book is Celtic Art. the methods 

of contraction by George Bain. This 

book by the authors son is, as I said a 

useful addition to this fascinating 

subject. 

Peter Mulligan 

the better world they were seeking 

could only be realised through further 

developments in science and 

technology. Apart from Wordsworth 

who was a friend of the Irish 

mathamatician Hamilton Rowen, 

Kellacher says "The Romantics were 

however, in the main stubbonly antiscientific 

in temper." 

The author quotes from a Dr R. 

Johnstone's article in Crane Bag to 

show the same tendencies existed even 

in the hedge schools where there was a 

leaning towards classical learning. 

Later in the same article Thomas 

Davis is castigated for ignoring the 

presence of scientists at a local 

meeting when he reported it in the 

Nation. Kellacher detects the same 

anti-scientific spirit even among those 

who opposed entry intothe European- 

Common Market. - 

This is such a complex subject that 

treatment in a small booklet only 

raises ten times as many questions as it 

has space to answer. Could the author 

not be induced to expand this 

important theme into a book of a 

hundred thousand words? 

The second 4 part of the booklet 

deals with Mr Kellacher's plans to 

convert power stations into 

generators not only of electricity but 

also for heat which could be used for 

adjacentcommunities: Could they not 

also supply hot water for baths and 

washing up in the summer? Popular 

support for such useful projects could 

I think force a change Of heart on the 

part of vested interests. 

G. Curran 

SUBSCRIPTION COUPON 

• Post to 244/246 GRAYS INN ROAD, WC1 

Please send) m* the "IRISH DEMOCRAT" each 

Name 

!, : 

Jl 

Address 

- > 

*i? 

K.. 

! i . . . . . . 

monttrfor a year: I enclose-£5. 

m 

1» 

Some designs from the Book of Kelts. 

A man in the jaws of 

a beast. Two birds. 

The Jp symbol is on cheek and hip of the 

man. Note two right feet as in Egypttan 

Art. 

Page Seven 

Dr»wn by George Bain. 

"late XIV 

Plate XH. 

Actual width ',< inch Actua) ^dth |% jnches 

A man s heaa in a beast's mouth. 

The beast's hind legs and tail are 

at the foot of the pag*. 

A beast, head, top-knot, neck, 

foreleg, two hlndlegs and tail 

ERRORS LAID BARE 

Trial and Error. The Maguires 

The Guildford Pub Bombingv 

and British Justice. Robert Kee 

Hamish Hamilton. £10.95. 

READERS interested in a detailed 

and factual investigation of these 

cases can confidently be recommeded 

Robert Kee's book. Irish people owe a 

debt of gratitude to the author and 

also Ludovic Kennedy for their 

unstinting efforts to uncoverinjustice. 

So far thepressures have resulted in 

the Birmingham Six case being 

referred to the Court of Appeal, with 

results yet to be determined. It is to be 

hoped that the case wiU be heard with 

the minimum of delay. 

It is curious how doubt eventually 

filters through and in time possible 

errors of investigation and judicial 

approach are laid bare. A common 

feature is that the public rage at an 

event, condemned by all, pressurises 

the police to find culprits. From there, 

confessions form the basis of later 

conviction and as time goes on it 

becomes even more difficult to have 

the process reversed, as reputations 

become involved. 

girl 

Cuckoo by Linda Anderson, 

pp 160 (The Bodley Head £8.95).' 

SECOND novels are traditionally 

recognised as the most crucial 

moment in a writer's career, 

particularly in the wake of a successful 

start. Linda Anderson, whose first 

novel was short-listed for two prizes, 

presents us with a wide-ranging 

canvas as we follow the thoughts and 

actions of our heroine, Fran 

McDowell. 

Beginning in May 1982, we find 

Fran, a Belfast woman of Protestant 

background, starting to turn against 

the increasingly hostile world she 

inhabits. Pushed to the limits at work 

by her sexist boss,-she makes her ex.t 

with the memorable line, "If crass 

behaviour is linked to the menstrual 

cycle, how do you explain yours?" 

Moving into a kind of limbo 

without work or purpose (the least 

convincing part of the novel), Fran 

falls prey to a loud-mouthed West 

Indian. The resulting pregnancy 

succeeds in concentrating Fran's 

mind as she takes control of her life 

once more. 

It is here that the novel broadens and 

diversifies. What follows is always 

interesting, frank and readable, but 

one might have hoped for less 

•netadMOM than this latter half 

prodMM.-Noasthakw,'this is a writer 

to return to again. 

C.P. 

In the case of the Maguires much 

rested on the scientific tests for 

nitroglycerine. These tests have been 

devised by John Yallop who gave 

evidence for the defence. He said that 

in his view the substance on hands and 

gloves was not the explosive. The 

Judge, Mr Justice Donaldson, in his 

summing up said it would be quite 

unsafe to convict unless the jury were 

satisfied that the substance was 

nitroglycerine. In the circumstances, 

and bearing in mind the doubt since 

cast on the tests in question, it seems 

perverse not to reopen the case of the 

Maguires, or better still, to grant a free 

pardon. In the Guildford case, a 

convicted IRA man, Brendan Dowd, 

later confessed to the bombing and 

this exonerated those convicted for it. 

One can only hope that the 

Birmingham Six will be cleared and 

that continuing public pressure will 

lead to those other cases being 

reopened. That is the only way justice 

can be done to those convicted. The 

status of British justice would also 

benefit. As Robert Kee concludes: 

"Let Justice be done though the 

heavens fall." The heavens would^ 

probably continue much as before but 

perhaps some reputations might not 

be quite the same. 

Dermot Htnes 

FIRE 

Biography of 

MARY Mac SWINEY 

By 

CHARLOTTE H. FALLON 

At 

Four Provinces 

Bookshop 

-t

Page Eight 



BY PETER MULLIGAN 

NORTHERN IRELAND LIMITED 

— more than 62,000 jobs have been 

lost since 1975 together with one third 

of the provinces manufacturing 

industry Manufacturing now 

accounts for only 21 per cent of its 

remaining employment compared 

with 32 per cent in 1975. More than 

3,000 manufacturing jobs will 

disappear this year to be offset by only 

1,000 more in service industries, while 

there will be a zero growth in 

construction. "All of us are now 

paying the cost of not having had a 

stable government in Northern 

Ireland ... in consequence, economic 

difficulties continue to take second 

place to other issues. If it became 

public knowledge in mainland (sic) 

UK, |ust how much we are receiving to 

keep us afloat there would be a 

general public revulsion." The 

Cooper and Lybrand economic report 

on Northern Ireland." 

CRISIS OF IDENTITY — "I have a 

son in the British Army and in every 

generation of my family that has been 

the case. 'The symbols of my national 

life are Buckingham Palace. Big Ben. 

Westminster. Windsor Castle,..Tom 

King is as foreign to me as a man on 

the moon, but vet he is supposed to be 

mv spokesman in a dialogue with a 

foreign government that refuses to 

ah'inlon its territorial claim" - 

H. /old McCusker. deputy leader of 

th/ Official Unionist Party. "If ihe 

B- *.'->h Government are going to 

co;i:mue to treat lis as second class 

an.l to continue to exclude us. I think 

wc have no choice but to find some 

other form of state organisation that 

will preserve the British people in 

I ilsk'i•" - David Trimble, chairman of 

the O! IP l^agan Valley, memberof the 

I 'Isicr Club and the Orange Order, "We 

are looked on to provide leadership for 

loyalist workers. As Loyalists see it, 

it is either our country orourjobsand 

sven if it means the possibility of 

losing orders our country is more 

important to lis." - Harry Paterson. 

deputy senior shop steward the 

AEU at Harland and Wolff shipyard. 

— Guardian. 

ECONOMICS — "More than 50 per 

cent of direct household income in the 

province stems from public 

expendature which accounts for 73 

per cent of the province's gross 

domestic product compared with only 

66 per cent 12 years ago." — Times. 

"PREVENTION OF CRITICISM 

ACT"! — "On a prosecution it shall 

not he necessary to show that the 

accused person was guilty of any 

particular act tending to show a 

purpose prejudicial to the safety or 

interests of the State, and 

notwithstanding that no such act is 

proved against him, he may be 

convicted if, from the circumstances 

of the case, or his conduct, or his 

known character is proved, it appears 

that his' purpose was a purpose 

prejudicial to the safety or interest of 

the State." Section 1 of the Official 

Secrets Act. My italics-no need for 

further comment. 

MIS SMEAR — "Winston Churchill, 

the Tory MP, (Davyhulme, 

Manchester) and Sir S. Hastings, a 

Tory MP from 1960 to 1983,say that 

they are the two 'unnamed' Torv MPs 

accused of helping MI5 to smear the 

then Labour prime minister, Harold 

Wilson, during the mid 1970s" — 

Sundav Times. 

THE APPEAL COURT — After 

nearly four years in jail, twenty four 

men imprisoned on the sole word of 

supergrass Harry Kirkpatrick were all 

""freed by an appeal court who decided 

that Kirkpatrick was a "dangerously 

flawed witness...who planned to 

deceive the court." Will they receive 

compensation 9 The RUC continue to 

use such informants to intimidate and 

illegally imprison known republicans. 

FUNDAMENTAL UNIONISTS — A 

much needed leisure centre in 

Cookstown, Tyrone has remained 

empty for a year because Unionist 

councillors have refused to meet and 

transact council business. The centre 

should be employing 30 staff in an 

area with 37 per cent unemployment. 

~~ Guardian. 

THE STORY OF MR BARKER 

architectural features that 

RACISM isn't a word you 

heard very often thirty-odd years 

ago yet there was plenty of racism 

about. Whether we are getting any 

better or not is a thing you could 

argue about for a long time but I'd 

rather just tell the story of Mr. 

Barker as I knew It. 

I was working as a ward orderly 

in a hospital at the time — 1951 it 

was. 

Jobs like that were ten a penny 

then and they couldn't get enough 

people to fill them, the NHS 

scoured Ireland for talent and I 

got my job through an ad. in the 

Irish Press. Two thirds of the 

workforce were Irish I'd say and 

there was a clear distinction 

between the nursing staff (which 

included the orderlies like myself 

however little we knew about 

nursing) and the ground and 

domestic staff. We had separate 

sitting rooms and ate in separate 

dining rooms and fraternisation 

wasn't exactly encouraged. The 

place was like the Tower of Babel 

there were so many languages 

spoken but there was never a 

black person among us until Mr 

Barker came along. 

HIS name wasn't Barker at all, 

actually, but M'Baka which is 

perhaps not too dissimilar. It was 

Olive the cleaning woman who 

first called him Mr Barker — 

either unwilling or unable to get 

her tongue round the full sound of 

"Umm-bakka" (a very satisfying 

sort of sound I thought at the 

time!) Unlike any otherarrival Mr 

M'Baka's fame preceded him — 

we were warned in advance of his 

coming. Mr Pius M'Baka was 

studying medicine at Trinity 

College Dublin and rather than 

return home to West Africa for 

the summer break he was coming 

to England to gain practical 

experience of hospital life and 

presumably to earn a few bob — 

£4.7.Od to be precise for a 44 hours 

week! 

Mr M'Baka, we were {old by the 

Assistant Matron who warned us 

p jflpHp 

FESTIVAL 

BLACKBURN is to have an Irish 

social club. That is the aim of Irish 

Festival Chairman Tony Bolger, 

well backed up by Mayor and 

Mayoress Councillor and Mrs 

Michael Madigan, who are 

sponsoring a crowded programme 

to run from Wednesday, March 

11th to Tuesday, March 17th, a 

date we all know well. 

Mass will be said at St. Alban's 

Church, Larkhill by the Rt Rev 

Joseph Francis Cleary, Auxiliary 

Bishop of Birmingham at 7.30 pm 

on the 11th. 

Following on the same day is an 

Irish Night featuring the Dale 

Country show-band, and Blackburn 

Irish dancers. 

On Thursday, Irish singers, 

musicians and dancers are coming 

from Liverpool, and with 

Councillor Jim King in the chair, 

there will be "ceol agus crac", the 

crack being provided by Donal 

MacAmhaigh, Desmond Greaves 

and Paul Salveson, all members of 

the Connolly Association, Venue — 

St Pauls, Montagu Street. 

Friday sees a Ceili with St 

Malachy's Band (Manchester) and 

Killenaule Dancers (Upperary) at 

the West End Youth and 

Community Centre. On the 

Saturday there will be a "Grand 

Parade" from Blackburn Town 

Hall, leaving at 11 am, with 

displays, music, dancing and "open 

air ceili." 

On Sunday, March 15th, at 

BY 

DONAL MacAMHLAIGH 

of his coming, was a chief's son, a 

man of education and refinement - 

— and we were on no account to 

pay any heed to his colour, less still 

to pass any ill-bred remarks. I 

suppose we must have advanced 

since then a bit because it would 

be unthinkable today for any 

Matron or Assistant Matron to 

issue such a caveat. But those were 

frank times indeed and in his 

recently published book Dr Noel 

Browne tells us that a noted 

surgeon in TCD, during Browne's 

time there as a student, declared 

openly that he wouldn't lecture to 

any 'Niggers, Jews or Catholics!' 

So perhaps — and considering 

that to the best of my knowledge 

there was oqly one other black 

resident in Northampton at the 

time — it wasn't too surprising 

that the nursing staff should be 

warned not to offend Mr. M'Baka 

by any untoward reaction. 

We awaited Mr M'Baka's 

arrival with some interest. 

But there was a problem of 

accommodation. The nursing 

staff slept in small cubicles, two 

beds to a cubicle, and though 

there were beds a plenty the 

question was where Mr M'Baka 

should be put. That was Olive's, 

the cleaning lady's problem and 

she expressed some perplexity to 

me on the matter. 

"Dunno where I'm goin' to put 

Mr Barker, Plat. I mean," she 

went on without batting an eyelid, 

"it aint tiflf we can have him 

sharing with a white man, is it? 

Tell you what, I'll move old 

Brendan out of his room in along 

with you," — there was a spare 

bed in my cubicle at the time — 

"and I can put Mr Barker in 

Brendon's room." 

But that solution didn't suit me 

at all however it might have suited 

Blackburn Rugby Club, there will 

be GAA games with ladies teams 

kicking off at 1 pm. Urconeill 

Goels (Manchester) play 

Garryowen (London) and at 1 pm 

Urconaill play Brothers Pearse 

(Huddersfield). That night there is 

a music session at the 

"Greyhound", Whitehead Road. 

Monday, March 16th, is a 

cultural day. Blackburn Public 

Library puts on "Irish Pbets and 

Players" from 12 noon to 2 pm. And 

the same evening there is an "at 

home" in the Council Chambers, 

Blackburn Town Hall with the 

Mayoress and Father Francis 

Britain's foremost recording priest. 

Everything leads up to fie final 

occasion, the Grand St Patrick's 

night ball with the Dale Country 

Show-band, and Johnny Loughrey 

and the Countrysiders. Ibis is at 

the King George's Hall, from 9 pm 

to 2 am and the admission is £2. 

LIVERPOOL 

IRISH CENTRE 

6.30 pm 

SUNDAY, 8th MARCH 

FLANN CAMPBELL 

speaks on 

JOHN MITCHEL 

ALL WELCOME 

Olive. Put Mr Barker in with me, I 

begged, he was heartily welcome — 

- anyone only Brendan 

O'Shaughnessey! Brendan was an 

anti-christ, no point in mincing 

words; the greatest pest and 

plague that ever left Mary Horan's 

Land; a cantankerous, bad 

tempered, inebriate, bellicose 

bastard. I didn't want him within 

a mile of me, never mind sharing 

the same room. But poor Olive 

was appalled. 

"Oh no, Pat, can't do that! It 

wouldn't be right — not a black 

man!" 

I begged for the pleasure of Mr 

Barker's company in vain but at 

least I wasn't lumbered with 

Brendan. Olive found a solution 

which to her way of thinking was a 

fair compromise: she separated 

two Ukranians, putting one of 

them in with the bold Brendan 

and making room for Mr Barker 

with the other. The other was a 

little chap getting on in years who 

had a stub of a wet fag in his 

mouth all through his waking 

hours and spoke fluent if utterly 

incomprehensible English. I felt 

sorry for Pius M'Baka... 

Pius, when he came, was as 

unlike your stereotype Hollywood 

black man (which was all any of us 

had ever seen at the time)as Oscar 

Wilde was unlike one of Murphy's 

heavy diggers. You could see right 

off he was a chiefs son — he had 

that kind of languid arrogance 

about him that can only.come 

from an aristocratic background - 

whether black or white. "He 

arrived and we were all on our best 

behaviour before him — it was 

only yours truly, I regret to say, 

who made something of a gaffe. 

And that from the best of 

intentions! Out of the depths of 

my naivety and ignorance I struck 

up a conversation with Mr 

M'Baka at the dining room table 

and began asking him about life in 

Africa; not, J blush to admit now, 

the kind of informed and 

intelligent questions which any 

young man of twenty four should 

be able to ask, but bloody silly 

questions about snakes and lions! 

A weary smile flickered across Mr 

M'Baka's face and he hastened to 

assure me that his acquaintance 

with reptiles and big cats was quite 

minimal. Then, somewhat 

disconcertingly, he went on: 

"I was under the same kind of 

misapprehensions about your 

country before I went there — I 

thought that the people spent all 

of their time hacking and cutting 

each other with knives and 

pitchforks." He smiled 

indulgently at such nonsense. "Of 

course I found otherwise when I 

went there!" 

Mr M'Baka certainly hadn't 

any hang-ups about colour and 

his quiet air of superiority was a 

little hard to stomach. 

"Come along," he said to me on 

his first night in Northampton, 

"you can show me the town." 

We sallied out together, the sixfoot, 

patrician Pius M'Baka and 

myself and I knew without having 

to turn round that a dozen pairs of 

eyes watched us from behind the 

curtains of the nurses' quarters. I 

showed Mr M'Baka the town and 

he commented on it as we went 

about rather in the manner of 

those oldfashioned travelogues, 

listing the industries that 

sustained the place and the 

adorned it. I got fed up of this so 

we adjourned to the Plumber's 

Arms. 

The Plumber's Arms was a pub 

where the Irish held sway for most 

of the time though their 

hegemony was threatened once a 

month when there was an invasion 

of Yanks—both black and white - 

- from the USAF base at Upper 

Heyford in Oxfordshire. The Irish 

lads drank beer or a horrid 

mixture of beer and stout called 

the Black & Tan and they never 

brought girls into the pub; the 

Yanks brought girls and bought 

shorts with wild abandon. On the 

whole the Taffy guv'nor preferred 

the Yanks but couldn't see much 

hope of excluding the Irish when 

the Yanks were in town. There 

were fairly frequent rows between 

the white Yanks and the Irish,and 

it needs to be said the Hibernians 

were mainly the cause of it. Idon't 

know what they had against the 

Americans — I think they just 

happened to despise them in that 

prejudiced and irrational way that 

some sections of the human race 

despise others. 

In passing let me say that Idon't 

think the white Yanks despised 

the Irish labourers they sometimes 

clashed with — their contempt 

was reserved for their black 

compatriots and their fights were 

more often with them. "Die streets 

were patrolled by massive pairs of 

Yankee military policemen, one 

black one white, and they were 

quick to jump on disorder. But 

that's all by the way ... Pius 

M'Baka and myself went into the 

Plumber's and we had a "few jars. It 

need hardly be said that the 

African attracted attention, lots of 

it, but to be fair it was of a 

benevolent if maybe on reflection 

somewhat condescending nature. 

(All that our lads knew about 

black folk was that you gave 

pennies for them at school,— a 

fact which I believe is sometimes 

thrown at black squaddies on duty 

in Belfast and other such 

remaining corners of the Empire.) 

At any rate they gathered around 

Pius and asked him how the crack 

was and what would he drink. 

Pius accepted their homage —for 

I'm certain now that's how he 

thought of it — very graciously 

indeed, assured them that the 

crack was sound and drank all he 

was given. I don't know if Mr 

Barker was skint as they say or if, 

like royalty nearer home, he never 

carried round any money. But 

whatever the reason he certainlv 

didn't put his hand in his pocket 

that night ... The beer flowed 

freely, and the songs thereafter — 

The Valley of Knockanure and 

Kevin Barry; those were the kind 

of songs the Irish sung in pubs in 

those days — and Pius enjoyed his 

night. 4 

We returned to the hospital 

legless. 4 

Mr M'Baka stayed with us for 

the rest of the summer, until it was 

time to go back to Dublin and 

Trinity College again. I would like 

to be able to end this little tale by 

saying that we forged a beautiful 

friendship and that I think of 'Mr 

Barker' with fond affection still. 

I'm afraid I can't. For Mr M'Baka 

was a pain in the dentin, a 

haughty, conceited, lazy big aristo 

... Make no mistake friend — 

colour isn't half as big a barrier as 

class! 

Printed by Ripley Printers Ltd (TU), 

Nottingham Road, Ripley, Derby*, 

and pubikbed by Connolly Publications 

Ltd, 244 Grays Inn Road, 

London WC1. Telephone: 01-833-3022.

Irish Democrat March 1987

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