Irish Echo August 2018

HARRY AND MEGHAN

IRISH IN AFL

PAGE 15

PAGE 22

Dublin Shelves Anglophobia As Newlyweds Get Royal Treatment

Great Year For Gaelic Games Converts As Irish Lads Shine

For breaking news visit www.irishecho.com.au

AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R August, 2018 | Volume 31 – Number 8

AUS $5.95 (incl GST)

Chapter of Australian Irish history reimagined Ruth Park’s The Harp In The South Adapted For The Sydney Stage PAGE 3

VISA CRUNCH

IT is becoming increasing difficult for skilled workers to secure Australian visas as rule changes, increased fees and anti-immigration sentiment work through the immigration system.

Australia’s permanent intake has

fallen to its lowest level in 10 years.

Australia took in 20,000 fewer permanent migrants than in the previous financial year, mostly because of a 12,000 drop in skilled visas and an 8,000 drop in family visas.

But while the Turnbull government has trumpeted the lower intake as a successful consequence of a shift in policy, business groups have spoken out about possible negative economic consequences.

The Australian Industry Group and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry say the lower intake is very disappointing.

SEE PAGE 3

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AUSTRALIA’S MIGRATION INTAKE AT LOWEST LEVEL IN A DECADE

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

news ACCLAIMED PLAYWRIGHT KATE MULVANY ADAPTS RUTH PARK’S CLASSIC FOR THE STAGE

Very strong Irish vein to Surry Hills family saga Fiona Brady A MUCH-LOVED story about a Catholic Irish-Australian family living in the Surry Hills slums in the post-war years has been turned into an epic play opening in Sydney this month.

The Harp in the South follows the lives, loves and losses of the Darcy family who run a boarding house amid the dirt and the squalor of inner city Sydney in the 40s and 50s.

It’s a two-part production staged over a mammoth five-and-a-half hours so audiences can be completely immersed in the Darcys’ world.

The play is based on a trilogy of novels by Ruth Park and has been adapted for the theatre by award-winning playwright and actress Kate Mulvany.

Mulvany, who has Irish hertitage, fell in love with The Harp in the South while growing up. She described it as a “beautiful, sweeping, romantic” saga.

“It was just this book that seemed to be on everyone’s shelves,” she said.

“I guess it was because Ruth Park was so inclusive of everyone in her writing. Everyone could find themselves, or their mum, or their grandparents in it.

And for me, it was the very, very strong Irish vein that ran through the book in every single way.”

At the heart of the play are first generation Irish-Australians Margaret and Hugh Darcy and their two daughters Roie (Rowena) and Dolour. Audiences will follow them through the generations and the decades in a production full of song, laughter and tears. Their Irish-born grandma, played by Heather Mitchell, provides many of the gags.

“She is sort of like an over-sexed, blatantly honest, funny, little tiny creature,”Mulvany said. “I really enjoy it every time she goes on stage.”

There’s also a tight-knit community of neighbours, many of them new immigrants from different parts of the

EPIC TALE OF HARDSCRABBLE LIVES: Tony Cogin, Anita Hegh and Tara Morice are among the 18-strong cast in the stage production of Ruth Park’s The Harp In The South, adapted by Kate Mulvany (below right) for the Sydney Theatre Company. Main picture: Rene Vaile world. The colourful cast of characters includes the notorious madam who runs the brothel next door, nuns and even an Orangeman intent on starting the Troubles in the Darcy’s kitchen.

The Harp in the South reflects the life of Surry Hills’ hardscrabble post-war residents – the Irish, the Chinese and the Europeans – who filled its streets with life and colour.

One of the play’s central themes is community and “finding a place to belong when you’re far from home” and it celebrates the fellowship that existed among the slum dwellers.

But it certainly isn’t all a rose-tinted depiction of the ‘good old days’.

Along with the grinding poverty, there’s violence, backstreet abortions, alcoholism and death.

Park lived in Surry Hills after she got married, so she knew well the conditions firsthand.

“I’m not going to cast it in a golden light because it’s not,” Mulvany said.

“Ruth Park never wrote it like that, either. It’s tough.”

In fact, when Park’s book was first published in 1948 there was a public outcry at its depiction of the slums, especially because Park was a New Zealander. And while modern Irish immigrants might appear to have little in common with the Darcys, Mulvany said they may struggle with some of the same issues.

“Do you belong either in Surry Hills or in Ireland? How far does Irish blood go?”

Mulvany wrote the play for the

BUSINESS GROUPS SLAM GOVERNMENT OVER VISA CUTS

Immigration squeeze

Staff reporters

MIGRATION to Australia has been slashed to its lowest level in more than a decade after the federal government put tough new hurdles in place.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has claimed that the fall in numbers was a consequence of the government meticulously going through applications to weed out unsuitable claims.

“We’re making sure that people who do become part of our Australian family are coming here to work, not to lead a life on welfare,” Mr Dutton said.

But business lobby groups, migration agents and representatives of ethnic groups have criticised the cuts, warning of economic damage if the numbers are allowed to fall further.

Groups representing more than 60,000 Australian businesses have criticised the Turnbull government’s cuts to skilled and family migration.

Australia took in 20,000 fewer permanent migrants than in the previous financial year, mostly becasue of a

12,000 drop in skilled visas and an 8,000 drop in family visas.

The Australian Industry Group, one of the nation’s leading business groups, said the cut was disappointing.

“We are strong supporters of the migration program and to see it drop so significantly below the 2017-18 intake ceiling is disappointing,” AIG’s chief executive, Innes Willox, said.

Mr Willox said it was to the government’s credit that skilled visas still made up the same percentage of the intake, at about 68 per cent.

However, he encouraged the government to “get closer to reaching the ceiling” of 190,000 places this financial year. The official cap is still set at 190,000, despite real numbers falling short this year.

“Skilled migrants generate the greatest economic benefits to the Australian community, through their direct contributions to our national employment and skills base,” Mr Willox said. “Many also bring specialist attributes that provide even bigger

benefits, by deepening our entrepreneurship, innovation and international linkages.”

The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry blasted the cuts, arguing employers were paying the political price for the government’s failure to keep up with infrastructure demands in growing cities.

“This is a real crisis,” the chamber’s CEO James Pearson said.

“This is a problem right now, particularly for regional businesses serving regional communities. Politicians have failed to plan properly for the population growth in Sydney and Melbourne and regional Australia is now paying the price because of this cutback in our skilled migration by stealth.”

Both sides of politics have praised the lower numbers with Labor leader Bill Shorten vowing to clamp down on the number of temporary work visas.

“No temporary visa worker should be here for a day longer than it takes to train an Australian,” Mr Shorten told the Australian Financial Review.

Sydney Theatre Company after being given the commission to adapt an epic novel and turn it into event theatre.

Audiences can choose to watch the two-part production on different days, or on the same day with breaks.

The 18-strong cast is in rehearsal and has the enormous task of playing 150 parts, switching costumes and personas for what has been described as one of STC’s most ambitious productions.

“They’re doing very well with it; I’m sure they’ll turn on me soon,” Mulvany said with a laugh.

The Harp in the South runs from August 16 to October 6 in the Roslyn Packer Theatre. For details go to sydneytheatre.com.au

MISSING IRISH TEENAGER

Heavily pregnant Irish woman goes missing CONCERN is growing for a missing Sydney Irish teenager, Katie Cash.

As we as we go to press, NSW Police is appealing for public assistance to help locate Ms Cash (pictured above), who was last seen leaving a hospital on Barker St, Randwick, just before 3pm on Friday July 13. At the time she was last seen, Katie, who may also go by another name, was 38-weeks pregnant.

Officers with Eastern Beaches Police

Area Command hold grave concerns for her welfare.

She is described as being of Caucasian appearance, of thin build, with short dark hair, green/hazel eyes and a scar on the right side of her forehead. She was last seen wearing a grey top, grey and white floral pants and no shoes.

Anyone with information, or who knows of her whereabouts, is urged to call Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

news IRELAND’S MINISTER OF STATE FOR THE DIASPORA AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPEMNT CIARÁN CANNON

Diaspora key to global engagement LAST week I was ver y pleased to publish the inaugural ‘Support for the Irish Abroad’. This report, compiled by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, showcases the Government’s serious and sustained support for Irish communities around the world.

For me as Minister, it is vitally impor tant that Irish communities abroad are better informed about the links that exist between Ireland and the global Irish and the possibility of support through Government funding. I hope that through this report a greater awareness of the work that is being taken forward all over the world will inspire people to get involved – leading to more ideas, to more innovation and more collaboration between diaspora organisations on projects, making a real and lasting impact for our citizens and communities abroad.

The numbers in this report speak for themselves, but underpinning the €12.5 million that we spent supporting Irish diaspora communities and organisations is a sense that Ireland’s relationship with its significant, diverse and vibrant global Irish community is on the cusp of entering a new phase.

I was pleased to approve over $720,000 of dedicated funding to Australia in 2017. This funding suppor ted 19 dif ferent organisations spread across Australia and supported projects ranging from frontline welfare to Irish arts, culture and heritage.

Significant grants were made to the Irish Support Agency NSW and to the Irish Australian Support and Resource Bureau in Melbourne, which exemplify the professional, tailored and tireless volunteer outreach that many IrishAustralian organisations provide.

These ser vices help sustain Irish communities and forms the bedrock of engagement with Irish emigrants and those of Irish heritage.

In addition, I was also pleased to be able to provide over $40,000 in funding for five GAA clubs across Australia.

These GAA clubs are helping reenergise Irish-Australian communities and are particularly reaching recent Irish emigrants as well as younger Irish-Australians.

Having been appointed Minister of

State for the Diaspora and International Development just over a year ago, I have been fortunate to engage with Irish communities across the globe, from New Zealand to New York, and also Africa and the Gulf States in between. I have taken these opportunities to meet Irish people engaged in community and humanitarian work as well as those working across the fields of education, business, culture, science and engineering.

This last year has convinced me that we are on the verge of the next great leap in diaspora engagement, building on our efforts and successes since the publication of ‘Global Irish – Ireland’s Diaspora Policy’ in 2015. This was the first clear government policy on the diaspora which recognises that Ireland has a unique and important relationship with its diaspora that must be nurtured and developed.

As a government we have worked tirelessly and ever more efficiently since then in supporting more and more Irish people abroad and the future of this work is being framed in 2018 in more strategic ways. The intended launch later this year of two whole-of-Government strategies for the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions will see the role of our diaspora reaffirmed and enhanced.

Fur thermore, and more significantly, the recently launched policy ‘Global Ireland – Ireland’s Global Footprint to 2025’, affirms the importance of our diaspora and it rightly sets out a role for them as we work to expand our overall engagement on the world stage by doubling Ireland’s global footprint.

I have already seen this strategic centrality of our diaspora in action over recent weeks. At the beginning of July I was in New York at the launch of Ireland’s campaign to join the United Nations Security Council as a nonpermanent member in 2021-22. I was proud to see our campaign launch -– based on the three themes of empathy, par tnership and independence – receive so much international support.

I believe these themes are inherently informed by the Irish emigrant experience and, at the same time, it is also

VISA-BILITY Your visa questions answered

Co Antrim native and registered migration agent John McQuaid provides a uniquely Irish perspective on immigration issues.

Hi John, I’m here in Australia on a temporary visa expiring in 2019.

I lodged an expression of interest application for the 189 permanent skilled visa in March this year based on having the 60 points needed as a motor mechanic. I haven’t been invited to apply for the 189 visa yet and have heard the minimum points changed to 65 on July 1.

Is this correct? What happens to my application now and what options do I have?

David A

Dear David, Yes, from July 1, the Australian government raised the minimum points needed to be eligible for the ‘skill select’ 189-190-489 visas to 65 points. Anyone on 60 points that received an invitation to apply for their 189 visas before July 1 can still make the visa application.

However, if you are in the Expression of Interest (EOI) pool on 60 points now, you will not be invited to apply for the 189 visas.

If you have expressed interest

Minister Ciarán Cannon says Ireland is “on the verge of the next great leap in diaspora engagement”.

clear to me that there is a role for our diaspora in suppor ting our global engagement at the highest level. The campaign launch took place against the backdrop of John Behan’s ‘Arrival’, a sculpture depicting Irish emigrants disembarking from a ship, gifted by Ireland to the United Nations in 2000.

‘Arrival’ celebrates the deep and lasting effect that Irish emigrants have had across the world, a legacy that our diaspora continues today. It was wonderful to meet members of the Irish diaspora in New York who were supporting our bid for the Security Council. Irish diplomats, artists, aid workers, students and business people gathered to hear our message and to support Ireland in our bid to join the United Nations Security Council.

As we seek to double our global footprint by 2025 we will also be putting the citizen at the heart of our expansion. It is hugely welcome that we will have a new Irish embassy in New Zealand as well as new consulates in Vancouver and Los Angeles. Similarly we will open new embassies in South

America and the Middle East while strengthening existing ones in Europe, America and Asia.

This expansion will undoubtedly benefit local Irish communities and as we double our global footprint by 2025 I am confident that this will also double our diaspora engagement and outreach at the same time.

We are seeing this in Australia where the success of the recent state visit by the President demonstrated the huge potential for an even deeper relationship between our two countries.

The Irish embassy in Canberra, the consulate general in Sydney and the honorary consulate in Perth work very closely with the local Irish diaspora on a range of projects and programmes from promoting trade and business links, supporting vulnerable members of the community to promoting Irish culture, language and sport. Opening an Embassy in New Zealand will provide greater scope for our missions there to further expand their engagement with local Irish communities right across the country and I have no

in being nominated by a state government, there is a theoretical chance you could be invited by a state government to apply for the 190 or 489 visas. This is because the state government nomination is worth five or 10 points. But, despite the “passmark” being 65 points, in the last six months, only people on 70 or more points have been invited to apply for these visas.

Continuing to work in Australia in your occupation can allow claims for extra points – five points for one year or 10 points for three years’ experience in Australia.

The EOI can be updated at the appropriate time. With a visa expiring in 2019, a further temporary visa may well be needed to stay on in Australia. Motor mechanics can be sponsored by employers on 482 temporary four-year visas.

There is also the 186 Employer Nomination Scheme permanent visa with a Direct Entry stream.

These can prove to be more certain options than waiting for an ‘skill select’ invitation that may never arrive.

In the migration program year that ended on June 30, 2018, Immigration granted about 165,000 permanent visas.

While a high number, this figure

is down by about 13 per cent on previous years. This means the competition for permanent visa places is getting tougher and will continue to be tougher in 2019.

For prospective 189/190 applicants, its best to look at any options to increase your points claims. Don’t settle for the minimum pass mark . Taking or retaking English language tests to gain a higher score is one option.

The invitations for the 489 regional visas has dropped to a mere 10 places per month so don’t hold out on getting invited for this visa. Immigration, now called the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) has also announced that this year the invitation rounds will occur only once per month instead of the usual twice per month, but saying the volume of invitations will not change.

The permanent residence skilled visa fee increased on July 1 to $3,755 for the primary applicant – extra fees apply for each family member. Getting your visa strategy right is critical, and regular review of your plan considering any law changes is always needed.

Consider consulting a registered migration agent to assess your best option: Visit mia.org.au

doubt of the huge benefit this will be to our Irish family in Australia and to Ireland itself.

I said in the foreword to ‘Support for the Irish Abroad’ that the story of the Irish abroad is above all a human story.

I firmly believe this to be true and am constantly reminded of this, in positive and wonderful ways, through my travel and my engagement with our people abroad. We have come so far together as a people, at home and abroad, and the story of the Irish is now legendary the world over. I look for ward to helping write the next chapter and am excited to see where it leads us next.

Ciarán Cannon TD is the Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development and is based in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Dublin. You can keep up to date on Minister Cannon’s work through Twitter by following @ciarancannon or @ Globalirish.

A U ST R A LI A’ S I R I SH N E WSPA P E R

Telephone: +61 2 9555 9199 Facsimile: +61 2 9555 9186 Postal Address: PO Box 256, Balmain, NSW 2041, Australia E-mail (Admin): mail@irishecho.com.au E-mail (Editorial): editor@irishecho.com.au Web: www.irishecho.com.au The Irish Echo is a national publication published monthly by The Irish Exile P/L Printed by Spot Press Distributed by Wrapaway

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

irish australia BREXIT OPENS IRISH DOOR TO AUSTRALIAN FIRMS, SAYS MINISTER

Ciobo stresses Irish opportunities

TRADING PARTNERS: Australian Trade Minister Steven Ciobo with Irish Minister for Finance Paschal Donohue.

AUSTRALIAN companies operating in Europe are likely to look at locating activities in Ireland because of Brexit, the country’s trade minister said in Dublin last week.

Speaking at an event organised by the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce, Steven Ciobo said that while many Australian businesses would continue to maintain a presence in London after Brexit, some would look to establish operations in Dublin and Ireland.

Mr Ciobo also encouraged Irish businesses to avail of the preferential market access that Australia affords as a bridge into Asia.

“You will not regret expansion into a highly dynamic, competitive and developed economy like Australia, nor will you regret having access to a market [Asia] with in excess of two billion people with the best market access than any other country globally,” The Irish Times reported.

“Likewise, I will be speaking to Australian businesses about the incredible opportunities that exist in Europe and why they should consider, with the uncer tainty surrounding Brexit, a destination like Dublin ... as a possible destination for expansion.”

Australia and the European Union recently kicked off formal negotiations on what Mr Ciobo described as a high-quality free-trade agreement.

“I want to make sure that we are opportunistic in terms of making sure we can reach our full potential between the EU, including Ireland, and Australia,” he said.

Ireland is Australia’s 27th biggest export market, while Australia is 44th for Ireland. The total value of merchandise trade between the two countries is about $AU1.9 billion (€1.2 billion), with Irish exports accounting for all bar $98 million of that figure.

Mr Ciobo met many Irish counterparts, including Minister for Finance

IRISH CELTIC SHOW COMES TO MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY

Set in an Irish pub, touring show set to charm audiences David Hennessy

A UNIQUE Irish dance show is set to get feet tapping in Melbourne and Sydney, with the acclaimed show Irish Celtic set to make its Australian debut.

Set in a traditional Irish pub, the show brings the warm welcome and raucous entertainment for which Ireland is known to a theatre stage to make for a night out like no other.

Coming direct from successful tours of Germany and France, Irish Celtic boasts the talents of the finest performers from the best Irish dance companies as the show is choreographed by Jim Murrihy, an original cast member of Lord of the Dance and Feet of Flames. The performances are married to the musical direction of Anthony Davis whose soundtrack will remind audiences of classic films such as Titanic, Braveheart and The Last of the Mohicans and all is brought together by artistic director Toby Gough, international award-winning director of Lady Salsa which played on London’s West End for two years.

Choreographer Jim Murrihy told The Irish Echo they are excited to be bringing the show to Australia.

“It’s an area we haven’t been to yet and hopefully it’s the start of many years of touring around Australia and New Zealand and Asia. It’s a great show and I think they’ll love it.

“Irish music and dancing is accepted worldwide since 1996 when Michael Flatley and Riverdance put Irish dancing and Irish music on the map.

“It goes down really well in all those countries. Even with the language barrier, I think the music and dancing pull everything together.

“It’s a theme show, set in a pub. We have a narrator who is the owner of

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE: The cast of Irish Celtic features some of the world’s best Irish dancers and top musicians. the pub, Paddy Flynn, and it’s a simple enough story. He’s passing down keys of the pub to his son Dermot and as the show goes along, he talks about the history of the pub and all the things that used to happen there, anywhere from births to deaths to parties, we talk about the Titanic when people left Ireland to go over to the States many years ago, so he’s telling a story.

“We want the audience to get involved in the show and that’s one of the main things. We want every person to feel like they are in that pub that night that we are portraying.”

The show will electrify fans of Irish dancing who get to see the elite of the craft and what they can do.

“The majority of our dancers are world champion Irish dancers, great

performers from Lord of the Dance and Riverdance so we have a very talented cast. The dancers are extremely talented, the cream of the crop around at the moment. You will see that in the performance. We do a great number and it’s just the four boys and the sean-nós dancer and it’s just about who can do the best rhythms and taps, who has the highest kicks, the fastest footwork and the audience really likes that.”

When asked how he thinks the show will go down with Australian audiences, Murrihy is reminded of when he came to Australia before as part of Michael Flatley’s production.

“I think it will go down well. In my experience, they have been very receptive to Irish music and Irish dance.

Hopefully it will be the same, hopefully they come away smiling and clapping.

If they’re cheering and clapping for the first number, then the rest of the show will be fun. They just sit back and relax and enjoy the show and become part of the Irish pub. We want them to feel like it’s an Irish pub. What we do in Ireland on a social scene wiht musicians in a pub, we’re just taking that from an Irish pub and putting it on a theatre stage.

“Who can’t relate to a night out in a pub and the things that go on?”

Irish Celtic plays at The Palms at Crown, Melbourne until August 5 and the Capitol Theatre, Sydney from August 7 to 12.

For more information, go to www.irishceltic.com.au

Paschal Donohoe and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys.

“Ireland values our strong relationship with Australia, as we are both open and dynamic economies which rely on international trade and investment for success,” Ms Humphreys said.

“I am pleased that the EU’s negotiations with Australia have begun ... and hope that a mutually beneficial and comprehensive free-trade agreement can be agreed quickly.”

The Ministers visited the global headquarters and manufacturing facility of Combilift in Monaghan.

“Combilift has achieved global recognition, and represents the best of Irish engineering excellence,” Ms Humphreys said. “I hope today’s meeting opens further opportunities for Combilift, and other Irish companies, to grow and deepen trade and investment relationships with Australia”.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

news BRISBANE IRISH TEENAGER ONE OF AUSTRALIA’S TOP TAEKWONDO FIGHTERS

Wexford-born Liam has potential to be world’s best David Hennessy AN Irish family in Brisbane is raising the necessary funds to send taekwondo champion Liam Sweeney to two tournaments in Europe in October.

Fifteen-year-old Liam Sweeney is a three times Australian champion and last year picked up a silver medal at the Greece Open, representing Australia.

He already has one eye on the World Junior Championships in 2020. Liam is showing promise in the junior division where he often comes up against opponents who are years older than him. Although Liam could technically compete at the Olympics in 2020, he will still only be 17 which could be a little early for him but the 2024 Olympics remain the long-term goal.

Despite his potential and ability, it can be a struggle for Liam and his family as the trips to compete are expensive and the family receive no support although they have tried to secure sponsorship.

Liam’s mum Sadhbh told The Irish Echo: “Liam has to fight on an international circuit. They have to get ranking points and Australia is so isolated; everywhere we have to go to is on the other side of the world. Every trip that we do costs thousands.

“I have to do fundraising, it’s very difficult to get sponsorship for someone Liam’s age, they are only generally interested in older players.

“I have contacted every Irish business in Australia thinking they might give a try to an Irish lad.

“They don’t even answer, they’re not in the least bit interested. It’s very hard to get any type of support. I’m very lucky my family are very good and they help where they can.

“I’m holding a fundraising night in a couple of weeks. We’re doing a race night and we’re trying to make a big night out of it for all the athletes, to get enough money to pay for the airfares to get to Dublin.”

Sadhbh, who trains taekwondo herself, wants to take Liam and three other athletes to Dublin in October.

Although the tournaments take place in Greece and Serbia, Sadhbh has family she and the athletes can stay

with in Ireland so they will make Dublin the base to limit accommodation costs.

Liam was born in Wexford while his mother is from Terenure, Dublin. They have lived in Australia since 2011. Liam has been practising taekwondo since he was three years old. He and his mother are not the only martial artists in the family as Liam’s brother Tadhg, 8, also participates and so does his sister Tiarnagh, 12, who is a national title winner.

Having just turned 15, Liam has moved up to junior (ages 15-17) in the 63kg division, where he is usually fighting older opponents. Over six feet tall, he can more than stand up for himself.

“We went to the US Open in January and he made the quarter finals so he’s already holding his own against players who are older. He’s doing really well.

“He does have this potential,” Sadhbh said. “Liam went to Korea on this training camp and they were so impresssed with him that the professor of the taekwondo school took Liam back to his own house for a month to train him. They see that he has this potential and to get that kind of intensive training in Korea is kind of unheard of. When he was there, they earmarked Liam out of everybody and said, ‘we want him back’ so every year, they invite Liam back.

“There’s a lot of people who see something in him who are trying to help him get there but at the end of the day, I have to come up with funds because there’s little to no funding in Australia.

“If it was swimming or cycling, there’s funding for the big sports but taekwondo just isn’t up there.”

Liam told The Irish Echo he is looking forward to his upcoming trip to Europe: “I’m very excited for the opportunities. Because of my height and my weight, I’ll be fighting guys who are a lot older than me most of the time.

Usually, I find that gives me more experience to build me as a better fighter.

“I’m also very excited to see my family, I think it’s been two years so it will be good to see them again.”

A Night at the Races, in support of Liam Sweeney, takes place at Mick O’Malley’s, Queen Street, Brisbane from 8pm on 17 August.

SNOWY MONUMENT

The late Ulick O’Boyle

Musician to be honoured in Jindabyne

Liam Sweeney, 15, is an Australian champion taekwondo fighter.

SNOWY Monaro Regional Council has given approval for a monument in the Snowy Mountains commemorating the much-loved musician and songwriter UlickO’Boyle.

The official unveiling of the monument will take place on Saturday October 13 at 1pm on the foreshores of Lake Jindabyne, in the so-called “Irish quarter”.

The federal MP for Eden Monaro, Mike Kelly, will unveil the tribute to O’Boyle, who died in 2011.

Born in Tyrone on Februar y 19, 1932, O’Boyle did national service in the British Army Medical Corp, where he trained as a radiographer before coming to Australia in 1962. He worked on the Snowy scheme, first as a concrete labourer and later as a firstaid officer.

His great passion was music and he formed a band, The Settlers.

He wrote more than 200 songs, many of which celebrated the multiculturalism and camaraderie that was present during the building of the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

GAA GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR LIAM MILLER FUNDRAISER AT PAIRC UI CHAOIMH

GAA relents on memorial match Michael McHugh

THE Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has bowed to pressure and agreed to host a memorial match for former international and premiership footballer Liam Miller’s family.

Organisers had initially been refused permission to hold the fundraising game at Cork’s Pairc Uí Chaoimh because the association’s rules did not allow non-GAA sports at their venues.

Miller, the former Manchester United, Celtic and Republic of Ireland midfielder who also played with a number of Australian A-League clubs, died from cancer in February aged 36.

It was hoped that a benefit match could be played at the 45,000 capacity GAA stadium in Cork. The association was recently widely critcised, across the political and sporting spectrums, after initially vetoing the September 25 fixture.

The match is to raise money for Miller’s family and charities but had been rescheduled for a much smaller venue. Pairc Uí Chaoimh’s capacity will increase the funds raised for the family and charitable causes by an estimated

€2 million. On Saturday the GAA’s central council announced its re-think.

In a tweet it confirmed: “The Liam Miller tribute match will take place at Pair c Ui Chaoimh on T uesday September 25.”

The charity football match is between a Manchester United legends team managed by Roy Keane and a combined Celtic/Ireland side.

The GAA ban on non-association games being played in its grounds was relaxed in 2007 to allow soccer and rugby at Croke Park while Lansdowne Road football stadium in Dublin was redeveloped. The park has also been used for concerts, with musician Ed Sheeran playing there in May. “I am delighted that a practical solution has been found,” Sport Minister, Shane Ross, said. “The Government was delighted to contribute to the redeveloped Pairc Ui Chaoimh and always viewed it as an asset for all of the people of Cork.

“With this charity event now taking place in September, thousands of additional sports supporters will have an oppor tunity to experience the

magnificent venue for themselves.”

Before the GAA’s backflip, former international Damien Duff hit out at the organisation, which he dubbed a dinosaur for its reluctance to host the tribute event.

The GAA originally declared that it was “prohibited in rule from hosting games other than those under the control of the association in its stadia and grounds”.

But Miller’s former Ireland teammate Duff said the GAA’s reputation had been damaged by the decision.

“Listen, even if they open the doors now and the game is played there (Páirc Uí Chaoimh), I still think they come out of it looking awful,” he said.

“So it’s a lose-lose for them now, and it serves them right. It makes my blood boil. An absolute disgrace, but [I’m] not really surprised.”

“I think it’s Gaelic people, and whoever makes the decisions, saying that it’s rule books and that they don’t have their AGMs until next February – it’s a load of crap,” Duff said.

“It is the same old dinosaurs in the GAA making the same old decisions,” he added.

Liam Miller, pictured in action for the Brisbane Roar, died earlier this year from cancer leaving behind a wife and three young children.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland IRELAND PREPARES FOR POPE’S VISIT

More than half a million expected at papal Mass Cate McCurry TWO new stamps have been created to mark the historic visit of Pope Francis to Ireland next month.

Strong demand is expected from stamp collectors and others for the 500,000 €1 stamps carrying the image of Pope Francis with a dove taking flight in St Peter’s Square.

About 100,000 of the €1.50 international stamps feature a family and their dog walking along a beach. The stamps have been designed by Dublin-based Vermillion Design.

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said the stamps were a fitting tribute to what he said will be a memorable and uplifting visit of the Pope to the World Meeting of Families in August.

Meanwhile, logistical arrangements are in full swing ahead of what has been described as “the largest event Ireland has hosted in 40 years”.

An Garda Siochana has unveiled the transport and security plans for the papal visit. Pope Francis visits Dublin and Knock on the weekend of August 25 and 26 at the invitation of the World Meeting of Families 2018.

More than 500,000 people are expected to attend Dublin’s Phoenix Park for the papal Mass, the equivalent of seven All Ireland football final spectator crowds.

The World Meeting of Families will hold daily Mass in the RDS in Dublin and expects up to 37,000 visitors per day, while a Croke Park event will see around 80,500.

Both Gardai and the Nantional Transport Authority were keen to emphasise that Dublin will be open for business over the four days, and they were working with business owners and local residents to ensure as little disruption as possible.

It is expected Monday August 25 will be the first day back at work for many people after the summer break. However, Garda Superintendent Thomas Murphy said his main priority is the safety of all visitors.

“This is the largest event Ireland has organised in nearly 40 years. I hope to have everyone home safely by that stage and I’m sure the local authorities will have the place clean and ready to go on Monday morning.” People are being urged to use public transport.

The large cross in the Phoenix Park, erected for Pope John Paul’s visit in 1979, will again be a backdrop for a papal Mass later this month. (Inset) Aileen Mooney from An Post with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin at the launch of the new stamps to mark the historic visit.

MICHAEL D HIGGINS MAY FACE ELECTION OPPONENTS

President confirms bid for second term David Young and Cate McCurry

IRELAND’S president has said encouragement from fellow citizens helped convince him to run for a second term.

Announcing his decision to seek re-election, Michael D Higgins (pictured) explained why he had reconsidered his previous pledge to only serve one term as head of state.

“Many, in recent conversations with me about our country and its future, have expressed an opinion that I should offer myself again as a candidate,” he said. “I am grateful to have had their advice, and indeed to have had the opportunity of reflecting on their suggestions. This has been invaluable to me.”

Although it has not had been formally confirmed if Mr Higgins will face a contest this coming autumn, an

election race is looking increasingly likely. While Fianna Fáil and Labour have backed Mr Higgins for another term, and Fine Gael has signalled an intention to do likewise, Sinn Féin has indicated it will field a candidate.

Independent senator Gerard Craughwell, artist Kevin Sharkey and beaten 2011 candidate Sean Gallagher

also hinted at possible runs. It was widely expected Mr Higgins would seek a second term.

He confirmed the decision while on a visit to Co Mayo. Standing beside his wife Sabina, Mr Higgins said he would offer himself as an independent candidate later in the year.

“Since my inauguration in 2011, I have sought to reflect the concerns of the Irish people, as well as celebrating their achievements,” he said.

“I will be offering myself as a candidate to serve and represent the Irish people. I believe there are good foundations for the further development of the Office of President and that the experience I brought to, and have gained within the role, could be of particular value as we enter a period of great challenge and possibility, at home and abroad.”

Tel: (02) 8243 2600 Fax: (02) 8243 2611 Email: georgina@celtictravel.com.au

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERY

Megalithic tomb dubbed the ‘find of a lifetime’ Cate McCurry

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered a 5,500-year-old megalithic passage tomb in Meath which has been dubbed the “find of a lifetime”.

Archaeological research carried out by argi-technology company Devenish and University College Dublin (UCD) School of Archaeology unearthed the significant discovery.

The excavation uncovered the new find in the Brú na Bóinne (Boyne Valley Tombs) World Heritage Site.

To date, two burial chambers have been discovered within the western part of the main passage tomb, over which a large stone cairn, 40 metres in diameter, was raised.

The six kerbstones that have been identified so far would have formed part of a ring of stones that followed the cairn’s perimeter.

One kerbstone is heavily decorated with neolithic carvings and represents one of the most impressive discoveries of megalithic art in Ireland for decades.

During the project, a further two possible satellite tombs were also found.

Dr Cliodhna Ni Lionain, lead archaeologist for the project, said: “For the archaeologists involved in this discovery, it is truly the find of a lifetime.”

Dr Steve Davis, from UCD School of Archaeology, said: “This is the most significant megalithic find in Ireland in the last 50 years, since the excavation of Knowth.

“The spate of archaeological discoveries in Brú na Bóinne in recent weeks highlights what a globally significant place this is.”

An aerial survey of the area around Newgrange revealed evidence of a possible henge.The sites have become visible due to the drought conditions of recent weeks.

Michael Mc Donagh, Chief Archaeologist at the National Monument Service says the development is very exciting.

“It’s early days, we do have to map those out. But it’s very exciting and the images are stunning.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

ireland :: brexit THERESA MAY: BREXIT PLAN WILL ENSURE NO HARD IRISH BORDER

British PM doubles down on hard border concerns Aoife Moore THE British Prime Minister has moved to assure people living on the Irish border that her plan for Brexit will ensure no hardening of the frontier.

Theresa May made the comments during her first visit to the border since the Brexit referendum.

“We’ve produced a proposal which would enable us to have a free-trade area between the UK and the EU and a customs arrangement that would mean people here would continue to be able to trade seamlessly across the border and there will be no hard border, that’s what we want to see,” Mrs May said.

Mrs May toured the Belleek Pottery factory in Co Fermanagh, meeting workers and business representatives from both sides of the border.

Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster welcomed her to the landmark, which sits close to the almost invisible frontier between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

The Prime Minister had previously faced criticism for failing to hear firsthand from locals living and working near what is to become the UK’s only

Prepare for ‘no-deal Brexit’ says EC THE European Commission has

issued a warning to governments, businesses and citizens in the 27 remaining EU states to prepare for significant disruption as a result of Brexit. Brussels officials said a no-deal cliff-edge withdrawal in March 2019 cannot be ruled out, and warned that “preparation must therefore be stepped up immediately at all levels and taking into account all possible outcomes”.

Ireland can not block UK flights TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar is wrong

to suggest British aircraft would be barred from the Republic’s airspace in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Downing Street has said. So-called overflight rights are guaranteed by international treaties rather than EU membership, a Number 10 spokeswoman said after the Taoiseach claimed a hard departure by the UK would mean “planes would not fly”. The spokeswoman said the UK was confident of reaching a deal that included “aviation access” but added: “It’s wrong to claim that Ireland could simply stop the UK from flying over its land as a result of Brexit.”

Farmers in the dark over Brexit fallout NORTHERN Ireland farmers and

businesses who trade over the Irish border are being kept in the dark about how their livelihoods will be affected post-Brexit, according to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee members. George Eustice, Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries placed blame with the EU who he claimed were using the border as a weapon if the UK did not want to abide by their rules. “The EU have not been saying that; the EU have been saying unless we do exactly what they want they may put in a hard border. The EU and UK have a different perspective on how you avoid a hard border.”

land border with the European Union.

“I’ve been hearing and talking to people about the impact on Northern Ireland previously. I wanted to be here as one of the things underpinning the work that we did on the White Paper was the need to ensure that we not just had no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland but also no border down the Irish Sea,” she said.

“It’s important that Northern Ireland, as part of the UK, can trade within our own internal market in the UK, so we have put forward a proposal that would deal with that issue and would deliver no hard border.”

The border remains a crucial sticking point in Brexit negotiations with the EU, amid a stand-off between the UK and Brussels on how to maintain free flow of movement across the 310-mile frontier between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

When asked about former foreign secretary Boris Johnson’s comments that “Brexit could still be saved”, Mrs May insisted her facilitated customs arrangement plan would deliver Brexit.

“We are going to deliver Brexit and the proposal I put forward delivers Brexit.”

FRAGILE PROCESS: British Prime Minister Theresa May visits the Belleek Pottery factory in Co Fermanagh.

BREXIT PROCESS AT MOMENT OF UNDENIABLE CRISIS, SAYS IRISH OPPOSITION LEADER

Tories ‘beyond satire’: Martin

Cate McCurry, Aoife Moore, Andrew Woodcock and Michael McHugh

IRELAND’S opposition leader Micheal Mar tin has hit out at the UK Government over its handling of the Brexit process and reiterated calls for Northern Ireland to become a special economic zone.

The Fianna Fail leader made the comments at an annual political event in Co Donegal. During his speech, Mr Martin accused the Irish government of helping to “dramatise” the debate surrounding the backstop arrangement.

Speaking at the MacGill Summer School (where political discussions take place) the TD said the Brexit process is at a moment of crisis.

“Today’s Tory Party is beyond satire and has long ceased to be amusing,” he said. “It has put to rest any lingering sense of the seriousness of the selfregarding and childishly erudite class of public figure which emerges from many of their most prominent schools.”

He added that the moment of truth on Brexit and Northern Ireland has

been reached. “The choices facing us are starker than ever; the room for manoeuvre is becoming narrower by the day. There is no more time for delay,” he said.

He also addressed the issues around the Irish border and what he described as the ir reconcilable demands of having no checks between the east and west.

“Clearly we have to look for an approach which overcomes the fears of a constitutional sleight-of-hand created by the ridiculous and almost messianic over-spinning of the backstop last December,” he said.

Mr Martin said the best opportunity for Northern Ireland was for it to become a special economic zone.

He said Northern Ireland would benefit from the best of both worlds, with access to the UK and EU markets, and that special treatment would in certain circumstances offer the troubled region a competitive advantage.

Meanwhile, UK and Irish ministers have insisted that the first meeting of British and Irish Intergovernmental Conference in 10 years is about honouring the commitments made in the

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin

Good Friday Agreement, and denied that Dublin is meddling in British politics. Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney, along with Justice minister Charlie Flanagan, said the talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and Cabinet Office minister David Lidington did not touch on devolved issues in Northern Ireland, and instead discussed initia-

tives to get the Nor thern Ireland Assembly up and running.

“Unionists in Northern Ireland have nothing to fear from a British Irish Intergovernmental Conference. This is an agreed structure that both governments have signed up to as part of the Good Friday Agreement.

“We do not deal with devolved decision making. What we’re about is reinforcing the message that the British and Irish governments, as coguarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, are working together through the str uctures of that agreement.

“We are doing what we can to provide an environment where political par ties are able to interact again, hopefully with a view to restore the devolved government so that people in Northern Ireland can have their political decisions made by the people that they elected.”

Former first minister David Trimble warned that the conference came close to breaching principles enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement that Dublin will have no role in internal UK politics.

ANALYSIS :: EU SHOULD RESPOND POSITIVELY TO THERESA MAY’S PROPOSALS

A good Brexit deal for Britain is also good for Ireland

Ray Bassett

WELL, it was certainly an eventful month. The inevitable, much postponed, day of reckoning between the true believers in Brexit and their more lukewarm colleagues in London, finally came about. Two pro-Brexit heavyweights, David Davis and Boris Johnson, fell on their swords.

While Davis will be a loss and is patently sincere, the Brexit cause will lose nothing from the loss of Johnson who has played the buffoon too often to be taken seriously. The Prime Minister, Theresa May. showed uncharacteristic courage and determi-

nation in withstanding the political crisis. She gave her best parliamentary performance, by far, in the subsequent House of Commons debate.

All this instability is bad news for Ireland. We need certainty and a relatively benign Brexit. The Chequers’ agreement may have represented a reverse for those committed to freeing Britain from all the shackles of the European Union but for us here in Ireland, it was the opposite. If accepted, it is unreser vedly good news for Ireland. Our two main objectives, no hard border in Ireland and no border or friction in traded goods in the Irish Sea, is now on offer. The real challenge

now is for the EU, or more probably, the member States, to react positively to Theresa May’s offer. Of course, we need much greater detail and the long awaited White Paper is now published.

It deserves careful and sympathetic consideration. The Chequers’ proposals are about as far as May can compromise. If the EU try to squeeze much more out of the British, they may destroy the whole negotiation.

The UK has moved significantly and to Ireland’s advantage and its Prime Minister is vulnerable. If the EU continue with its dogmatic stance, then she is done for. It is now in our country’s interest to see her preserved in power.

It is highly unlikely that any of her possible successors will have the same commitment to preserving the GFA. Ireland’s political leaders must rise to the challenge the new circumstances. The Taoiseach must be a key player in the forthcoming negotiation, pressing vigorously and publicly for May’s proposals to be accepted. It may be the defining moment of his period in of fice. Ireland needs to become more focused on its own national interests. Getting the Brits a good deal on Brexit is part of that process.

Dr Ray Bassett is a former Irish Ambassador to Canada.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland MAN DIES ON HONEYMOON

Irish victim of wildfires in Greece

‘ILLEGAL ADOPTION’ CASE LAUNCHED

Cate McCurry

AN Irishman has died while on honeymoon after becoming caught up in wildfires that have swept across Greece. Newly mar ried Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp became separated from his wife Zoe Holohan as they tried to escape the fires in the coastal town of Mati.

The pair got married at Clonabreany House, Kells in Co Meath a week before flying out to Greece.

Ms Holohan, who works in advertising for the Sunday World, was hospitalised after suffering burns to her head and hands.

In a statement, the family of Ms Holohan and Mr O’CallaghanWestropp said: “We are deeply saddened to confirm the death of our family member, Brian O’CallaghanWestropp. The families would respectfully appreciate privacy at this time as we grieve and as Zoe makes her recovery.”

Ireland’s Ambassador to Greece Orla O’Hanrahan confir med Mr O’Callaghan-Westropp’s death. She said her sympathies and heart went out to his family at this time. The couple, who lived in Dublin, were

REUNITED: Tressa Donnelly Reeves and her biological son Andre outside the High Court iin Dublin.

Brian O’Callaghan-Westropp who died in the Greek wildfires.

travelling in a vehicle when they were forced to flee.

Ms Holohan was able to escape to a nearby beach. The Irish Embassy in Athens is providing consular assistance to Ms Holohan and her family.

Mr O’Callaghan-Westropp worked in finance for a Dublin catering company and also volunteered for Blood Bikes East, which provides an emergency medical transpor t ser vice around hospitals in Dublin.

Up to 80 people have died in the forest fires which have raged through Greek villages and holiday resorts.

Mother ‘coerced’ into giving up child Aoife Moore A MAN who claims he was illegally adopted 57 years ago says he has suffered his entire life due to the actions of the state.

Andre Donnelly, who was renamed Patrick Farrell by his adoptive parents, and his birth mother Tressa Donnelly Reeves, 79, claim they were deceived for many years about Patrick’s identity in legal action against a Catholic adoption agency and the state that began at Dublin High Court recently.

In 1961, his 21-year-old mother –

who was referred to in court as Ms Donnelly – was sent by her devout Catholic family from England to Dublin to give birth to the child through the St Patrick’s Guild Adoption Society, which was run by the Sisters of Charity. Ms Donnelly, now 77, claims the baby was removed from her a week later and she was coerced into giving up the child for adoption, using falsified papers, by a nun and a priest.

In an emotional testimony, Mr Farrell told the High Court he had suffered years of physical abuse at the hands of his adoptive father James Farrell, whom

he believed to be his natural father.

“There wasn’t a day I didn’t get some kind of a punch,” Mr Farrell said.

Both Mr Farrell and Ms Donnelly claim the State and the agency consistently prevented them gaining information about each other to which they were entitled.

The court heard Ms Donnelly wants acknowledgement and compensatory damages from the state for the deceit and the agony caused by the separation. Mr Farrell alleges conspiracy, deceit and infringement of his constitutional rights. The case continues.

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Embattled Ryanair to cut jobs after pilots strike Holly Williams

LOW-COST airline Ryanair has warned about job losses for more than 100 pilots and 200 cabin crew as it revealed plans to cut its Dublin-based aircraft fleet by 20 per cent, blaming recent pilot strike action for the cuts.

The carrier said it had issued 90-day notices to the affected staff and will now begin consultations on redundancy. It is cutting its Dublin-based fleet from 30 to about 24 for the winter and instead doubling its Polish fleet to more than 10, partly as a result of recent strikes by Irish pilots, which it said had af fected bookings and consumer confidence in its Irish services.

The group will be offering affected employees transfers to Poland to minimise redundancies. “We regret these base aircraft reductions at Dublin for winter 2018,” chief operating officer Peter Bellew said, “but the board has decided to allocate more aircraft to those markets where we are enjoying strong growth [such as Poland]. This will result in some aircraft reductions and job cuts in country markets where business has weakened, or forward bookings are being damaged by rolling strikes by Irish pilots.”

The industrial action led to the cancellation of 16 flights affecting 2,500 customers. Ryanair, which was forced to recognise unions in December for the first time in its history, said it will decide on redundancies.

The carrier has been plagued by a range of problems over the past month

including a share-price slump and an in-flight emergency.

Oxygen masks were deployed on a Ryanair flight that was diverted due to the cabin becoming depressurised.

Some passengers on the Dublin to Croatia flight received medical attention when it landed in Frankfur t.

Several people were hospitalised.

A passenger reported on Facebook that the air went cold and the oxygen masks dropped, adding that there was a “dive of 3000 metres in less than one minute”. He said a lot of people complained about sore ears, but praised the pilots for doing an excellent job.

Tagesspiegel newspaper reported that 33 passengers were taken to hospital, adding that Federal Police said passengers were complaining of “headache and earache and suffered from nausea”.

“This flight from Dublin to Zadar diverted to Frankfurt due to an inflight depressurisation,” a Ryanair spokesman said: “The crew deployed oxygen masks and initiated a controlled descent. The aircraft landed normally and customers disembarked, where a small number received medical attention.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

ireland Irish language jobs for European Union A RECRUITMENT campaign is under

way for 72 Irish language translator posts in the European Union as part of plans to make Irish a full working language over the next four years.

The drive was launched for posts in the institutions of the European Union in Brussels and Luxembourg. The Irish language became an official and working language of the EU in 2007.

“This is a wonderful opportunity to obtain a rewarding international career in Brussels and Luxembourg, two multi-cultural cities full of life, in the heart of Europe, which are only a few hours travelling distance from many of Europe’s other main cities,” Minister of State for the Irish language, Joe McHugh, said.

“Translators have a central role in everything the EU Institutions do, and the translation services have a key role to play in strengthening communications and improving the level of understanding amongst our citizens about the EU’s role in our daily lives.”

Taoiseach condemns Facebook standards TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has condemned Facebook’s approach in how the social media giant deals with violent and abusive material on its site. Mr Varadkar said the government plans to examine legislative mechanisms on whether it can bring in a system that would ensure companies uphold basic standards of decency.

The controversy arose after revelations in a Channel 4 documentary that Facebook moderators were instructed not to remove extreme or graphic content from the social platform, despite breaching the company’s guidelines.

“Facebook appears not to have lived up to its own community standards and the very least we can expect people to do is live up to their own standards. We need to hear a response and explanation from Facebook as to why they didn’t uphold their own standards.”

Balcony collapse victims honoured A MEMORIAL plaque has been unveiled in California to commemorate the six Irish students who died when a balcony collapsed there in 2015. Olivia Burke, Eoghan Culligan, Lorcan Miller, Niccolai Schuster, Eimear Walsh and Ashley Donohoe died when the balcony collapsed in the early hours of June 16, 2015. Five students were from Dublin visiting the United States on J-1 visas; the sixth, a cousin of one of the victims, was from America.

The plaque, including their names and a quote from James Joyce, was unveiled near where the tragedy happened in Berkeley. A ceremony was held to remember them, attended by the victims’ families and Ireland’s ambassador to the US, Dan Mulhall.

The plaque reads: “Berkeley, named after an Irish philosopher, will forever remember the six young adults from America and Ireland who tragically died near this spot.”

Two deaths after boat capsizes TWO people have died after a fishing

boat capsized off the coast of Donegal. Three people were rescued when their boat got into difficulty off Malin Head. Malin Head Coastguard said a 16-year-old boy and a man in his 60s had died.

JAIL FOR ARMY OFFICER OVER SOLDIER’S DEATH IN LIVE AMMO EXERCISE

Jail term for soldier’s killer Rod Minchin

The three defendants were accused of having a total disregard for the safety of their men when they organised a live ammunition exercise, in preparation for a deployment to Kenya.

After the shooting Capt Price, who was a lieutenant at the time, said to one witness: “I’ve messed up, haven’t I?” The court heard that soldiers on one part of range 10 were firing directly at those in another part of the range, who were about 1km away and would have been visible.

Passing sentence on behalf of the court martial board, Assistant Judge Advocate General Alan Large said Capt Price’s negligence was so great that only an immediate custodial sentence was appropriate.

“We have no doubt that the offence of gross negligence manslaughter committed in the circumstances of this case and after a contested trial are so serious that an immediate prison sentence is required,” he said.

Irish-born Michael Maguire, who was shot dead during a training exercise.

A BRITISH army officer has been jailed for 18 months after being convicted for the killing of a soldier who was shot during a training exercise.

Captain Jonathan Price, 32, was also dismissed from the Army after being found guilty last month of the manslaughter of Ranger Michael Maguire by gross negligence. After a sevenweek court martial, two other officers, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Bell, 46, and Warrant Officer Stuart Pankhurst, 40, were convicted of negligently performing a duty.

Rgr Maguire was one of several soldiers who came under machine gun fir e during an exer cise at the Castlemar tin T raining Ar ea in Pembrokeshire in May 2012 for members of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment. Rgr Maguire, from Co Cork, died after being hit in the forehead by a stray bullet from a machine gun.

PORTRAIT GIFT

TOP GLOBAL AWARD FOR PHOENIX PARK

Markievicz finally at Westminster

The judge said the board had reduced the sentence from a starting point of four years after taking into account Capt Price’s exemplary service to the country, including a tour to Afghanistan.

“Taking into account all the mitigation, imprisonment for 18 months is the shortest sentence we can pass. We do not consider it appropriate to suspend the sentence.”

Lieutenant Colonel Bell apologised for the death. “I deeply apologise for the death of Ranger Michael Maguire.

I knew him very well. We shared the same birthday, height and a passion for soldiering that I often reflect upon,” he said.

“I have been devastated by his loss, and he is rarely from my thoughts. This incident haunts me and I suspect always will. I went to war with him, trained him, enjoyed his company, and buried him. I cannot think of him without collapsing emotionally.”

David Wilcock A PORTRAIT of a controversial Sinn Fein MP who narrowly avoided being executed for her role in the 1916 Easter Rising is to go on display in Parliament 100 years after her election.

The picture of London-born Irish nationalist Constance Markievicz has been gifted to the House of Commons

by Sean O Fearghail, the Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.

The photographic reproduction of a 1901 oil painting of Markievicz will form part of Parliament’s Voice and Vote exhibition, 100 years since the Representation of the People Act gave women the vote and the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 allowed those aged over 21 to stand for election.

Countess Markievicz was elected as a Sinn Féin MP in 1918 but was in prison at the time and never took her seat. She later became minister of labour in the first Dáil.

Two years previously she had taken a lead role in the historic Dublin uprising that sowed the seeds of independence.

She was spared execution because she was a woman. “Constance Markievicz was a formidable figure whose courage and determination to achieve equal rights and Irish freedom saw her become the first woman ever elected to the House of Commons,” the chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Ireland and the Irish in Britain, Conor McGinn said.

“It is a sign of the strength and depth of today’s relations between Britain and Ireland – and our democratic institutions – that her contribution to our shared and complicated history is marked in the Parliament to which she was elected but never attended, and that her legacy and contribution is remembered a century after women’s suffrage and the historic 1918 election.”

The Phoenix Park in Dublin has won a top award for being one of the best urban spaces in the world. It picked up the honour at the International Large Urban Parks Awards while Centennial Park in Sydney, Australia won the only other gold. The Phoenix Park got top marks for being well-protected and managed with a broad range of activities and events. At 707 hectares and an 11 km perimeter wall, the Phoenix Park is the largest enclosed public park in any capital city in Europe and attracts up to 10 million visitors each year. The park has been home to large herds of fallow deer since the 17th century, which remain in the park to this day. The award scheme, organised by World Urban Parks, reflects the global importance of urban parks.

IRELAND IN PITCH FOR UN SECURITY COUNCIL SPOT

Taoiseach confident of UN campaign Cate McCurry IRELAND will bring its “practical lessons” in helping end the conflict in Northern Ireland to the United Nations Security Council, the Taoiseach says.

As Ireland officially launched its campaign for a seat at the top UN table, Leo Varadkar said its success in bringing peace to Northern Ireland following its long history of division has given Ireland a “perspective on conflict resolution and reconciliation”.

Mr Varadkar and Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney officially launched Ireland’s campaign last month at UN headquarters with a special event celebrating Irish food, music heritage and culture.

More than 400 UN diplomats and other guests were invited to attend the reception on the UN’s North Lawn.

“Our perspective on conflict resolution and reconciliation is informed by the long history of conflict and division on our island, and our success in bringing it to an end,” Mr Varadkar said.

“We learned that it takes two to fight, but many to make a lasting peace.

“This year is the 20th anniversary of the Northern Ireland peace agreement.

“While the path to full reconciliation remains incomplete, the Good Friday Agreement has stood the test of time, creating new relationships, overcoming centuries-old divisions, and giving hope for the future.

“We understand the need to listen, and the importance of respecting differences. On the UN Security Council, we would bring our hard-won insights and practical lessons to the table.

“As a nation that has experienced colonisation, conflict, famine and

mass migration, Ireland’s lived history resonates with the aims and objectives of the UN Charter.

“Ireland has a longstanding commitment to working for the eradication of poverty and hunger in the world.”

The reception took place beside the Arrival sculpture, by Irish artist John Behan, which was gifted to the UN by Ireland in 2000.

Mr Varadkar also said that the Irish Government launched a strategy to double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint by 2025 as well as opening 13 new embassies and consulates in the past year.

Ireland will be competing for one of two seats available for the 2021-22 term with Canada and Norway. The Taoiseach said he does not underestimate the competition for the seat, but believes Ireland can win it.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland KURT COBAIN’S FAMILY HOPE EXHIBITION SHOWS SINGER’S ‘GOOFY’ SIDE

Nirvana for fans of lost singer who treasured his Irish heritage Cate McCurry THE family of rock star Kurt Cobain has said that a rare exhibition of his personal belongings show how silly, goofy and sweet the legendary singer was.

The display of the late Nirvana frontman’s personal collection, in Newbridge, Co Kildare, includes clothes, sketches, hand-written lyrics and the only car Cobain owned, a powder blue 1965 Dodge Dart.

The star’s mother Wendy O’Connor, sister Kim Cobain and daughter Frances Bean Cobain attended the opening of the Growing Up Kurt Cobain Exhibition in Newbridge to celebrate his Irish heritage.

Cobain’s Irish roots are well known, and while the singer believed that his family originated from Co Cork, his Irish ancestors emigrated from Carrickmore in Co Tyrone in 1875.

His family specially curated some of his very personal items for the commemoration. The Museum of Style Icons will house Kurt’s drawings and sketches along with clothing, handwritten lyrics and video footage from his childhood until September 30.

“I think it shows who he really was, the real person inside before he got famous,” his mother Wendy said.

Cobain’s sister Kim said that the family “wanted to bring him back to his roots”.

“We just wanted to bring him back to where he came from and the person that he really was as a child and try to focus more on his art and him and to show people just how silly, goofy and sweet he was.

“We want to bring focus back to the

light-heartedness and happiness that he had in his life and not focus on all the negative crap that happened later. We all have a lot of Irish in us and it’s our first time here and we are enjoying it very much and can’t wait to see more.”

The family said they will explore Ireland’s countryside where they plan to ride some horses and eat good food.

“I know he really enjoyed it here [Ireland]. He did come and I think he was trying to look more into his roots and where he came from.

“I’m sure his Irish roots influenced his art,” Kim added.

Cobain and Courtney Love’s daughter, Frances, 25, said that she thinks of her dad every day.

“He’s unavoidable in my life; I see a Nirvana shirt every day,” she said.

“My dynamic with Kurt is probably

more similar to a fan’s dynamic as there’s almost like an untouchable thing. All the information I have [about him] is from stories.

“He’s there every day of my life. On some days it feels a little frustrating, like I’ve had emotional breakdowns in Ubers and he’s come on [the radio] and I’ve been like ‘I needed you so much right now’. It plays out on different days in different ways.”

Wendy said she also thinks of the star every day. “He lives in me every day,” she added.

His mother also recalled the first time she heard a Nirvana recording.

“He came home to visit and he said ‘Mom, could I put a tape on the stereo?’. He said it was his recording.

He put on Teen Spirit. I couldn’t believe it, the hair on my arms stood up.”

Kurt Cobain’s mother Wendy O’Connor and his daughter Frances Bean Cobain at the opening of the Growing Up Kurt exhibition at the museum of Style Icons in Newbridge. Picture: Brian Lawless

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

northern ireland BID LAUNCHED TO SECURE COLLECTION OF TITANIC ARTEFACTS

Titanic collection may find a home in Belfast Cate McCurry A £14 million bid has been launched to buy a collection of more than 5,500 artefacts from the Titanic wreck site and bring them to Northern Ireland.

The rare collection has become available after a US company that owns the items filed for bankruptcy.

Titanic Belfast, the Titanic Foundation, National Museums Northern Ireland and the National Maritime Museum have teamed up to launch the campaign which has the backing of the Titanic film director James Cameron, and Dr Bob Ballard, who discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985.

Soon after the wreck was found, the privately-owned company RMS Titanic Inc gained exclusive rights to salvage it and recovered items from statues to shoes of the victims. The 5,500 artefacts were recovered from the seabed over the course of seven expeditions between 1987 and 2004. Premier Exhibitions, which currently owns the collection, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States in June 2016. The £14.5m bid will ensure that the collection is not broken

O’Driscoll hits drum at Orange parade FORMER Irish rugby captain Brian O’Driscoll was among visitors to an Orange parade in Co Armagh.

He was in the village of Loughgall which hosted the flagship event for the Orange Order’s annual July 12 commemoration this year. Orange Order member Aaron Willis from Loughgall said O’Driscoll got a very warm welcome and that, as a sports fan, he was particularly excited to see him. “We were just getting off the bus to line up for the parade when we saw him,” he said. “Then one of the guys asked him if he wanted to have a go on a lambeg drum. Everyone was so excited to see him and asking to get their picture taken with him, and he seemed to be enjoying himself, which is the main thing.”

Sinn Féin MEP liked tweet ‘acccidentally’ A SINN Féin MEP who liked an offensive tweet about DUP leader Arlene Foster has insisted it was an accident. The tweet compared Mrs Foster to US president Donald Trump and labelled her “hateful, racist, bigoted” and “an orange c***”. Dublin MEP Lynn Boylan liked the tweet which claimed Mrs Foster was to visit Scotland for an Orange Order parade to mark the Twelfth of July. The tweet read: “So Arlene Foster is going to Scotland for the 12th next week, AND Donald Trump’s heading there the same week? Typical, isn’t it? You wait all year for a hateful, racist, bigoted Orange c*** and then two of them come along at once.”

Ex-Labour seantor to run for SDLP A FORMER Irish Labour senator is

set to become an SDLP councillor.

Mairia Cahill will be co-opted on to Lisburn and Castlereagh Council.

In 2010, the west Belfast woman made allegations she had been raped by a suspected IRA member when she was a teenager in 1997.

up, bringing it to Belfast, securing its longevity through public ownership and protecting and preserving the legacy of the Titanic, which sank after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage in 1912, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,500 people.

Mr Cameron released the Oscarwinning film in December 1997. The Hollywood director, who has added his support to the bid said he feels a deep responsibility to the Titanic.

His first expedition to the wreck site was in 1995 as part of the film project.

He has since made 33 dives to the Titanic site over a 10-year period.

“You feel responsible to get the story right and honour the dead and the tragedy,” he said. “I went to the wreck site [in 1995] for a purpose, to film the Titanic for a movie but I came away with a sense of a greater purpose, which is to tell that story by whatever means. Once Titanic is in your life, it doesn’t leave easily.”

“I can’t think of a better place for the majority of artefacts to be,” added Mr Cameron, who said the artefacts will help boost Northern Ireland’s economy and tourism.

Dr Robert Ballard, who discovered the wreck of Titanic in 1985, at Titanic Belfast during the launch of a bid to buy a collection of 5,500 artefacts from the Titanic wreck site and bring them to Belfast. Picture: Niall Carson

TROUBLES AMNESTY WOULD PROTECT SOLDIERS AND PARAMILITARIES ALIKE

Proposed amnesty slammed Rebecca Black and David Wilcock

GAVIN Williamson’s apparent suggestion that paramilitaries be given an amnesty has sparked opposition from unionists in Northern Ireland.

Britain’s Defence Secretary reportedly wrote to Theresa May, urging her to create a statute of limitations for of fences during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. It follows new plans to examine criminal cases.

The proposal would give the same protection to British soldiers. Mr Williamson told the Prime Minister that British soldiers who served in the region from the 1970s to the 1990s should have the protection they deserve, adding: “If this means a wider amnesty, so be it.”

However, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “We cannot countenance a proposal where amnesties would be provided to terrorists.”

A former Military Cross winner said a statute of limitations is not the way to proceed.

Doug Beattie, who is now an Ulster Unionist MLA, said such a policy

would deny potential justice to victims of terrorism.

“I can fully understand why there are those at Westminster, and elsewhere, who wish to protect the veterans who served here,” he said.

“As a veteran of 36 years’ service … let me assure you that nobody is more determined than I am to ensure that fair play is the order of the day. It is precisely because of that very motivation that the Ulster Unionist Party has consistently warned that a statute of limitations is not the way to proceed,” Mr Beattie said.

“The effects of this would be to prevent victims receiving justice including many thousands who were victims of terrorism; all the while civil actions against the security forces would continue regardless.”

Kenny Donaldson of Innocent Victims United, which advocates for victims of terrorism in Nor thern Ireland, accused Mr Williamson of gross naivety.

“There must never be an equation drawn between the actions of terrorists who went out with premeditated

British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson.

intent to steal life and the deaths attributable to security forces which were, in the main, as a consequence of public disorder situations where operational decisions required taking in the defence of life and property,” he said. “Innocent victims and survivors of terrorism instead want the defence minister and his Cabinet colleagues to stand up for the rule of law and take what steps are necessary to redress

the subversion of the criminal justice system which has meant former terrorists feeling confident that they are ef fectively in the clear for their heinous crimes.”

In May, NI Secretary Karen Bradley started a row by unveiling a consultation on the legacy of the Troubles that did not include an amnesty for the security forces. She insisted there was no support in the region for a Northern Ireland-only statute of limitations, as she launched a public consultation on other proposals to address unresolved issues from the past.

Mr Williamson argued that such a statute was exactly what was needed.

“If this means a wider amnesty, so be it. In the public mind, the effect of the Good Friday Agreement sentencing reforms, the ‘on the run’ letters, which inadvertently led to the failure of the prosecution of John Downey for the 1982 Hyde Park bombings, and the apparent disproportionate focus of the current investigation on security forces, amount to a de facto amnesty for terrorists already,” he wrote.

ATTACKERS THREW DEVICE AT HOME OF GERRY ADAMS FROM MOVING CAR

Attacks on prominent SF men linked to Derry rioting

Rebecca Black

AN explosive device thrown at the home of former Sinn Féin president Ger r y Adams was hurled from a moving car, CCTV footage of the incident has revealed.

The short clip shows a car passing a driveway. As it passes, sparks can be seen around a parked car in a driveway and then black smoke.

The home of prominent republican Bobby Storey in west Belfast was also attacked. No one was hurt in either incident.

The CCTV footage has been shared

with detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), who are investigating. ‘ The PSNI said officers seized “remnants of large industrial, firework-type devices, capable of causing serious damage or injury” at two houses in west Belfast. Significant damage was visible to a vehicle on Mr Adams’ driveway after the attack.

Mr Adams challenged those behind the attacks to him and explain themselves.

“For those who were involved in the attack, if they have the gumption to sneak up on our homes, I’d like them

or their representatives to come and meet me,” he said.

Sinn Féin president Mar y Lou McDonald has warned dissident republicans that her party will not be intimidated by violence.

“We are not going to be intimidated,” she said. “If that is the rouse here, if that’s the strategy here, that will fail.

We will not be put off our task; we will not be bullied; we will not be intimated and, more importantly, communities right across the North of Ireland and beyond will not be bullied or intimidated either.”

“The police and ourselves share the

same analysis on these events. It is the work of violence dissidents who wish to destabilise and go against the democratic wishes of the majority for peace and for advancement,” Ms McDonald said.

The attacks in west Belfast came after six successive nights of dissident orchestrated violence in the republican Bogside neighbourhood of Derry.

Sinn Féin leaders, including Ms McDonald, were scathing in the criticism of those behind the rioting and attacks on police in Derry. The party believes the attacks on Mr Adams and Mr Storey were in response to that.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EW S PAPER

ireland NEWLYWED ROYALS MAKE IRELAND THE DESTINATION FOR THEIR FIRST OVRESEAS OFFICIAL VISIT

Special céad míle fáilte for Harry and Meghan Tony Jones PRINCE Harry and his wife Meghan enjoyed a very warm reception during their historic two-day visit to Dublin in July.

The couple visited Croke Park, Trinity College and the emigration museum during their trip, which included several walkabout opportunities.

Harry said the UK and Ireland had a “very special relationship between two proud, sovereign countries”.

At a reception at Glencairn, the official Dublin residence of Britain’s ambassador to Ireland, Harry told guests including leading figures from Ireland’s political and creative worlds: “We’re so pleased to be here, for our first official international visit together as a married couple, and we hope it will be the first of many,” he said.

“As each other’s closest neighbours, the UK and Ireland’s relationship is unique; our shared history is long and complex. There have, of course, been challenging, and at times tragic, periods of that relationship.

“We share common values; culture; business links; family ties, and possibly a similar sense of humour. Our relation-

Acid package sent to newspaper office A PACKAGE containing sulphuric acid was delivered to the offices of an Irish newspaper. The Sunday World has reported that the package was sent from Spain to its offices in Ireland and contained sulphuric acid, both in a bottle and loose inside the package. It is understood the package was labelled as “sulphuric acid” and was addressed to a former staff member.

Guilty McGregor avoids jail term MIXED martial arts (MMA) star Conor McGregor has pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in exchange for community service to resolve charges stemming from a backstage melee at a New York arena.

McGregor will also be evaluated for an anger management programme in addition to his five days of community service. Video showed what appeared to be McGregor hurling an object at a bus full of fighters after a news conference for the UFC 223 event in April.

“I just want to say I’m thankful to the DA [district attorney] and the judge for allowing me to move forward,” McGregor said outside the court.

ship is, of course, informed by our history but it is also one which is now dynamic and forward looking.”

Harry also joked about how he was pleased the recent trip by his father, the Prince of Wales, to Ireland had not bored them senseless.

Before a walkabout at Trinity, the royal couple were shown the historic Book of Kells.

Warm smiles and banks of mobile phones greeted the couple in the square outside.

Elizabeth Ring, a 19-year-old law student, said of her conversation with the couple: “Meghan said Dublin was her favourite city. Harry said he’d come back with his jacket over his head, incognito.”

During their private lunch break, the couple dined at contemporary Irish restaurant Delahunt and both chose smoked salmon as their starter, with the duke picking spring lamb for his main while his wife opted for hake.

Later they toured EPIC, Dublin’s Irish Emigration Museum, where Megha confessed her love of the Irish dance show Riverdance.

The couple also visited President Michael D Higgins at Aras an Uactarain.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan during their visit to Dublin. (Above) with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, (below left) with President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina at Aras an Uachataráin and (below) at Dublin’s Famine Memorial. Pictures: Paul Faith

ROAD TRAFFIC BILL PASSES DAIL DESPITE TD’S ‘UNFORGIVABLE FILIBUSTER’

Tighter road rules locked in Aoife Moore

THE Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill has passed all stages in the Dáil with 75 TDs voting in favour and eight TDs voting against.

The bill, proposed by Transport Minister Shane Ross, would impose stricter penalties on drink drivers, including automatic disqualification for all drink-drivers caught with more than 50 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, and would make it an offence for car owners to allow a lear ner drive to use their car unaccompanied.

A member of the Rural Independent group opposing the bill, Michael Healy-Rae, was accused of rambling and filibustering the bill out of the Dáil.

Mr Healy-Rae talked for more than an hour about what he called adverse effects on rural communities. He cited busy parents, waiting times for driving tests and insurance premiums as roadblocks to the effectiveness of the proposed legislation. He added that the new laws could create mental health issues in rural Ireland.

Margaret Kavanagh, 60, whose 10 year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver in 1991, called Mr HealyRae’s behaviour in the Dáil despicable.

“Mr Healy-Rae should walk in our shoes for a day. They’re not thinking about other people; they’re only thinking about themselves.

“He’s talking about people’s mental health. What about our mental health?

Those who have lost their children?

“I don’t want his sympathy. He’s talking about the concerns of the vintners of Kerry when people’s lives are on the line.

“I just want to keep children safe like I thought I could keep my daughter safe,” she said, adding the bill was a step in the right direction in making Ireland’s roads safer.

Mr Ross said the filibuster by the Rural Independent group was unforgivable and he accused its members of playing politics, adding that the delays could have cost lives.

“We’re absolutely delighted with today’s result and I’m sure this will greatly reduce the number of drunk drivers on Ireland’s roads.

Colette Griffin (left), who lost her 19-year-old daughter Sarah Richardson in 2012; Margaret Kavanagh (centre), who lost her 10-year-old daughter Janice in 1991, and Julie Patton, who lost her 18-year-old son Shane in 2012, outside Leinster House in Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless

“The Rural Independent group have been ver y irresponsible and acted completely and utterly unacceptably, delaying this legislation was ver y dangerous.”

When the Bill passed in the Dail, fellow Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae, brother of Michael, was heard shouting: “This is a sad day for r ural Ireland.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

Mal Rogers scans Ireland’s regional media for what’s making news in your county CORK

Largest container ship to berth in Cork brings millions of bananas THERE were no slips-ups when the largest container ship to ever berth in the Port of Cork’s deepwater terminal unloaded a mega cargo of fruit recently, including millions of bananas.

The MV Polar Costa Rica eased past Roche’s Point after a 10-day transatlantic voyage and tied up at the port facility in Ringaskiddy, the Irish Examiner reports.

A huge logistics operation kicked in to unload part of its massive cargo of bananas, pineapples and melons, direct from plantations across Central America.

The Polar Costa Rica is the largest container ship to berth in Ringaskiddy Deepwater Berth to date.

With a deadweight tonnage of 43,600 tonnes, the 230-metre long ocean-going giant has capacity for 1,000 containers.

Con Connolly, port operations manager with Fyffes, said vessels of this size are calling to Cork because of the scale of Fyffes’ importation business.

The bananas that arrived in Cork are green and rock hard. They are stored at between 13C and 14C before the temperature is raised gradually. Then they are ripened using gas before being delivered to shops for sale.

The mega fruit delivery from Central America to Cork occurs weekly but it normally arrives in a slightly smaller vessel.

CORK

Plea for safety upgrades at Blarney Castle after tourist is badly injured THE wife of an American tourist who was airlifted from the top of Blarney Castle after sustaining leg and wrist injuries in a slip on its internal steps has called for safety upgrades to the historic visitor attraction.

The Irish Examiner reports that the New York-based photographer Sherrie Fryxell said she and her husband, Tom, 64 had to abandon their dream holiday to Ireland after the incident.

Mr Fryxell was airlifted by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter from the top of the castle to Cork University Hospital. He is now back in the US, is in excruciating pain, and faces at least six months of physiotherapy and rehabilitation.

Ms Fryxell told the Irish Examiner the castle steps are so smooth and worn that they are slippy.

Blarney Castle did not respond to requests for comment.

Ms Fryxell said that, as a photographer, she is drawn to the beauty of historical castles.

“We walked up the narrow, steep, spiral stone steps to the top,” she

said. “Unbeknownst to me, the walk to the top was solely to kiss the Blarney Stone, which neither my husband nor I were interested in doing.

“There was nothing else to see inside the castle on the way up.

“After we stood in the long line to pass the Blarney Stone, we took in the view from the top for a few minutes, then headed back down.

“Midway down the first flight of steps, my husband’s left foot slid off the step as if it were on ice; twisting his right leg around where his right knee hit the metal rail and he fell onto the step.

“Later, he told me he heard a snap.”

Ms Fryxell praised those who helped her in the days after as she moved their belongings from Killarney to Cork and rearranged accommodation and flights.

As well as a lost holiday, the photographer said they are also facing extensive medical bills.

Ms Fryxell said she is sure that there are many slips on the steps, and that most people escape without injury.

However, she wants to see some safety improvements to ensure that someone is not more seriously injured.

DOWN

The Royal Jordanian Falcons perform at the annual Bray air display in Co Wicklow. Photo. Brian Lawless/PA Wire RUC officers will forever live on and stands in very stark contrast to the sickening, gloating behaviour of Stephen Murney.”

Mr Irwin said he had already raised his concerns with the Chief Constable.

Mr Murney strongly defended his tweet, saying he had copied it from a 2007 edition of An Phoblacht/ Republican News, the Sinn Fein publication “The article, and tweet, is merely an example of republicans remembering a successful operation in which brave IRA volunteers successfully engaged enemy forces, resulting in the killing of three RUC gunmen,” he said.

“The republican community in Newry are immensely proud of the actions of the IRA in Newry and further afield during the freedom struggle.”

MAYO

DUP MLA calls for police to probe dissident’s tweet glorifying IRA murder of RUC officers

‘You couldn’t buy the publicity’ Pope’s visit will bring – Knock airport CEO says

A DUP MLA has urged the PSNI to investigate a social media message by a dissident activist that appears to gloat about the IRA murder of three RUC officers in Newry in 1986.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that Newry and Mourne MLA William Irwin says the tweet posted by republican Stephen Murney was “clearly intended to cause offence and glorify the actions of the IRA”.

In the tweet posted, Mr Murney wrote: “32 years ago today the IRA carried out an audacious & deadly attack on the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in Newry, involving two active service units (ASUs).

“Two Vols flung open the doors of the heavily armoured car & killed the 2 armed members of the RUC/PSNI militia.”

Condemning the online message, Mr Irwin said: “The tweet by Stephen Murney is clearly intended to cause offence and glorify the actions of the IRA especially as he uses the words ‘hated RUC’ and ‘RUC/PSNI militia’ in his outburst.

“This is clearly hate speech and should be investigated by the PSNI. “Stephen Murney is seeking to besmirch the good name of Karl Blackbourne, Charles Allen and Peter Kilpatrick, who were amongst the finest RUC officers who wore the uniform and were coldly and callously murdered by the IRA as they sat in their vehicle in Newry during the darkest days of the Troubles.

“The memory of those brave

THE story of Knock Airport will come full circle with the visit of Pope Francis to the airport next month reports the Mayo News.

Monsignor James Horan was the driving force behind Knock Airport opening in 1986 and he was also instrumental in the visit to Knock in 1979 of Pope John Paul II. Ireland West Airport Knock CEO Joe Gilmore said the visit of Pope Francis into the airport closes another chapter in the airport’s remarkable history with the next visit of the Pope to Ireland arriving at the airport instigated by the man who spearheaded the last visit of a Pope to the west.

Mr Gilmore told a meeting of Mayo County Council last week that “You couldn’t buy the publicity” that the visit will bring to the airport.

“We are absolutely delighted that the Pope is visiting the west of Ireland and flying into the airport,” Mr Gilmore said.

Pope Francis will fly into Knock on the morning of Sunday, August 26.

There will be, Mr Gilmore confirmed, a full schedule of flights that day but the Pope will be arriving via a second, private apron at the airport.

“It is a tremendous opportunity to promote the airport and the region.

We will have a captive international media audience for approximately two hours. It is massive in terms of exposure and we are working with Mayo County Council and Mayo.ie to maximise that,” said Mr Gilmore.

He praised all the work already done by Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Michael Neary, and Fr Richard Gibbons, parish priest of Knock.

KERRY

Ice-cream van attack on church A PRIEST at St John’s Parish Church in Tralee has spoken of the shock felt by the Diocese of Kerry after a bizarre attack by an ice-cream van last night.

Kerry Today reports that Tralee’s main parish church, St John’s Catholic Church, was severely damaged after a vehicle, understood to be an ice-cream van, drove through the locked gates of the church, and proceeded through the double entrance of the church itself.

The vehicle, travelling at speed, drove through the gates, through the entrance doors and onto a second set of doors.

The driver and van then left the scene, subsequently to be chased by gardaí. When officers caught up with the van, the driver was arrested and was found in possession of an imitation firearm, according to reports.

Considerable damage has been done to the main church doors.

However, no one was injured and masses went ahead as normal with a side entrance open.

Fr Francis Nolan of St John’s Parish said: “We are all very shocked that this has happened. However, we are glad that nobody has been hurt.”

KERRY

Jockey Kennedy almost misses ride after car park altercation STAR jockey Jack Kennedy almost missed one of his rides at last week’s Killarney Races after an altercation with a carpark official.

The Kerryman reports that the 19-year-old Dingle man, who was due to ride Tell Us More for Gordan Elliott, said he was cutting it fine for time after being held up in traffic.

“I’m sure anyone who has been to Killarney on race day knows how bad traffic is around the town. Me and a few other jockeys were pushing it tight for our first ride,” Kennedy said.

The incident occurred when Kennedy drove up to the gate and a car park attendant came over to the window.

Kennedy’s brother Paddy told him they were jockeys and asked could they get in. Seeing the gate was

opened, Kennedy proceeded to drive through, which is when he said the attendant stormed over to the car.

“I got annoyed with him as he was holding the whole thing up. I gave him a bit of lip too, and I shouldn’t have.”

Killarney Racing manager Philip O’Brien told The Kerryman he had been unaware of any incident involving jockeys and a member of staff, but said the committee would sit down in the coming days to investigate what happened.

“We will investigate it. Jack’s a very popular local jockey and we won’t see anyone wronged. Traffic here is bad at the best of times with just the one road going into the track. I wasn’t aware of the incident at the time, but we will be looking into what happened,” Mr O’Brien said.

Kennedy added there is enough pressure associated with the job besides incidents like this taking place outside the racetrack. Kennedy is also adamant that he is not trying to degrade the racecourse, saying they do a brilliant job.

“I love going to Killarney. It’s a great racecourse, and it’s one of my local tracks. We’re there to do a job that we all love doing, but we provide entertainment for people as well.

“When you’re under a bit of pressure, something like that just makes things worse,” Kennedy said.

LIMERICK

Limerick gardai set to investigate defacing of bronze Terry Wogan statue LIMERICK City and County Council has confirmed a formal complaint is to be made to gardaí after a bronze statue of Terry Wogan was defaced by vandals.

The Limerick Leader reports that graffiti written in both black and white ink reads: “Terry was a big strong rugby man not like this little chap” before labelling the statue a “cock-up”.

The bronze statue, which is located at Harvey’s Quay, was unveiled by former Mayor Kieran O’Hanlon in June of last year.

Given the neatness of the writing and the content it is suspected the graffiti was a deliberate act by an individual who has an issue with Limerick City and County Council.

A spokesperson for the local authority confirmed it is aware of the matter and that it is in the proces of making a formal complaint to gardaí relating to the criminal damage.

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

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18

review

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

Lives stripped bare

IT is difficult to believe that, as a reader, you can be enthralled by a book about cows. Yet, in his first work of non-fiction, John Connell has written a completely satisfying account of cattle and sheep-farming in his native Longford, in the unfashionable centre of Ireland.

The book begins with the author helping a cow give birth. He is on his own and has to use a kind of block-andtackle winch to get the calf out.

“I must jack, then lever down to bring the calf out. The biggest pull will be his head, and once I have that out the rest should follow, except the hips which can sometimes be trouble. I winch the jack five times and hear the sprocket chime out in the quiet shed. I pull down and as I do the cow bellows in a low noise I do not recognise, a noise of pain and strangeness.” There is much more, before the new calf can stand and draw sustenance from his mother.

The farm also has sheep and their birthing tends to happen in

the middle of the night or the early morning and the new lambs must be cared for and the new mother introduced to her offspring. All of this is happening in the first four months of the year, to the background of Irish rain, wind and even snow; to add to the difficulty, the author and his father do not always see eye to eye. Towards the end of the book, we learn that the son is recovering from six months of severe depression.

The life and work on Irish farms has been written elsewhere, but mostly in a kind of nostalgic reliving of times long past – the Alice Taylor books come to mind – but this is different. This is agribusiness as much as farming. “Each farm has become a producing unit and we the farmers the custodians of the land are now manufacturers, or growers. We have become a cog in the wheel of industry.” But despite this, the author forms a strong emotional bond with the cows and sheep as well as the calves and lambs he helps to birth and see through their first months of life.

Connell lived in Canada and Australia before returning to his family’s farm in rural Longford.

His first book was a novel, The Ghost Estate, a satire on the attitudes and behaviours that gave us the raucous roar and then the self-pitying bleat of the Celtic Tiger. He was also involved in film and radio and this book has a delightful account of a short time spent in north Queensland.

There is a lightness about the writing, but a constant tension too.

It is there in the strains between a father set in his ways and a son who keeps his thoughts to himself; it is there in the inevitable struggle with the early Irish spring; and it is there, unwritten and unsaid, in the

“It is difficult to believe

that, as a reader, you can be enthralled by a book about cows.

”

BOOKS THE COW BOOK

By John Connell Granta 288 pp $29.99

CCCC SILENCE UNDER A STONE

By Norma MacMaster Transworld 285 pp 12.13 Euro

CCCCC Frank O’Shea young man who has had success as a writer, but longs to be accepted as a farmer. Despite all this, it is a happy book, the kind that, even if you have never seen a cow deliver her calf or a ewe call her lamb, may make you forgive the reason why humans raise these animals in the first place.

HARRIET Campbell is living out her days in a nursing home. She starts to write her life story in a little book that she has been given by a woman from her younger years.

The writing is not always easy because her fingers cramp or swell, and she tires quickly. “Of course, I realise that it won’t be me who’ll write the ending,” she says in one of the brief chapters which bring her recollections of times past back to her current bedridden reality.

Harriet was born in 1900 into a strict Presbyterian community in County Cavan, in “the back lands of what was about to become the

border.” She was married at 16 to the surly, hardworking Thomas, a man twice her age. She reminds us that this was at a time when many of those who might have been her swains were off fighting for King and country “while underhand ruffians in Dublin were going behind their backs.”

She describes her hard and lonely life with the man she had sworn to honor and obey, a promise that was understood by both parties as intended to be taken literally.

The centre of their social and community existence was the small Presbyterian church, “unadorned by picture, cross or colour” where the righteous “moaned out the psalms.”

After a few years, they have a son James; when Thomas is made an elder of the church and James is baptised, the Campbell family is seen as reliable and faithful members of their fundamentalist congregation.

All of this changes, however, after Thomas dies and young James begins keeping company with a Catholic girl of his own age. The reaction is unforgivingly harsh, made even more so when he resigns from his Orange Lodge, takes instruction from a priest and marries in a Catholic church. Harriet is implacable in her opposition and her anger; so are her Presbyterian neighbours and she is no longer welcome at prayer meeting or knitting circle. In fact, her one constant friend is a Catholic woman named Cissie who is also unsuccessful in reconciling her to what has happened to her son.

Harriet is not an attractive character: a woman who has allowed bitterness and hatred take over her life. Indeed, there are few people in the story for whom the reader might feel warmth or even sympathy. It is a story about the folly of sectarianism, particularly

in a small place; how, as well as fracturing relationships, it can tear at the inner self. The writing is intense, poetical in its descriptions of people and place, but unrelenting in its melancholy; the reader is drawn in to the story even against the urge to shout out a demand for rational thought from the characters.

There have been many stories about the malign domination of Irish life by the Catholic clergy in times past but this, from the other side of the Christian divide, seems to be at a level beyond what we would have thought possible.

The way that Harriet can quote a relevant scripture to bolster her morose and controlled way of life is a feature as are her descriptions of the bleak harshness of landscape and society.

This is Norma MacMaster’s first novel and like Harriet, she is 82 years old. She was born in Cavan and now lives in the Skerries area of Dublin. In 2004, she was ordained a minister of the Church of Ireland.

Her book is a small miracle.

“It is a story about the folly of sectarianism.

”

THE TOP 10 BOOK CHARTS FROM IRELAND BESTSELLERS

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION

1

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

2

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

3

The President is Missing

4

The Break

5

The World’s Worst Children 3

6

The Year That Changed Everything

7

100 Poems

8

Origin

9

Oh My God What a Complete Aisling

10 Letters to My Daughters

Gail Honeyman

1

Emotional Resilience

Dr Harry Barry

Heather Morris

2

This is Going to Hurt

Adam Kay

Bill Clinton & Jam Patterson

3

My Brother Jason

Marian Keyes

4

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

David Walliams

5

Educated

Cathy Kelly

6

The Cow Book

Tracey Corbett-Lynch & Ralph Riegel

Seamus Heaney

7

Discovering the Boyne Valley

Dan Brown

8

The Choice

9

Kindfulness

Sarah Breen/Emer McLysaght Emma Hannigan

ORIGINAL FICTION

10 Tiger Woods

Yuval Noah Harari Tara Westover John Connell Noel French

Niall Kelly & Philly McMahon Padraig O’Morain Armen Keteyian & Jeff Benedict

CHILDREN’S

1

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

2

The President is Missing

Heather Morris

1

The World’s Worst Children 3

David Walliams

Bill Clinton & Jam Patterson

2

The Storm Keeper’s Island

Catherine Doyle

3

The Anniversary

4

The Woman in the Window

Roisin Meaney

3

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

J.K. Rowling

A. J. Finn

4

Midnight: Skulduggery Pleasant

Derek Landy

5

Skin Deep

6

The Hideaway

7

The Stolen Girls

8

The Gospel According to Blindboy

9

Clock Dance

Anne Tyler

10 Solar Bones

Mike McCormack

Liz Nugent

5

Tom Gates: Biscuits, Bands and Very Big Plans

Sheila O’Flanagan

6

Gangsta Granny

David Walliams

Patrica Gibney

7

The Midnight Gang

David Walliams

Blindboy Boatclub

8

Love Simon: Simon Vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda

9

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

10 Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

Liz Pichon

Becky Albertalli J.K. Rowling Jeff Kinney

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

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19

1 P.J. O’BRIEN’S, SYDNEY 2 P.J. O’BRIEN’S, SOUTHBANK 3 DURTY NELLY’S, PERTH 4 KING O’MALLEY’S, CANBERRA 5 MERCANTILE HOTEL, SYDNEY 6 THE IRISH TIMES, MELBOURNE 7 J B O’REILLY’S, LEEDERVILLE 8 THE PORTERHOUSE, SYDNEY 9 MALONEY’S, SYDNEY 10 FIBBER MCGEES, LEEDERVILLE

Can you get involved with the organisation of the 2019 Sydney St Patrick’s Day Event?

IThe Committee would particularly welcome those who have skills in the following areas;

1 P.J. O’BRIEN’S, SYDNEY 2 KING O’MALLEY’S, CANBERRA 3 MERCANTILE, SYDNEY 4 MALONEY’S, SYDNEY 5 THE PORTERHOUSE, SURRY HILLS 6 SCRUFFY MURPHY’S, SYDNEY 7 THE DOSS HOUSE, THE ROCKS 8 FORTUNE OF WAR, THE ROCKS 9 LORD DUDLEY HOTEL, WOOLLAHRA 10 CARRINGTON HOTEL, KATOOMBA

• Book-keeping • Events Management • Fundraising • Marketing • Logistics

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

However, any assistance you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

Your help is vital to the continued success of the St Patrick’s Day Celebrations in Sydney!

For further information please contact the Secretary at

secretary@sydneystpatricksday.com.au

O’MALLEY’S, BRISBANE FINN MCCOOL’S, FORTITUDE VALLEY PIG AND WHISTLE, RIVERSIDE PADDY’S PORT DOUGLAS IRISH MURPHY’S, BRISBANE GILHOOLEYS, BRISBANE THE DARCY ARMS, SURFERS PARADISE MCGINITY’S BAR AND THAI TAM, CAIRNS FIDDLER’S GREEN IRISH BAR, SURFERS PARADISE LANSDOWNE RD, IRISH TAVERN, SURFERS PARADISE

1 P.J. O’BRIEN’S, SOUTHBANK 2 THE IRISH TIMES, MELBOURNE 3 THE DRUNKEN POET, WEST MELBOURNE 4 THE QUIET MAN IRISH PUB 5 THE 5TH PROVINCE, ST KILDA 6 THE BROTHERS PUBLIC HOUSE, FITZROY 7 IRISH MURPHY’S, GEELONG 8 IMPERIAL HOTEL, MELBOURNE 9 ELEPHANT AND WHEELBARROW, EAST MELB 10 JIMMY O’NEILLS, ST KILDA 1 DURTY NELLY’S, PERTH, 2 J B O’REILLY’S, LEEDERVILLE 3 FIBBER MCGEES, LEEDERVILLE 4 NOVOTEL LANGLEY, PERTH 5 MURPHY’S IRISH PUB, MANDURAH 6 CROWN PERTH 7 WOODBRIDGE HOTEL,GUILDFORD 8 PADDY MALONES, JOONDALUP 9 43 BELOW BAR AND BISTRO, PERTH 10 THE DUKE BAR AND BISTRO, CARRAMAR

1 2 3 4 5

SHENANNIGANS, DARWIN FOX AND FIRKIN, TEA TREE GULLY MICK O’SHEA’S IRISH PUB, HACKHAM NORWOOD HOTEL, NORWOOD DUCK INN, COROMANDEL VALLEY

19th ANNUAL COMMEMORATION Sunday 26th August from 12.00 noon Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney Tickets

|gifcc2018.eventbrite.com.au

1 2 3 4 5

NEW SYDNEY HOTEL, HOBART IRISH MURPHY’S, HOBART, COCK AND BULL HOTEL, LAUNCESTON THE WHALER’S RETURN, HOBART REPUBLIC BAR & CAFE, NORTH HOBART

Find your closest pint. guinnesspubfinder.com.au

Supported by

GreatIrishFamineMemorial | www.irishfaminememorial.org

THE BLACKLIST RANKS PUBS BY THEIR VOLUME SALES OF DRAUGHT GUINNESS. THE RANKING IS SUPPLIED BY LION. THE GUINNESS WORD AND HARP DEVICE AND ASSOCIATED LOGOS ARE TRADE MARKS. GUINNESS & CO. 2018.

20

time out

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

LEST WE FORGET: The annual commemoration at the National Monument to The Great Irish Famine in Sydney takes place on Sunday, August 25 from noon. The guest speaker this year will be Labor MP and proud Irish Australian, Paul Lynch. Pictured is President Michael D Higgins at the monument in the grounds of the Hyde Park Barracks during his visit to Australia. Also pictured is (from left) his wife, Sabina Higgins;the former Tánaiste, Frances Fitzgerald, and the NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian.

Tuesday, July 31 – Sunday, August 5 MELBOURNE, VIC Irish Celtic at The Palms, Crown Melbourne Featuring the finest performers from the top Irish dance companies, Irish Celtic showcases thrilling and spectacular high energy dance routines with explosive rhythms and nail-biting precision. With their spectacular choreography and passionate music, including romantic theme tunes from Braveheart and Last of the Mohicans, they recreate scenes from throughout Celtic history. It’s an unforgettable night of music, storytelling and dance www.irishceltic.com.au

Thursday, August 2 SYDNEY, NSW Lansdowne Meet-up and Drinks – Handpicked Wines Sydney The Lansdowne monthly meet-up in August will take place at Sydney’s Urban Cellar Door. Our resident sommelier will guide you through our selection of wines for a fun and informative night. Start with a ½ glass of prosecco on arrival, then taste your way through six wines from different regions. Learn the story behind each wine, including where they’re from, their style, and get tasting notes. A ticket costs $40 and includes six glasses of wine (50ml each), served with a platter of cheese and charcuterie. lansdowneclub.com.au

Friday, August 3 BRISBANE, QLD The Ireland Funds, Brisbane Luncheon Event to be held at Hillstone St Lucia Golf Links from 12.30 to 5pm.

Ticket details and booking forms on the website. www.irelandfunds.org

Tuesday, August 7 – Sunday, August 12 SYDNEY, NSW Irish Celtic at The Capitol Theatre

Featuring the finest performers from the top Irish dance companies, Irish Celtic showcases thrilling and spectacular high energy dance routines with explosive rhythms and nail-biting precision. With their spectacular choreography and passionate music, including romantic theme tunes from Braveheart and Last of the Mohicans, they recreate scenes from throughout Celtic history. It’s an unforgettable night of music, storytelling and dance www.irishceltic.com.au

Thursday, August 9 MELBOURNE, VIC Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce - Connections at “Bucks” “In Conversation with Professor Ronan McDonald”. Do business and stimulate your Celtic soul at this edition of our “Connections” series, returning by popular

demand to Buck Mulligan’s in Northcote – An Irish Whiskey Bar by night and Irish Specialty Bookshop and Cafe by day. Newlyappointed chair of Irish Studies at the University of Melbourne, Gerry Higgins, and Professor McDonald, will be in conversation with chamber president Fergal Coleman – exploring the Irish Australian identity.

There will be a drink on arrival and some Irish Australian finger food, courtesy of Eamonn and his team at Buck’s. 6pm to 9pm. irishchamber.com.au

Saturday, August 18 – Monday, October 8

From 7.15am to 8.45 am www.irishchamber.com.au

SYDNEY, NSW The Harp in the South – Sydney Theatre Company

Friday, August 25

The Irish Theatre Player’s third annual beginners’ ballroom dance competition is being held at the Irish Club of WA from 8pm. www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au

Sydney Theatre Company presents The Harp in the South by Ruth Park, in an adaptation for the stage

by Kate Mulvany. This major new work is one of the most ambitious productions STC has ever created.

Celebrated playwright Mulvany has adapted novelist Ruth Park’s revered Australian trilogy – Missus, The Harp in the South and Poor Man’s Orange – and spread these beloved stories across two equally ambitious plays.

The two parts stand alone, but together they offer more than five hours of monumental, exuberant theatre. It’s a moving family saga and a celebration of Sydney in all its funny, gritty glory. www.sydneytheatre.com.au

Sunday, August 12

Thursday, August 23

SYDNEY, NSW Irish Support Agency – The Green Movement

SYDNEY, NSW Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce Networking Breakfast

Friday, August 10 PERTH, WA Ballroom Blitz

After a successful launch last year, we are delighted to be back once again to complete City2Surf Irish Style! This initiative aims to support health and well-being among Irish people living in Sydney. Please join us, if you’re planning on taking part in City2Surf as a runner, walker, or mammy with a buggy! We, The Green Movement would love you to join us. We want City2Surf to be awash with a sea of green. www.irishsupportagency.org.au

what’s on

This edition will feature John Carleton, who heads up Linesight in Austrlaia and New Zealand.

Linesight took out the Established Business category in last year’s Irish Australian Business Awards.

Hear directly from John, the inside story of how he and his team successfully started and grew the Australasian arm of this internationally-minded Irish construction business.

PENRITH, NSW Penrith Gaels – 21st Birthday

Penrith Gaels is holding a 21st Birthday Cocktail Night at the Club.

From 7pm. www.penrithgaels.com.au

Sunday, August 26 SYDNEY, NSW Irish Famine Memorial – Annual Gathering at the Hyde Park Barracks The 19th Annual Commemoration Gathering at the Irish Famine Monument, Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. Guest speaker is Paul Lynch, NSW Legislative Assemble, Member for Liverpool and Shadow Attorney General. Paul has been a great supporter of the GIFCC over the years. The Masters of Ceremonies is the delightful Gerry Faulkner. Music and the traditional Irish hospitality are also part of the occasion.

From noo to 4pm. All welcome! www.irishfaminememorial.org

Saturday, September 1 RANDWICK, NSW Lansdowne Club Race Day

For $175 per person (plus a booking fee) your race day experience includes: general admission and members’ reserve access at the Oaks Lawn Marquee; a three-course lunch; a five-and-

a-half-hour beverage package; a race book for each guest; complementary in-field parking via High Street, and interviews with leading trainers, including Bjorn Baker.

From noon. lansdowneclub.com.au

Friday, September 21 NEWCASTLE, NSW Ireland Rocks with Ciaran Gribbin Performed by Ciaran Gribbin at Lizottes, Ireland Rocks is an innovative show highlighting the legendary songs from some of Ireland’s best-known artists.

Presenting an all-star band, fronted by former INXS singer and Grammy nominated songwriter, Ciaran Gribbin, the show is a guaranteed great night out!

Ireland Rocks’ set list includes a broad selection of classic Irish songs from every era of Ireland’s rich music history. You’ll enjoy a musical journey from the haunting songs and traditional melodies of old Ireland through to the modern pop and rock era of today.

Ireland Rocks is a spectacular high energy show with unique song arrangements achieved by blending traditional Irish instruments such as the Bohdran, Accordion and Fiddle with loud rock Guitars, Bass and Drums.

Tickets cost $35.

stay up to date with what’s on at

IrishEcho.com.au whatson@irishecho.com.au :: (02) 9555 9199

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

Leo’s media mess SOMETHING seems to happen Taoiseach Leo Varadkar when he goes to America.

Remember when he told the story about getting a call from Donald Trump about the golf course in Clare? Varadkar’s ‘funny’ story seemed to suggest that he, while Minister for Tourism, had sought to influence a local planning decsion after being lobbied by a rich American.

During a recent visit, he once again found himself with a mouthful of feet after telling a private function that he sympathised with Donald Trumps view of the media.

It was reported by The Times and Irish Times that when the Taoiseach was asked about Mr Trump’s attacks on the media, he said the media was “not interested in the truth but in the story”.

Mr Varadkar sought to clarify his remarks afterwards and said: “There is no record of it; there was no speech given. It was a back and forth conversation involving about 15 to 20 people covering a whole range of topics. I said a lot of positive things about the media, in particular I acknowledged the role of investigative journalism in

bringing about social change.

“There’s a particular context and it wasn’t printed in full.”

“There was a conversation about social media and fake news, and it developed from there.

Coinage concerns for Notorious dad IT looks like Tony McGregor’s prayers might have been answered.

Conor McGregor’s dad took to social media last week to make the ultimate #FirstWorldProblem complaint.

In a video post he took umbrage

with the fact that he was given an unwieldy €17.30 change in coins after he tendered a “brand new €20 note” at a DART station in Dublin.

He was “not too plussed” about the experience.

“I tendered a brand new €20 note into the automatic machine, looking for a single ticket to Dún Laoghaire,” he said. “They had the bloody cheek to give me back ... and I’m gonna show you this coinage,” he complained while zooming in on the offending coins. “€20 -– €17.30 and a miserable little one-way ticket, they gave me all that coinage.

“I have no room to put those coins anywhere. I wear a slim-fit, handfitted, Hugo Boss suit,” he added.

Luckily for McGregor, the kindhearted Emma Doran has stepped up to organise a GoFundMe to buy him a Leap Card.

The GoFundMe page reads: “Let’s make sure Tony McGregor doesn’t find him not too plussed again [sic]. What’s this country coming to if you’re excepted to carry aloada coinage while wearing a slim-fit, hand fitted Hugo boss suit.”

The campaign has so far raised €50 for McGregor whose Notorious son earned more than US $90m over the past year.in

Meeting Meghan DON’T you love the way Irish kids refuse to behave but succeed in winning people over anyway.

Little Walter Kieran, three, (pictured) decided Meghan Markle’s hair looked shiny enough to touch when the royal newlywed visited Croke Park alongside her beau Harry during their wildly successful Dublin trip last month.

Walter’s intervention caused her to spin round in surprise. The youngster then appeared to touch the newly royal face, as Harry wagged his finger at him in comic disapproval.

But the prince himself was then collared by four-year-old Dylan Mahon from Meath who got a handful of Harry’s ginger beard.

The couple soon departed, no doubt concerned that a royal wedgie might be next.

Clues across:

Clues down:

1. Planes in navy crashed somewhere in a state (12)

1. A top aisle you walk down to reach Scottish town, Irish politician, common pattern (7)

5. What profession did Taoiseach Leo Varadkar follow before becoming a politician?

6. What links Sabina Coyne, Martin McAleese, Nick Robinson?

7. Which Irish player was the first player to be awarded a red card in a British football league?

8. Which play begins in “Algernon’s flat in Half Moon Street, London”?

9. Which political organisation did Napper Tandy belong to?

10. Of which Irish actress was it said: “Butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth – or any other part of her body”?

“Today’s aggressive comments by Messrs [Leo} Varadkar and [Michel] Barnier show why we are right to be leaving the Mafia-like European Union.”

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

“All the efforts now in the UK should be on finding a solution to this issue of the Irish border. It should not entail any cherry picking with the internal arrangement of the single market.”

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte.

“We’re always there to help and support the British in their hour of need.”

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

“So I wake up to news that I hit another and I mean another all time low after my vile and I mean vile outburst outburst did somebody say outburst about Fred mercy. I’m sooooooo sorry if I upset anybody it’s a good job there’s 24 hours in a day as you’ll get over it LG x” Liam Gallagher on Twitter, after he’d called Freddie Mercury of Queen a “goofy twat”.

“I’m proud and I’m sad.”

Boy George (born George O’Dowd) on finding out that his greatuncle, Thomas Bryan, was arrested in 1921 during the War of Independence over a planned attack on a lorry carrying Black and Tan soldiers and was later executed.

”I have found profound fulfilment in the Christian faith, and uplifted by being part of the priesthood – and even in taking a vow of poverty.”

Fr Philip Mulryne, a Belfast priest who as an international soccer player won 27 caps for Northern Ireland, and played under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

1. What links ZZ Top, Mary Bernadette O’Brien, The Pub With No Beer, holder of the world record for points scored in a first-class rugby career with 7,337 points?

4. Drew Harris, a former RUC and PSNI officer, is now head of the Garda Síochána. What is his title?

“As a United Kingdom government, we could never accept that the way to prevent a hard border with Ireland is to create a new border within the United Kingdom. To do so would also be a breach of the spirit of the Belfast Agreement.”

Prime Minister Theresa May.

“I say sorry and apologise for the failings that were identified in the standards committee report … I have such remorse about the matter as I believe it goes against the grain of who I am.”

DUP MP Ian Paisley Jr who failed to officially register two family trips worth £100,000 (€112,000) to Sri Lanka.

Crossword

3. In which book are the pubs The Bailey, Davey Byrne’s, the Bleeding Horse and Neary’s mentiones?

time out They said it...

“I have come from a very humble background. I have made hats for kings and queens. One of the strongest memories I have is being in somebody’s house and my father’s friend saying ‘Don’t you think that’s a little odd?

Don’t you think it’s a bit strange this child is doing this?’ And I remember distinctly my father saying: ‘Whatever makes him happy.’ It moves me still.”

Philip Treacy, Irish hat-maker, speaking on the BBC.

Quiz 2. In which county is Shannon Airport?

21

7. Inside disfigured nail gull found (8)

2. State friend countrywide (10)

8. Hello to injections in headdress (6)

3. Someone opposed to the Crusades (7)

9. Lion of a leader in Ireland? (3)

4. Detective writer appeared when Mr Mild caved in surprisingly (3,8)

10. He might have been a pain in the neck, but he helped unravel the secrets of DNA (5) 11. Wader is chief male character in a book to the north (5) 12. Longs for stories with added energy (6) 13. Fishing while swearing? (6) 16. To make a mistake in Derrinstown (3) 17. Dublin river spotted in Bristol kaleidoscope (5)

5. Not quite out, we hear, scientist heads for island (10)

24. Bovine posse, or Sligo/Leitrim mountains outfit in Scotland (6) 25. No charge in land where Northern Gaels have been cleared (4,4)

2

3

4

7

14. With reference to thespian, could go nuclear (7)

9

10

22. The self found in Castlegregory (3)

6

11

12

13

14

15

16 17

18 19

15. Family in Gaelic for presidential first name (7) 17. Thanks, shortly, for something you wouldn’t say to a goose or receive prohibition (5)

5

8

6. Doubtful short man from Irish city has debts (7)

18. Sheridan wrote about setback 19. Slimy plant found in local GAA for both Irish and East grounds (4) European competitors (6) 20.

Disallow Irish river, it’s said (3) 21. Orange unit for beavers (5) 23. To charge tuition fees for hidden ornamental bag (4)

1

20

21

22

23

24 25

LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS: Clues across: 1. Arklow. 5 & 30 across: Pierce Brosnan. 8. Mayo. 9. Rooney.

10. Island. 11. Mint. 12. Kes. 13. Instal. 16. Elphin. 17. Tolka. 21. Strongbow.

23. Failté. 26. Croatians. 28. Alps. 29. Ron. 30. see 5 across Clues down: 1. Atrocity. 2. Knock. 3. Overseas. 4. Parishioners. 5. Poitin. 6. Ellis. 7. Canna.

14. Trawl. 15. Lydon (John). 18. Lanigan. 19. Abbot. 22. Toe. 23. Fair.

24. Typo. 25. Anna. 27. Ayr.

Answers: Dusty — Dusty Hill is one of the three ZZ Tops, Mary Bernadette O’Brien is Dusty Springfield, The Pub With No Beer was written by Slim Dusty, Dusty Hare was the points scorer for England; 2. County Clare; 3. Ulysses; 4. Garda Commissioner; 5. Medical doctor; 6. They are the spouses of the current and two previous presidents of Ireland; 7. George Best; 8. Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. 9. The United Irishmen; 10. Maureen O’Hara

22 sport :: afl

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

HURLING CONVERT CELEBRATES AFL DEBUT FOR ST KILDA

‘To run out on the MCG was just fantastic’ David Hennessy

Darragh Joyce made his AFL debut for St Kilda this month, becoming the third Irishman to play for the Saints.

DARRAGH Joyce’s AFL debut for St Kilda coincided with another family milestone, the birth of his niece.

“It was crazy. It all kind of happened at once,” Darragh Joyce tells the Irish Echo.

The Joyce parents decided to share the special moments.

Darragh’s dad would stay to welcome the first grandchild while his mother Kathleen would fly the 22 hours to Australia to be there for his St Kilda debut, a memorable win over Melbourne at the MCG. “Ma hopped on the plane Friday morning her time and the baby arrived then; it was pretty hectic.”

So how did Darragh enjoy his first taste of AFL action?

“The first game was a bit of a blur but to have mam make the journey down with all the commotion at home with the little niece arriving, it was just a super special weekend

for me and one I will never forget,” the Irish saint said.

“She’s delighted she made the journey as well. To get the win at the end made it special. I’m so lucky: first game, first win. Some players have played six or eight games and they still haven’t won. I’m just one of the lucky ones, I suppose.”

Joyce’s injured team mate Dylan Robertson told him before the game: “You’re representing your family today, your country, but for the first time you get to represent the Saints.

Hopefully you get to represent us for a long time, so congratulations.”

Brother Kieran Joyce won four All-Irelands with the Cats and Darragh himself captained Kilkenny to an All-Ireland minor championship in 2014.

He came to Australia in October 2016 after drawing the attention of St Kilda at the 2015 AFL Draft Combine. In just 18 months, the 21-year-old Rower-Inistioge man has

gone from rookie to first team starter.

“It was a dream come true. To be able to run out into the MCG was fantastic. Last year was a pretty tough year: trying to pick up the sport, the rules, the different shape ball, and then you’re coming into this professional environment too.

“It was tough going. It took me a while to adjust but you’ve just got to realise the opportunity you have and you’ve just got to take it when you have got the opportunity.

“But then this year, I feel more a part of it. You know the guys at the club that extra year and you’re in with the craic in the dressing room and that kind of stuff, you feel more a part of it. Last year I struggled a bit with homesickness but this year I’m absolutely loving it over here.”

Joyce said he was delighted for his mate Colin O’Riordan who also make the breakthough this month for the Sydney Swans.

“It was gas the way it worked out actually because we went up to Sydney to visit him so we were just talking about the possibilities of one day hopefully playing against each other. We’re a step closer to doing that, hopefully one day we will pull on the jumpers against each other.

He’s a great lad,” Joyce said.

Kilkenny recently exited the AllIreland championship to Limerick.

Does a part of Darragh wish he could have been involved?

“You would envy the lads. I would love to be out there but you can’t have everything. The way I look at it is, a lot of lads would give their left arm to be in my shoes and have the opportunity I have.

“But I’m so lucky to do what I do and I don’t take it for granted at all.

“Australia’s fantastic. Melbourne is beautiful. It’s a beautiful country.

Everyone’s very relaxed, a really easy place to get on. I just want to stay here as long as possible.”

LONG WAY FROM TIPPERARY FOR SYDNEY SWAN COLIN O’RIORDAN

First flight for Swans Irish rookie David Hennessy

COLIN O’Riordan’s Sydney Swans senior debut was three years in the making.

But when the moment came, the 22-year-old embraced the occasion and the club made sure his family were there to support him in Melbourne.

In the end, it was a perfect result: a six-point victory over the combative North Melbourne Kangaroos. O’Riordan drew praise for his performance in which we clocked up six marks and 17 disposals to make the Sydney club name him as one of their best performers on the day.

“It felt like all the hard work I put in initially paid off,” he told the Irish Echo.

“I don’t read too much into it to be honest. I’m not a big reader of club ar ticles or anything like that. I like to let the external stuff take care of itself and then we control everything we can. It was obviously nice to make my debut and just to get a run-out with the lads.”

The 22-year-old joined Swans in 2015. This was also the year the JK Brackens clubman captained his native Tipperary to an under-21 Munster crown and one year after he was added to the Premier County’s senior football panel.

O’Riordan says he always believed his opportunity would come along.

“You just have to keep believing in yourself and hope that when you get the opportunity, you take it with both hands.

“To make my debut was very pleasing and satisfying for me.”

Just being an Irishman playing for Sydney Swans will bring inevitable comparisons with Tadhg Kennelly who won a Premiership with the Sydney club in 2005 and is now their development coach.

Like the reports on his performance, these comparisons are also something Colin tries to put to one side.

Tuohy the hero with late winner LAOIS-man Zach Tuohy made it a spectacular couple of weeks for Irish AFL players when he scored the winning goal for the Geelong Cats after the siren against the Melbourne Demons.

Elsewhere, Ciaran Byrne returned to AFL action for Carlton in their win over the Gold Coast Suns and Conor McKenna was part of the Essenon Bombers victory over Colin O’Riordan’s Swans.

There was also good news for Hawthorn’s Meath recruit Conor Nash who was named as an emergency against Fremantle. Nash’s AFL debut will not be far away.

“You don’t really think too much about it. Obviously Tadhg was a great player and everything he’s done has been amazing and fantastic but look, it’s something I try to avoid as well.

“He’s been a great mentor for me and an unbelievable person to deal with.

“He’s taught me a lot of things and I’m sure he’ll teach me a lot more things. “ What words did Tadhg have for his fellow Irishman before his big break in AFL? “He just told me to remember everything and what I came for: ‘Just genuinely go out there and express yourself and don’t think too much about it. Think of where you have came from and what you have sacrificed to get here and just go out and play with abandon’. He was ver y supportive in terms of that.”

Colin went very quickly from being a leader in Tipperar y football to having prove himself in the Sydney Swans ranks. He suffered a serious injury at the end of only his first season in Australia before last year playing in an NEAFL Grand Final where he scored a gutsy goal in a losing side against Brisbane.

Colin O’Riordan gets the traditional Gatorade shower after debuting for the Sydney Swans.

“It’s hard enough. You leave Ireland, you leave Tipperary as a 19-year-old kid really and you come over and I guess you’re forced to grow up a bit quicker than you would expect. You have no more mammy or daddy to be babying you and there’s no family here, which was hard at the beginning. But the Irish community here have been unbelievable to me. They have really rallied around me especially in Sydney.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better club to take me in. The Swans have been amazing.”

It was early in his Australian adventure when Colin broke a bone in his back and suffered a punctured lung in a reser ve match in Darwin.

“We have a great medical team and they do everything right so they don’t let you go back unless you’re fully fit to do stuff but I guess it was more the loneliness element of it.

“Sitting in a hospital in Darwin, you don’t really know what to do. You’re there by yourself but our player welfare manager Dennis Car roll is probably the best in the business and one of the biggest gentlemen I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting.

“He flew up and made me feel less lonely and told me everything was going to be alright.

It’s people like that you want in your life, you want to listen to and stick with. It was a lonely time during the injur y and

during that whole ordeal but we came out the other side of it.”

O’Riordan said he was delighted that his mate Darragh Joyce also made the breakthough this month.

“Darragh’s a great lad. We came over together and to make our debuts within a week or two of each other, it’s a good story in itself but we keep in touch, look after each other and we try to support each other as much as we can. There’s only 12 of us playing in the AFL so it’s a very small community.”

Tipperary’s footballers had an impressive run in the AllIreland in 2016. O’Riordan, who would have most certainly have been involved if he had stayed in Ireland, had to watch from

the other side of the world.

“That was tough,” he recalls.

“I left that year and I felt awful, Tipp were on the rise in football but I have to realise when I wake up in the morning how lucky I am and how privileged I am to have the opportunity I have here and that’s something I can’t forget even when Tipp are going well back home.

“Obviously I would love to go back and play for Tipp again and hopefully one day I will but at the moment I’m not lying when I say I would like to stay in Sydney as long as I can.

“Obviously, I will always be a Tipp man and I would love to play for Tipp some day again but at the minute it’s with Sydney for the next year.”

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August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

sports KATIE TAYLOR’S PROFESSIONAL CAREER REACHES NEW HEIGHTS WITH O2 WIN

Ten out of 10 for relentless champ Taylor KATIE Taylor defended her IBF and WBA world titles against Kimberly Connor with a third round stoppage at the O2 in London last weekend.

Taylor produced a consistent performance, with one stunning combination in the first round that rocked Connor and gave an indication of what was to come.

The American did offer a small bit of tenacity, with Taylor suffering a swelling under her eye in the second round.

The Bray boxer said afterwards that she was unsure how it occurred.

However, in the third round Connor threw further caution to the wind when under pressure from Taylor, and it began a flurry of punches that wowed the sold out London arena, with the opponent wobbling after each punch.

In the end it was no surprise when the referee stepped in to end the fight near the end of the third round with Connor struggling to stay on her feet under the relentless barraage of punches.

Taylor will fight in America next against Cindy Serrano in Chicago on October 6.

Meanwhile, world champ Carl Frampton is embroiled in a verbal clash with big fight rival Luke Jackson after the Australian teased him over their amateur achievements.

Frampton (25-1) defends his interim WBO featherweight crown against Jackson (16-0) at Belfast’s Windsor Park on Saturday August 18.

Jackson, 33, captained Australia at the 2012 London Olympics, competed twice in the World amateur Championships and won a bronze medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“I’ve fought some very good guys as an amateur and I’ll be the first to say that, as a professional, I haven’t fought the guys Carl Frampton has fought. But Carl hasn’t done what I did as an amateur. He never represented his country at the Olympic Games.”

Frampton hit back on Twitter. “I’m lucky it’s not amateur boxing then,” he snapped. “Representing Australia in the Olympics is the equivalent of me having to be Co Antrim champion then beat the Isle of Man in a qualifier.”

UNSTOPPABLE: Ireland’s world champion Katie Taylor in action against American Kimberly Connor in London.

WELD RECALLS VINTAGE CROP WIN, 25 YEARS ON

FOOTBALL

TWO-time Melbourne Cup winner Dermot Weld reminisced about his Flemington glory during a whistle-stop tour of the famous trophy.

Weld, who trained Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002) to victor y in the famous race, said Australia is still a special place for him after his trend-setting efforts 25 years ago. Five other internationally trained horses have won the Cup since Weld’s initial success.

“Australia is very special to me. It always has been and it always will be.

I’ve been for tunate to win two Melbourne Cups so it makes it extra special,” Weld said.

“We were one of the pioneers, winning Group 1 races around the world before it came fashionable.

“The adventure, the travel – that never daunted me. I had to wait for the right horse to do it and I knew that Vintage Crop was the horse that could possibly do it.”

Victoria Racing Club chairwoman Amanda Elliott said that visiting Weld at his Rosewell House stables at the Cur ragh, and revisiting what the Irishman had achieved at Flemington, was chilling.

AUSTRALIA and Ireland are battling to secure the long-term allegiances of 15-year-old football prodigy Mar y Fowler and her talented siblings.

Fowler is currently in the US with the Matildas after being selected in coach Alen Stajcic’s 21-player squad for next week’s Tournament of Nations.

It should be the start of a long international career for the Cairns-born wonderkid but whether the Fowler family stays in green and gold remains to be seen.

Born to an Irish father and a Papua New Guinean mother, Mary is one of five children and all of them aspire to play professional football.

Brother Quivi, 19, and sister Ciara, 17, have both represented Ireland at youth level and were born there but are on Football Federation Australia’s radar.

However, it is understood the Football Association of Ireland is desperate to lock in the Fowler family and is in regular contact.

“I want to play for Australia, but obviously Ciara and Quivi have played for Ireland,” Mary told AAP last week.

“We all want to play together for the same country. Family is really important to me. I’m not in any rush to make that decision. I’m only 15, so we’ll see.”

GAELIC GAMES

Dublin close in on fourth consecutive All Ireland THE race for All Ireland football glory in 2018 is down to eight counties with Dublin looking to secure their fourth consecutive title.

Dublin are the side to face a six-day turnaround before this year’s AllIreland SFC semi-finals.

The Dubs booked their place in the last four with victory over Tyrone last weekend to top Group 2 in the new Super 8s format.

They will play their final group game against the alr eady eliminated Roscommon on Sunday, August 5.

And then six day days later on Saturday, August 11, the All-Ireland champions will face the runner up in Group 1 at Croke Park, with the throwin at 5pm Irish time. That will be either Monaghan, who currently occupy that spot, Galway or Kerry. The latter can only finish second in the group.

For that to happen, the Kingdom will be hoping for a Galway win over the Farney in the final round and that they themselves can beat Kildare by a margin that would see them surpass the Ulster side on points difference.

The second semi will take place on Sunday, August 12 at GAA HQ, throwin at 3.30pm Irish time .

Galway or Monaghan will take on either Donegal or Tyrone. Monaghan will need to beat their Connacht opponents to take top spot in Group 1, while a draw for Tyrone against the Ulster champions in Ballybofey on Sunday week will be good enough for them to progress from Group 2.

Donegal need to win.

In hurling, Galway and Clare will need to recontest their semi-final after playing out a remarkable 1-30 all draw at Croke Park.

Awaiting them in the decider will be Limerick who defeated their Munster neighbours Cork last weekend.

Vintage win recalled Something about Mary

Mick Kinane rides Vintage Crop to victory in the 1993 Melbourne Cup.

“Today was an absolutely spectacular day. Their recall of that day in 1993 and what it meant to them gave me shivers,” Ms Elliott said.

“When I asked Dermot what he felt when Vintage Crop crossed the line and he knew he’d won. He said it was utter content because he had longed to win the race.”

Vintage Crop’s rider Michael Kinane said it was a great achievement.

“It was a fantastic memory. It seems like yesterday but time is suddenly

telling us it is 25 years [ago]. I can still feel it,” Kinane said.

The 1993 Melbourne Cup success was recalled at a gathering in the Staf fan Inn in Kildare. Der mot Cantillon, bloodstock manager for the Smurfit family who owned Vintage Crop, said the win “internationalised the Melbourne Cup and changed the face of the race forever”.

The VRC group also visited the yards of Joseph O’Brien, trainer of last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling.

Mary Fowler in action for the Matildas but she is also eligible to play for Ireland.

Playing in the Tour nament of Nations will not tie Mary to Australia because it is essentially a series of glorified friendly matches.

However, the lure of an appearance at next year’s women’s World Cup, for which Ireland have failed to qualify, may swing their decisions.

Several W-League clubs have offered contracts to Mary and Ciara but the pair are considering moving to Europe, where Quivi will be based next season with Dutch club FC Dordrecht.

August, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

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