Irish Echo, October 2019

BREXIT CRISIS NEARING ITS ENDGAME What happens next?

PAGES 16-17

DYLAN MORAN RETURNS TO OZ ‘It might involve a bit of shouting but nobody dies’ INTERVIEW :: PAGE 22

WALKING ON CARS

Kerry charttoppers make Aussie debut INTERVIEW :: PAGE 25

October, 2019 | Volume 32 – Number 10 | AU$5.95 (incl GST)

CATHAY PACIFIC

Irish route shelved as Hong Kong counts cost CATHAY Pacific has decided to suspend its four-times weekly Dublin service until 2020.

The Hong Kong-based carrier said that it has decided to temporarily suspend the flights from November 7 2019 to March 29, 2020. The Hong Kong-Dublin route is the only direct air connection with east Asia.

With a difficult winter ahead,

and the anti-government protests in Hong Kong showing no signs of coming to an end, the carrier has suspended flights to Dublin, Medan in Indonesia, and daytime flights to Paris and Frankfurt. The carrier has also cut the number of flights to New York, Washington and Vancouver.

Last week, Hong Kong’s biggest airline unveiled an 11.3 per cent slump in passengers compared to August last year, driven by a 38 per cent fall in people coming to the city

as a result of the disruption from pro democracy protests. The decline in passengers, as a percentage, was the single biggest fall in a decade.

In a statement, Cathay Pacific said it decided to temporarily shelve the Dublin-Hong Kong service following a “careful review of the current business environment”.

“This is a difficult decision to make, but also a necessary one in view of the commercial challenges we currently face. The Dublin and Hong Kong non-stop flight will resume on 30 March 2020,” the statement said.

Cathay Pacific said it will “continue to strengthen our investments in the Irish market” through additional marketing activities in coming months.

“Our dedicated Ireland team based in Dublin will continue to grow our brand presence, while our teams in Asia and Australia have begun tactical promotions in their respective markets targeting the summer 2020 season, for when our non-stop flight returns. We are confident in the longterm prospect and strength of the traffic between Ireland, Hong Kong and the rest of Asia,” the spokesperson said.

A Dublin Airport spokesman said they were “disappointed” that the route has been temporarily suspended but would work closely with Cathay Pacific in relation to the resumption of the service in March.

RUGBY WORLD CUP

Oh Schmidt!

Irish forced to tempura expectations

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Miso sad: An Irish fan wearing a Japanese mask at the Shizuoka Stadium where the host nation defeated Ireland 19-12. (Left) Ireland’s Conor Murray shows his disappointment after the shock loss. Ireland are still a strong chance to make the knockout stages. Pictures: Adam Davy/PA Print Post No 100007285

BILLY CANTWELL

2 | October, 2019

Opinion

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COMMENT

Frank O’Shea

Students siphoned off to big end of town Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, Where wealth accumulates and men decay.

Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village AS summer fades in Ireland, school-leavers are preparing for whetever comes next. For many, that will mean a university education. It’s a tense time for them and their families.

In Ireland, students are given a points score for their Leaving Cert, a figure which has a similar role to the ATAR in Australia. However, where the ATAR ranks students against each other (an ATAR of 82 means higher than 82 per cent of the cohort – the highest ATAR is 99.95). Irish students get a point score, calculated from their best six courses. There is a bonus of 25 for those who take Higher Mathematics, so 625 is the theoretical highest a student can get, and is only achieved by about 150 students each year.

Shortly after the Leaving results are finalised in August, the CAO (Central Applications Office) publish the admission scores needed for entry to

a country when bright young people different courses at different tertiary sought love and peace, music and the have as their highest ambition to institutions. To give an idea of the joys of slow living, but the bankers spend their working lives manipulatfigures for 2019, the country’s largest soon persuaded us that money was ing currency or wishing to join a club university UCD has cut-offs of 520 for all that mattered. It should be the role Law, 511 for Engiof today’s young people to neering, 488 for undo the hurt we did to the Computer Science, environment and to repair 398 for Nursing, the damage we did to the It says something about a country 348 for Humanphysical and social world. when bright young people have as ities; other instituInstead the best and tions would have brightest – with numbers their highest ambition to spend their similar or slightly to prove it - are being silower figures. phoned off to the world of working lives manipulating currency So, what course the sharks and charlatans. has the highest en- or wishing to join a club guaranteed Many of the young peotry requirement? ple seduced into ‘studying’ to be a haven of conmen.

Not Medicine, Economics and Finance which at any rate were involved in the BT uses an additional Young Scientist and Techmeasure to screen nology exhibitions over the guaranteed to be a haven of conmen candidates, but a course with the years. How has the country lost them and suited-up embezzlers. grandiose title BSc Economics and and their skills when they are wanted Humans are well on the way to Finance, which has an entry requiremost? Why are they now not engaged destroying our planet; our cities are ment of 601 points. in creating a better world, undoing the hotbeds of crime and vice; our transThis is the first time that the 600 damage we did? port systems are choking. barrier has been breached and it has As Goldsmith wrote, “But times are And we, the generation who came raised comment in Ireland. altered; trade’s unfeeling train, usurp of age after a world war, are the ones Of course, it was clever to attach the land and dispossess the swain”. to blame. We built the roads, cleared the label BSc to the course, though it the forests, sent our buildings skyis a corruption of language to use the Frank O’Shea is a former teacher wards, gouged mother earth, allowed word science when describing areas and the author of two Leaving Cert the bankers to run our lives. like Economics and Finance. mathematics textbooks.

For a brief time in the sixties, we But surely it says something about

“

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Editor/Publisher Billy Cantwell Design Stuart Middleton Office Tina King-Garde Contributors Elizabeth Morgan Meg Kanofski David Hennessy Frank O’Shea Mal Rogers Telephone: +61 2 9555 9199 Postal Address: PO Box 256, Balmain, NSW 2041, Australia E-mail (Admin): hello@irishecho.com.au E-mail (Editorial): editor@irishecho.com.au The Irish Echo is a national publication published monthly

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IRISH AUSTRALIA

WEST CORK SHOWCASE FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIAN CHEFS

Irish foodie festival gets a taste of dinki-di bush tucker MEG KANOFSKI

INDIGENOUS Australian chefs have shown off their culinary skills at Cork’s 2019 food festival.

Hundreds of attendees at A Taste of West Cork food festival relished the opportunity to sample Australian cuisine with a focus on native ingredients, from kangaroo and kingfish to Kakadu plum and wild hibiscus.

The Australian Ambassador to Ireland Richard Andrews selected four chefs from the National Indigenous Culinary Institute, Joshua Moore, David Gray and Sam and Luke Bourke, for the opportunity.

The fine dining school has offered Kunja and Barkindji man Mr Moore a career turnaround.

“Before this I was busking on the street, just surviving. Now, I am in the kitchen learning new skills.”

The chefs each undertake apprenticeships as part of their culinary study program, gaining experience in exclusive host restaurants including

Neil Perry’s Rockpool Bar and Grill and Sydney waterfront institution Catalina. Trainees have had the chance to prepare meals for Australian prime ministers and the inimitable British restauranteur Marco Pierre White, but NICI director Rod Harys said introducing Australia’s flavours to the people of Ireland “was a fantastic highlight”.

“Along with the experiences of seeing a beautiful country, they were able to get outside of their comfort zone, adapt to new surroundings and educate people on their Indigenous culture,” he said.

A Taste of West Cork chairperson Hellen Collins agreed that the chefs were a “credit” to their country.

“Everybody in West Cork wanted to meet them…the guys worked so hard but they did manage to get a little time on the sea fishing for the foraging dinner.”

Ms Collins said festival-goers raved about the chefs’ use of bush tucker spices and ingredients such as finger lime pearls, described by connoisseurs

Sam Bourke, Luke Bourke, Joshua Moore and David Gray, pictured above with Australian Ambassador to Ireland Richard Andrews, catered for guests at a special dinner (left) at the West Cork Food Festival.

as the caviar of the citrus world.

The Australian chefs’ inclusion in the two-week festival was part of a long-term plan to increase NICI representation on the world stage.

“We want Ireland to be an ongoing part of the story of our national cuisine and we want Australia to contribute to the evolution of Ireland’s culinary landscape,” Ambassador Andrews said.

PROPOSED REFERENDUM ON THE RIGHTS OF IRISH CITIZENS ABROAD TO VOTE IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Irish abroad vote poll delay BILLY CANTWELL

THE referendum to decide whether Irish citizens living abroad will be allowed to vote in presidential elections looks certain to be pushed back to next year.

It is the second time the referendum has been delayed. The vote was originally expected to take place in May alongside the local and European elections. It was then expected to take place later this month or in November but the Irish government has yet to name the date despite publishing the Bill last week.

While the Irish government has refused to offer an official comment, it is understood that the uncertainties

of Brexit have scuppered plans to have the vote this year.

The Irish Times had reported that government sources had said that more work needed to be done to prepare for the referendum, and sources expected it would not be completed in time for a November poll. Ireland’s Minister for the Diaspora Ciaran Cannon, during his visit to Australia in May, revealed that the government was concerned about a ‘no’ vote.

If successful, the referendum will pave the way for Irish citizens living abroad to vote in presidential elections. The next such poll is due to take place in 2025. Under the proposed change, all citizens of voting age would be eligible to vote but only

in presidential elections.

The government estimates that there are 3.6 million Irish citizens outside of the Republic. This figure includes the total population of Northern Ireland (approximately 1.8 million) as well as those who have not reached voting age. Online registration and postal voting would be used to extend the franchise, according to reports in Ireland. The campaign period would also be extended to accommodate a global electorate.

Votes for Irish Citizens Abroad (VICA), the primary lobby group to extend the franchise to non-resident Irish nationals, welcomed the publication of the Bill which proposes to amend Article 12 of the constitution.

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“Great news that the Irish government has tonight published the Bill on extending presidential voting rights, ahead of a referendum on the issue,” VICA said in a tweet.

The referendum had been originally due to take place in May, alongside the divorce referendum and the local and European elections.

However, the Cabinet in February opted to delay the presidential vote.

The Taoiseach said the possibility of the vote being contentious and the uncertainty of Brexit were factors in the decision. Speaking at the time, Leo Varadkar told the Dáil: “It will involve a good deal of planning, it needs a good campaign and we want to win it.”

Ireland is almost unique among western democracies in denying its citizens abroad a vote. France, for instance, has global constituencies for its citizens abroad and elected representatives sit in the parliament in Paris. Australia allows its citizens abroad to vote for up to six years after leaving the country. However, you must be first registered to vote while resident in Australia.

In 2016, a Convention on the Constitution voted in favour of extending the vote in presidential elections to Irish citizens living abroad. The possibility of citizens abroad being allowed to vote in Dáil and Seanad elections or referenda was not considered by the convention.

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MELBOURNE CELTIC CLUB ELECTIONS

Members back current team DAVID HENNESSY

MEMBERS of Melbourne’s Celtic Club have voted to keep Brian Shanahan in place as President.

In fiercely contested club leadership elections heald last week, Mr Shanahan was returned along with colleagues Helene McNamara and Conrad Corry who retain their positions as Vice-President and Secretary respectively.

The re-elected president, a former Melbourne City councillor, told The Irish Echo he was encourged by the result: “It’s reassuring to have such a high level of support from our membership. We’ve got three new additions to our committee and I’m sure their contribution will be very good.”

The club and its committee had been the subject of some criticism over the last few months with allegations of mismanagement coming from Brian’s presidential opponent Peter Donnellan and his so-called ‘Dire Straits’ team.

Brian continues: “It’s not as if we’re in debt. We have bank deposits of $17 million, about another million in assets and we have no debts. Our challenge is to establish ourselves the way we want to be and that’s going to take us another year so because we’ve moved premises and we’re looking to go back into a new premises and there’s transitional issues. We knew that there would be difficulties in the transition so we expected that and we knew that there would be costs as well.

Re-elected president Brian Shanahan.

“We were subject to a campaign of misrepresentation, in some cases lies, and an attempt to damage the reputation of a number of our committee members.

“It was a nasty campaign.

IRISH WOMEN ABROAD

“The membership have remained with us. Around 350 people voted which shows a good level of interest and we look forward to building the club up in the next few years.”

Brian Shanahan was elected as President with almost 100 votes more than Mr Donnellan.

Helene McNamara and Conrad Corry had even more comfortable wins to hold their positions as Vice-President and Secretary respectively. Denis Swift was elected unopposed as Treasurer.

Ciaran Crehan, Clare Murphy and Brad Green retain their places on the committee and are joined by Peter Hudson and Eileen Dunn.

No members of the so-called ‘Dire Straits’ team were successful in being elected into an executive posi-

FORMER NSW IRISH-BORN PREMIER

Martin Place statue of Cork born premier gets go-ahead MEG KANOFSKI

Group founder Sarah Whelan and (inset) some of the women at the first Sydney meet-up.

New support group aimed at expat women MEG KANOFSKI

IRISH women in Australia have found a new network of support through the work of one Dublin-born mother.

After a decade living in Australia, having made the move at 24, Sarah Whelan returned to Ireland for less than two years before deciding to journey back to Sydney, which she realised had become her home.

When the certified transitional life coach touched down she began to share her experiences of leaving and returning online, and expat Irish women flocked to her blog.

“People were really identifying with the things I was feeling,” Ms Whelan said.

“Women identified with the emotional impact … the guilt in leaving family behind.”

Ms Whelan was inspired to create Irish Women Abroad, an online

support network to meet growing demand for answers and advice.

More than 3,000 network members, the majority of whom are Irish-Australian, provide everything from a shoulder to lean on to suggestions regarding every challenging aspect of emigration, from leaving relatives to transporting pets.

It was not long before the community moved off the internet and into the real world.

A recent Sydney meet-up was opened by the Irish Consulate in Sydney’s Vice Consul Rory Conaty, with the Consulate’s funding helping Ms Whelan - whose work with the network is voluntary - to organise events.

The Sydney Irish mission has provided support to Irish Women Abroad since its team members discovered Ms Whelan’s blog.

Award-winning Irish poet Anne

tons or onto the committee.

Peter Donnellan told The Irish Echo last month of the positon of his Dire Straits team.

The Dire Straits team feel the club is being mismanaged, members have been treated with contempt and that there is a need for greater transparency within the club.

Mr Shanahan said the club lost money in moving premises but have taken steps to remedy it and that members are welcome to attend meetings where plans are discussed.

The club’s old headquarters at Queen Street were sold to Malaysian developers Beulah for $25.6 million in 2016 but the club held onto the option to return to the Queen Street site when it is refurbished in two to three years’ time.

Casey has recently joined the network after 25 years in Australia, saying she immediately saw the potential for members to bond over shared emigration experiences.

“It’s the empty chairs at birthday parties…it’s the call in the middle of the night when a family member has died,” she said. “You don’t have to explain anything.”

The next meet-up will be held in Melbourne in November, and with an event already planned for returning expats in Ireland, there could be opportunities for further international expansion.

Ms Whelan hopes the “safe spaces” she has created continue to help women find their feet wherever they decide to resettle.

“My vision is for people to feel connected in their experiences… there’s no right or wrong way to feel,” she said.

THOUSANDS of passers-by will soon have the chance to refresh their knowledge about the Irish namesake of Sydney’s Martin Place.

A life-sized bronze statue of the immigrant turned three-time NSW Premier Sir James Martin will be erected in the pedestrian mall after the City of Sydney art committee’s decision to decline the proposal was overturned.

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Planning Minister Rob Stokes intervened to encourage Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the committee not to throw out the project.

James Martin was born in 1820 in Midleton, Cork, where there have been have been similar demands for his recognition with local historian Ged Martin (no relation) calling for a plaque to honour the expatriate.

After sailing to Australia in 1821 Martin grew up in a cottage adjacent to Old Government House, where his father was employed as a stable boy, and despite the family’s poverty sacrifices were made to send him to

the prestigious Sydney College.

He would go on to become a journalist, editor, author and attorney before his political career took off, initially seeing him become the member for Cook and Westmoreland.

After two stints as attorney-general, Martin became premier for the first time in 1863. Despite his ministry losing power in 1864, Martin would have two more chances to hold the position, during which he pioneered the establishment of a branch of the Royal Mint in Sydney.

Raised by Catholic parents, Martin’s personal faith wavered over the years, yet he fought for a society based on Christian principles throughout his political life. He retained his parents’ family focus, having 15 children with wife Isabella.

The bronze statue will replace an existing plinth in Martin Place, while there is already a likeness of Martin in Parramatta recognising his formative years spent there.

Both artworks were completed by sculptor Alan Somerville, famed for the soldiers that stand proudly on the ANZAC bridge.

The existing statue of James Martin in Parramatta and (inset) the Midleton-born premier.

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IRISH AUSTRALIA

October, 2019 | 5

IRISH AUSTRALIAN BOY, 3, RECEIVES DONOR HEART

Donor heart joy for Glass family MEG KANOFSKI

A THREE-YEAR-OLD Irish Australian boy with rare medical conditions has been handed a new lease of life after receiving a donor heart.

David Hope Glass, whose father Liam Glass hails from Tyrone, underwent an eight-hour transplant operation, his sixth open heart surgery in his short life.

“We got the call in the early hours…I dropped to my knees,” Mr Glass said. “We’re feeling very excited but guilty for the family that’s lost their child.”

While the Glass family were not able to contact the family who provided the donation, they “bless them abundantly” for giving their child the greatest gift.

After months living at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, the Glass family had been allowed to move into a nearby apartment three weeks prior to the transplant, but with just one quarter of David’s own heart functioning his parents had been told to prepare for palliative care if he relapsed.

He is now recovering well on im-

Heart of Glass: David Hope Glass, right, after his heart transplant operation and, left, with his family, dad Liam, mum Cindy and daughter, Bella.

munosuppressants, which are preventing his body from attacking the foreign transplanted organ.

The young boy had never recuperated so rapidly from a surgery, his delighted dad said.

“He was always blue to look at, now we see pink lips…he’s like a new boy,” his father said.

Relatives in Tyrone not only prayed for an end to the turbulent times, but also organised local fundraisers which, at the Glass family’s request, will help not only David but other children facing medical emergencies.

“There’s no stopping these people,” Mr Glass said. “They’ve rallied around us.”

The family, who call Adelaide home, have been supported by friends and strangers alike in Australia and abroad since David’s birth, with recent assistance from Melbourne’s Irish Australian Support and Research Bureau.

Since his life-saving surgery, the three-year-old’s parents have been looking forward to the future, hoping to take their children to visit Liam Glass’ hometown in coming years.

“We’ve started to dream.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the Glass family meet the costs of David’s care and recovery.

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6 | October, 2019

MAN CAME TO AUSTRALIA AS A BABY, 50 YEARS AGO

Irish-born offender facing deportation MEG KANOFSKI

AUSTRALIA’S controversial migration rules have left another family in a legal limbo.

Dublin-born Michael Walsh (not his real name) is a stranger to Ireland, having migrated to Australia as a baby more than 50 years ago, but he now faces forced repatriation after his incarceration in 2016.

His partner Linda Hughes (not her real name) said she was “angry” one mistake could lead to a permanent resident’s deportation to a country they barely know.

“Sometimes people do things out of character, they’re not repeat offenders… I’m desperate for my partner to stay in Australia.”

Ms Hughes would not disclose her fiancé’s criminal record, however said he had served the minimum two and a half years of his sentence and that a forensic psychologist had assessed Mr Walsh, finding him to be no threat to society.

Section 501 of the Migrant Act allows the minister for home affairs to cancel the visas of immigrants who fail a strict character test due to criminal conduct or potential danger to

irishecho.com.au

IRISH AUSTRALIA

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton.

the Australian community.

Ms Hughes said her partner expected to be informed in February if he would be deported, but seven months later he has yet to receive such confirmation.

“We’ve heard nothing from immigration,” she said. “That’s what’s making us go crazy, it’s just a waiting game.”

Mr Walsh is Ms Hughes’ primary carer, as she lives with a number of chronic illnesses.

Immigrants were once protected

from deportation if they had held permanent resident status for 10 or more years, but section 501 now allows non-citizens to be deported after any period of time in Australia.

Mr Walsh considers himself Australian regardless of a lack of formal citizenship, with his whole family having found an adopted home here.

The NSW Council for Civil Liberties’ Stephen Blanks described deportation after a prison sentence as double punishment, with migrants unable to re-enter and reintegrate into society after serving their time.

“It’s Australia’s responsibility to ensure rehabilitation,” Mr Blanks said. He labelled the migration legislation “misconceived” and “arbitrary” due to its automatic application to any non-citizen who fails Australia’s character test, regardless of the diverse circumstances of each case.

The onus then falls on immigrants to convince the minister to reinstate their visa to avoid deportation. Ms Hughes agreed that individuals’ conditions should be examined before visas were revoked. “I think the decision should be case by case. Just because you’re born somewhere, doesn’t mean you belong there.”

POST BREXIT VISA DEAL

UK flags free travel with Australia as part of deal BRITISH passport holders may be able to live and work in Australia without a visa under a post-Brexit trade deal.

Under the proposed idea, Australians would be also entitled to the same rights in the UK. Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liz Truss met Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and her counterpart Simon Birmingham in the capital Canberra last week.

Asked about freedom of movement being part of future trade talks, Ms Truss said: “It’s certainly something we will be looking at as part of our free trade negotiations.”

Ms Truss added: “We want a fully comprehensive trade deal that reflects our deep, ongoing relationship, the friendship between our two countries, the fact that Australians want to come and live and work in Britain, and Brits want to come and live and work in Australia.

“Leaving the European Union really does give us a chance as a country to become more outward-looking, to become more competitive, and to deepen our links with our partners right across the world.”

Currently, British citizens require a visa to travel to Australia and while Britons can apply for holiday working visas, they must go through normal channels to emigrate longer-term.

British Trade Secretary Liz Truss.

Under the Trans-Tasman travel arrangement, there is a common travel area between Australia and New Zealand, meaning citizens from either country are free to travel, live and work in both.

However, Australian prime minister Scott Morrison appeared to dismiss the idea of expanding the scheme after a meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the G7 summit in France last month.

Mr Morrison said at the time: “The New Zealand arrangement is quite unique and it’s not one we would probably ever contemplate extending.”

A trade deal could be done in “months rather than years,” Ms Truss also said, and negotiations will begin “as soon as possible” after the UK leaves the EU.

SYDNEY ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

New arrangements for Irish festival Deposit

THE Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade will change direction and a different park will host the festival next year, the Irish Echo has learned.

While the celebration will again be hosted in The Rocks (pictured) area, the parade will now begin at Dawes Point Park, which hosted this year’s rain-soaked family concert.

The 2020 parade will travel south down George St. The post-parade festivities will take place at First Fleet Park and Tallawoladah Place adjacent to the Museum Of Contemporary Art. A spokesperson for the

Department of Planning, Industry and Environment told the Irish Echo the changes would “expand the parade” and create a “unique harbourside experience” for revellers.

“We are partnering with the organisers on some exciting new initiatives for next year’s St Patrick’s Day celebrations to enable the parade and festival to connect with a much larger audience.

“This includes an opportunity to expand the parade down George St, which is an iconic route and can accommodate high numbers of spectators. Dawes Point Park

will continue to play a key role in the celebrations as the parade assembly area and two of our premium harbourside venues in The Rocks, First Fleet Park and Tallawoladah Place, will host the festival.

“This will allow organisers to take advantage of the substantial foot traffic in Circular Quay and will create a unique, harbourside experience for festival patrons. We look forward to working with the St Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival organisers to ensure patrons, visitors and vendors have a great experience during the celebrations.”

irishecho.com.au

October, 2019 | 7

LOCAL NEWS

PROMOTERS WARN ONCERT-GOERS ABOUT BUYING U2 TICKETS FROM ONLINE SCALPERS

At a place called Viagogo? Don’t MEG KANOFSKI

U2 fans and scalpers alike have been quick to get their hands on tickets for the band’s Australian tour, set to kick off in November.

The first of two performances at the Sydney Cricket Ground has completely sold out, but with tickets selling for more than $3,000 on much-criticised site Viagogo, official vendors are reminding concert-goers they can still get to the gigs through legitimate avenues. Tickets are still available for all remaining shows around the country as we go to press.

Live Nation, Ticketek and Ticketmaster’s U2 prices range from just $60 for general admission to almost $500 for a VIP experience and the chance to win a backstage tour.

Artists and promoters have pushed for regulation of ticket reselling for years, with duped customers often left unable to enter concert venues after spending hundreds or thousands on invalid tickets.

For fans who do make it through the gates, the Joshua Tree Tour – which kicks off in Brisbane on Tuesday, November 12 – will celebrate the Irish band’s 1987 album of the same name and mark the four-piece’s first return to Australia since 2010.

The 1987 release was U2’s most successful album, featuring hits in-

cluding With or Without You, Where The Streets Have No Name and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The band embarked on the tour in 2017 for the album’s 30 year anniversary, playing the complete tracklist.

Announcing the Oceania leg of the world circuit, famously philanthropic lead-singer Bono said: “It’s only taken me 30 years to learn how to sing these songs and…I’ve finally caught up with the band. Our audience has given The Joshua Tree a whole new life.”

The Dublin four-piece has ensured all their many devotees can feel involved even in expansive stadiums, with a set featuring two stages and the largest LED stage screen ever used during a concert tour.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, made up of four former Oasis members, will play support.

U2 will also perform in Melbourne on November 15, Adelaide on November 19, Sydney on November 22 and 23 and in Perth on November 27.

They will finish the 2019 leg of their tour with a concert in Mumbai this December – the first time the band has ever played in India.

“We have been around the world with ‘The Joshua Tree,’ and we can’t think of a better place to celebrate the end of this tour,” The Edge said.

Tickets to all but one of U2’s Australian shows are still available through legitimate channels.

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8 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

IRELAND

VARADKAR NOT RULING OUT GRAND COALITION WITH FIANNA FÁIL

Election expected by May ties around St Patrick’s Day and the March European Council and have a new government in place well in advance of the next summer recess,” said Mr Varadkar.

“We should also, by then, have secured a Brexit deal or have guided the country through the worst of no deal.

I have always said that I believed that the next general election should take place in the summer of 2020,” the Taoiseach said.

Meanwhile, Mr Varadkar said this month’s Budget would not be an austerity Budget despite Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe stating it is being based on a no-deal Brexit.

He said there will be a package of financial supports in the event of a no-deal Brexit and an extra €900 million for public infrastructure will be spent on schools, primary care, housing, roads and job creation.

“We will honour the commitments we’ve made to restore and increase pay for hard-working public servants - teachers, defence forces, nurses and healthcare staff,” he said.

He went on to say the Green Party could become “the Trojan horse” that allows Fianna Fáil to return to government.

“They’ve done it before. We don’t want to go back to that,” he said.

Mr Varadkar also hit out at Sinn Féin for not taking their seats in Westminster when crucial decisions affecting Ireland were being made.

“They don’t see Brexit as a problem - they see it as an opportunity. Calling for a border poll isn’t showing leadership on Brexit.

“It’s really bad timing and risks making a bad situation worse.

“It’s the very opposite of leadership,” he said.

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he would not rule out a grand coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next election. Mr Varadkar said he would not help them form a government with smaller parties such as the Green Party and Labour.

Speaking on the final day of the Fine Gael party think-in in Co Cork, Mr Varadkar said: “I’m certainly not ruling out any future arrangement with Fianna Fáil be it confidence and supply or a coalition.”

He said he would not prop up a Fianna Fáil led minority Government unless Fianna Fáil win more seats than Fine Gael at the next general election, adding: “We would certainly not entertain a situation whereby we were the largest party in the Dáil and we were somehow asked to facilitate

the second, third and fourth and fifth party forming a government.

“It is my intention and plan and expectation that Fine Gael will win the next general election when it comes in May 2020. We will be the largest party and ideally we will form a coalition government with a majority.

“While confidence and supply has worked reasonably well for the past three years, a majority government would be better for the country and that is what I want to be in a position to do – win the most seats and form a majority government.”

Earlier, Mr Varadkar said he wants a general election in May 2020 to allow for an orderly discharge of the Government’s duties after Brexit.

“I think May 2020 is the right moment. It will allow to us to complete a full parliamentary session in the new year, discharge our Government du-

CHARITY

NEW DUBLIN FIREYS READY TO JOIN BRIGADE

AINE MCMAHON

Ireland is tops for generosity IRELAND had been dubbed the most generous country in the world, with more than €40 million donated to GoFundMe causes.

Almost one in 10 Irish people has used the internet’s “take action” button in thousands of online campaigns.

More than 20,000 GoFundMe campaigns have been created by people in Ireland, the site revealed.

Campaigns have been started for a range of causes from sports to education to medical. The milestone figure announcement comes as the site revealed 860,000 donations have been made to Irish GoFundMe campaigns amounting to over €40 million in donations.

The continuing growth in campaigns and donations via GoFundMe in Ireland means that Ireland remains the most generous country in the world, as more people per capita take action and donate through the website than any other country in the world.

Among the top five biggest Irish campaigns included Shauntelle Tynan from Co Carlow to receive life-saving cancer treatment in America. She appealed to the public for help and raised €750,000.

More than €1 million was raised to support Sean Cox, who was stabbed outside Anfield before the Champions League match against Roma.

A campaign for former Cork senior footballer Kieran O’Connor raised hundreds of thousands of euro to support him and his family with current living and future medical expenses to beat Ewing’s Sarcoma Cancer, a rare form of bone cancer.

Globally, more than €6 billion has been raised on GoFundMe since its launch. Rob Solomon, Chairman and CEO of GoFundMe, said: “Millions of people across Ireland are paving the way for a worldwide explosion in online giving”.

Where’s the fire?: After 13 weeks of training, 36 recruits participated in the passing-out parade for the Dublin Fire Brigade last month.

Picture: Brian Lawless

HOMELESS CRISIS

Acute need for more permanent homes CATE MCCURRY

AN IRISH charity helped a record number of more than 15,500 people over the last year in a further sign that Ireland’s homeless crisis is growing.

In its annual report, Focus Ireland said that the number of homeless people it supported jumped by seven per cent in 2018. The charity helped more than 1,600 homeless families last year and served a total of 44,276 hot meals.

Dublin Focus Ireland CEO Pat Dennigan said the crisis is the result of the breakdown in the private rental sector.

Reacting to their figures, he said: “We weren’t surprised by this. It’s

something that we see every day. The situation is getting worse.

“The people who are living in emergency accommodation and who are being impacted by the crisis are tending to stay longer in emergency accommodation. We are also seeing more families. Almost 4,000 children are homeless which is a very, very dangerous experience, because the impact on those children can be very much long-term,” he said.

Mr Dennigan said that the Government needs to put more emphasis on getting people out of emergency accommodation and into permanent homes. He said the response from Government to date is to provide

more family hubs and more emergency accommodation.

Former homeless man Brian Somers turned to drugs when he was sleeping on the streets some 10 years ago. The 47-year-old said the homeless crisis is spiralling out of control and that children have now become the new face of homelessness.

Focus Ireland helped him secure a home and allowed him to build the life he always wanted.

“With homelessness eventually you will end up in prison or in hospital or dead,” he said.

“But there is a way out of this, there’s a lot more support now than there was when I was homeless.”

CLOSE CALL

Irish embassy intervened to get NY Times journalist out of Egypt AOIFE MOORE

THE New York Times says it was forced to turn to Ireland when the Trump administration refused to come to the aid of one of their journalists in Egypt.

New York Times publisher AG Sulzberger revealed the incident during a speech at Brown University and in an op-ed piece.

Mr Sulzberger said two years ago the paper was warned by a US government official that Egypt planned to seize and arrest its Cairo bureau chief Declan Walsh.

Mr Walsh, an Irish citizen, who studied in both University College Dublin (UCD) and Dublin City University (DCU) has previously worked for the Sunday Business Post, The Guardian, and was Pakistan bureau chief for his current employer before moving to Egypt.

“This particular call took a surprising and distressing turn. We learned the official was passing along this warning without the knowledge or permission of the Trump administration,” Mr Sulzberger wrote.

“Rather than trying to stop the Egyptian government or assist the reporter, the official believed, the Trump administration intended to sit on the information and let the arrest be carried out. The official feared being punished for even alerting us to the danger.

“Unable to count on our own government to prevent the arrest or help free Declan if he were imprisoned, we turned to his native country, Ireland, for help,” he wrote.

“Within an hour, Irish diplomats travelled to his house and safely escorted him to the airport before Egyptian forces could detain him.”

Mr Walsh confirmed the story on his social media, adding that the warning came after a story he had written about the death of an Italian student in the Egyptian capital, and when he had called the US embassy, he was directed to speak to the Irish embassy instead.

“The Irish ambassador sent a diplomat to my apartment who arrived in an hour,” Mr Walsh said.

“The diplomat drove to Cairo airport where I took the first available flight to Europe. Weeks later, I returned to Egypt unhindered and resumed work. I owe a belated thanks an Irish diplomat who rushed to help in a tight spot. He was cool, swift and fearless. And to someone in Washington who took a risk to reach out.”

Mr Sulzberger used the incident to highlight the dangers of Mr Trump’s rhetoric on the press by adding: “In attacking American media, President Trump has ... effectively given foreign leaders permission to do the same with their countries’ journalists.”

irishecho.com.au

October, 2019 | 9

IRELAND

DOCO LINKS US MOBSTER TO 1984 GUN-RUNNING PLOT

Bulger helped IRA smuggle weapons REBECCA BLACK

NOTORIOUS Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger was involved in a shipment of arms for the IRA, a BBC investigation has claimed.

The allegation concerns the Marita Ann trawler which was intercepted off the Co Kerry coast by the Irish navy on September 29 1984.

It resulted in the seizure of seven tonnes of arms.

Bulger, one of the FBI’s most wanted criminals, was on the run for 16 years before he was caught in 2011. In 2013, he was convicted of 11 murders.

He was found dead in a US federal prison in West Virginia last year in what police believe was a homicide.

The latest episode of the new BBC Northern Ireland series Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History links Bulger to the IRA gun running operation. Those interviewed on the programme include New York-born former US marine John Crawley, who went on to join the IRA. He said that he was ordered to set up a new IRA arms network in the United States.

“I wasn’t given any advice on anything, you know, just get weapons. I was given a five dollar note that’s cut

Arms deal: James ‘Whitey’ Bulger was one of Boston’s most notorious mobsters.

in an erratic way, and I was to meet somebody in Boston who had the other half of this note,” he told the programme. The torn five dollar bill led to Patrick Nee, described in the programme as an IRA arms supplier and associate of Bulger.

In autumn 1984, the seven-tonne arsenal of weapons was delivered to Gloucester, north-east of Boston, for shipment to Ireland on board a fishing boat that the mob had bought and renamed the Valhalla.

“Total cost was in the $1.2 million over a two-year period, the boat being the most expensive, I think that cost $400,000 – fishing boats are expensive,” Mr Nee told the programme, adding that the money for the boat came from “local criminals who were persuaded to donate”.

The programme will allege that Bulger – who headed up Boston’s notorious Winter Hill Gang – was parked nearby and used a radio scanner to check police calls as the boat was loaded.

Mr Crawley said he was on board the Valhalla as it set sail from the US. However, the weapons did not reach Ireland after an informer tipped off Irish police, and after the weapons were transferred to the Marita Ann, the shipment was intercepted by the Irish navy off the coast of Kerry.

The Marita Ann initially refused to stop when challenged by the Irish naval cutter Emer, which fired four tracer bullets across the trawler’s bow, a New York Times report of the incident said.

Five men were arrested aboard the Marita Ann, including Martin Ferris, who went on to become a Sinn Féin TD for Kerry.

IMMIGRATION

More than 5,000 refused entry to Ireland last year, says report AINE MCMAHON

MORE than 5,000 people were refused entry at Irish ports, airports and the Northern Ireland Border in 2018, according to the Justice Department.

Minister Charlie Flanagan published Immigration in Ireland: Annual Review 2018, providing the key statistics on all aspects of immigration in Ireland last week. It reported 95 per cent of those who were refused at the port of entry, were returned to their point of origin.

The Immigration Act 2004 sets out 11 grounds on which a person can be refused permission to enter the State, including if an immigration officer believes they intend to work in Ireland but do not have an employment permit. They can also be refused if they have no passport or have a previous conviction for a serious offence.

Meanwhile, the number of people from EU and non-EU countries legally living in Ireland increased last year.

Some 140,533 visa applications were made in 2018, a 12 per cent increase, while 121,220 visas were granted.

Mr Flanagan said: “We continue to see strong growth in the numbers of people who want to visit our beautiful and welcoming country. Coming from a variety of countries across the world, they are contributing to the diversity of our nation and to our economic and cultural development.”

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

The number of non-EEA nationals living in Ireland also increased last year by 11 per cent to almost 143,000 people. Citizens from India, China and Russia are the top three nationalities outside of Europe to request visas to Ireland last year - followed by Pakistan, Nigeria, Turkey, Philippines, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

Most people with permission to remain in the State are working or studying, according to the Department of Justice. Much of increased demand is due to Ireland’s strong economic performance and the introduction of new flight destinations to and from Ireland, the report noted.

The top 10 nationalities of people becoming Irish citizens in 2018 were: Poland, Romania, United Kingdom, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Latvia, China and Brazil.

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10 | October, 2019

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October, 2019 | 11

IRELAND

US VICE PRESIDENT’S BROGUE IN MOUTH MOMENT SOURS VISIT TO IRELAND

Pence’s shamrock tour wilts over Brexit blarney AOIFE MOORE

US VICE President Mike Pence spent three days in Ireland last month, exploring his heritage and celebrating the Irish American connection.

But his parting comments about Brexit and Boris Johnson left his Hibernian hosts bemused and angry and prompted strong criticism and ridicule from commentators.

Mr Pence’s Irish heritage stems from his grandfather who emigrated from Tubbercurry in Co Sligo to the US in 1923 after fighting in the Civil War. His grandmother’s parents grew up near Doonbeg, in Co Clare and emigrated to the US in the 1880s.

During his visit to Farmleigh, the Irish state guest house in Phoenix Park in Dublin, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar showed the Pences archival documents related to the Pence family in Ireland. Among them was the National Army Recruitment Register, which contains the signature of the VP’s grandfather.

Mr Pence first visited Doonbeg in 1981 when he travelled to Ireland to reconnect with his roots, shortly after Richard Michael Cawley, his maternal grandfather and an Irish immigrant, died in December 1980.

The vice president also visited Doonbeg in 2013 with his family, where Hugh McNally, a distant cousin of the vice president, runs Morrissey’s pub.

Speaking at Farmleigh, Mr Pence said: “Our family cherishes our Irish heritage. I first came to Ireland the year my grandfather passed in 1981.

I saw the two-room house he grew up in. I spent weeks cutting turf in the peat bogs. I learned how to pour a proper pint working at Morrissey’s pub in Doonbeg.

RENTAL SQUEEZE

Grant fails to cover half of rental expense THE grant provided by the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) does not cover even half of the cost of accommodation in Ireland’s major cities, a committee has heard.

Ciara Fanning, president of the Irish Second-Level Students Union, (ISSU) told the Oireachtas Education Committee that some students have been forced to leave their part-time employment because of barriers they face in accessing the SUSI grants.

Almost 100,000 applications are received every year and almost 80,000 grants are awarded representing €350 million annually in grant support for students. Ms Fanning said that while the SUSI grant still serves its purpose as an accessibility tool to allow students to progress to third level, the amount payable to recipients has remained the same since 2012.

“This is not reflective of the cost of living now faced by students, particularly for housing in larger cities,” Ms Fanning said.

“During that month and a half that I was here, it was a formative experience in my life. I met people with broad smiles and strong opinions. “I came to realise that I carry Ireland with me wherever I go, just like more than 30 million Americans who trace their heritage to the Emerald Isle.

“And Irish Americans have enriched our nation since its earliest days. Irish Americans have made extraordinary contributions to the life of our nation, whether it be to the armed forces, to the arts, in business, in education, and in public life.”

Mr Varadkar said that his family’s connection to Ireland is “very real and very recent”. “ “It is an example of the ties of history, kinship and friendship which link our two countries. A relationship that transformed the Atlantic from being an ocean of tears into a gateway to hope and opportunity,” he said.

But the bonhomie was not so evident when Mr Pence appeared to chastise the Taoiseach over his, and Ireland’s, approach to Brexit.

“As the deadline for Brexit approaches, we urge Ireland and the European Union, as well, to negotiate in good faith with Prime Minister Johnson, and work to reach an agreement that respects the United Kingdom’s sovereignty and minimizes the disruption to commerce,” Mr Pence said.

“Let me be clear: the US supports the UK decision to leave the EU in Brexit.

But we also recognise the unique challenges on your northern border.

And ... we will continue to encourage the United Kingdom and Ireland to ensure that any Brexit respects the Good Friday agreement.”

Also see: The Hurler, Page 24

Mike Pence and wife Karen Pence meet Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett at Farmleigh House in Dublin during the US Vice President’s official visit to Ireland. Picture: Maxwell Photography/PA Wire

BOOST FUNDING OR STUDENT NUMBERS WILL BE CUT, UNIVERSITIES TELL GOVERNMENT

‘Most educated’ tag at risk CATE MCCURRY

THE head of the representative body for Ireland’s seven universities has said that funding issues facing third level institutions will get “considerably worse” unless there is a significant step-up in investment.

Jim Miley, director general of the Irish Universities Association (IUA), told the Oireachtas Committee for Budgetary Oversight that in spite of modest funding increases in the last two budgets, the state funding per student remains 43 per cent below where it was 10 years ago.

Mr Miley told the Budgetary Oversight Committee that the recent increases have been largely “mopped up” by rising student numbers.

“Given demographics, numbers attending third level will continue to increase over the next decade with 40,000 extra students to be catered for by 2030 as compared with 2015.

“There is now unanimous support for a comprehensive programme of

investment amongst employer leaders, unions and students with IBEC, ICTU, USI and Chambers of Commerce, all advocating significantly increased state investment.”

The call for increased funding coincided with the release of the latest Times Higher Education Rankings, the world’s benchmark survey for universities around the world.

Trinity College Dublin remains Ireland’s top university, according to the survey, but its position slipped dramatically by more than 40 places.

The latest Times study placed TCD at 164th place. Last year, the university was ranked 120th worldwide.

The IUA presented its pre-budget submission to the Oversight Committee last week. Making its case for investment in core and capital funding, the IUA highlighted the €9 billion that the universities contribute to the Irish economy each year.

The universities are seeking an investment package totalling €377 million in Budget 2020.

Mr Miley added: “The requirement for significantly increased investment is now urgent. As a society, we cannot stand over any deterioration in our third level system.

“It would erode our competitiveness at a time when we need to invest in our future talent to compete globally. Politicians of all hues must take responsibility for addressing this imperative,” he said.

Fianna Fáil’s Lisa Chambers asked Mr Miley on his view on how third level education should be funded and what solutions they are committed to. He said the only solution left on the table is to increase state funding.

“Failing that, the other option is that numbers are restricted,” he added. “So the places for students are restricted because if there isn’t money to pay for them, well then that is the only option - but that is an absolutely untenable option.

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we have one of the most educated populations in Europe, and ... we

would want to continue that.”

He also put it to the committee whether it is acceptable that children of a “very wealthy” parents continued to be subsidised by the state.

He continued: “There are schools in this country where as few as nine per cent of the Leaving Cert students access third level. The issue of access ... must be addressed.”

“People who can afford to pay a little bit more should perhaps be asked to do so. If we don’t do that, and the state doesn’t have the capacity to pick up the tab ... then the only other option is we continue to restrict access to those who otherwise can’t afford third level education.”

Fine Gael’s Maria Bailey said she disagreed with the idea. “[Many] of our non-fee paying schools are at capacity so a lot of parents don’t have a choice but to send their kids to private schools. That doesn’t automatically mean that they can then afford more to send their children to college.”

12 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

IRELAND

TAOISEACH COMMITS TO ENVIRONMENTAL GOALS

IRISH STUDENTS JOIN GLOBAL PROTEST

Ireland will be even greener, UN hears AOIFE MOORE

THE Taoiseach has told the United Nations that Ireland will raise its carbon tax to €80 per tonne and ensure that 70 per cent of its electricity will come from renewable energy.

Speaking at the UN’s Climate Action Summit 2019 in New York last week, Mr Varadkar said he had been inspired by the thousands of young people who took to the streets last month to protest for climate justice.

He added that he wanted Ireland to be known as a green country because of how it responds to the environmental challenges facing the planet.

“With our Climate Action Plan, we know what we are going to do,” he said. “Next year, we will underpin it through new climate action legislation, including carbon budgeting.

“We have already banned fracking.

We have a climate action fund paid for by a levy on oil. Our sovereign wealth fund has divested from fossil fuels. We will outlaw single-use plastics next. We have a carbon tax and have a cross-party agreement to increase it to €80 per tonne by 2030.

“From next year, all new revenue raised from carbon tax will be ring-

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

fenced to fund new climate action and just transition.

“Just transition to protect those most exposed to higher fuel and energy costs and for whom new jobs must be found.”

This is a change from the Government’s initial proposals for the carbon tax, in which it discussed returning the money generated to households in a dividend. However, Mr Varadkar also said that although the dividend

was “possible”, it would be difficult and expensive to undertake.

“We will take coal off our electricity grid by 2025. Our renewable electricity will rise from 30 per cent today to 70 per cent in 10 years,” he added.

“By 2030, we will have prohibited the sale of new petrol and diesel vehicles.

By then, we will have substantially electrified our fleet. All new public buses bought from now are hybrids.

“In the last week, on foot of a request from me, our independent Climate Change Advisory Council recommended that exploration for oil should end, as it is incompatible with a low carbon future.

“They recommended that exploration for natural gas should continue for now, as a transition fuel that we will need for decades to come while alternatives are developed and fully deployed,” he said.

“I believe we must replace a climate of fear and anxiety with a new climate of action and opportunity.”

Mr Varadkar’s trip to the climate conference was met with considerable criticism from his political rivals, many of whom say the Government’s plans do not go far enough to tackle the climate emergency.

Thousands of children and young people took to the streets across Ireland to demand climate justice. The international day of action saw hundreds of schools facilitate walk-outs as students missed lessons to march across Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Galway city centres, as well as local communities like Enniscorthy and Maynooth, demanding further action on tackling the climate emergency. Among the protestors in Dublin was Rory Rusnak, 14, from Sutton Park School (above).

Picture: Brian Lawless

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IRELAND :: FEAR IN FERMANAGH

October, 2019 | 13

FATHER-OF-SIX ABDUCTED, TORTURED AND BRUTALISED BY MASKED GANG

Brutal bashing shocks Ireland DAVID YOUNG

The Taoiseach has led a wave of condemnation following the sadistic bashing of a business executive in Fermanagh last week.

Leo Varadkar branded the abduction and beating of businessman Kevin Lunney as “cowardly and brutal” and said he was horrified by the attack on the Quinn Industrial Holdings (QIH) executive.

His comments came after Tánaiste Simon Coveney compared the kidnap and assault to the “gangland paramilitary-style punishment beatings of the past”.

The father of six was attacked as he arrived at his home in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh. Mr Lunney, a director at QIH, was driven away before being subjected to a brutal bashing

and torture at an unknown location.

“I am really horrified by that attack, I condemn it absolutely, it was a very cowardly act and brutal act too,” said Mr Varadkar. “We’re going to make sure that Garda resources are put behind this, that there’s co-operation between the Garda and the PSNI. What we really need here is arrests and convictions.”

Earlier, Mr Coveney told the Dail: “We cannot allow this type of brutal intimidation which is a reminder of the kind of gangland or paramilitary punishment beatings of the past.

I don’t say that lightly. There is an obligation on communities living in the area. There are many people who know who these people are and know who is behind the brutality, intimidation and total lawlessness in terms of what happened.

Kevin Lunney was abducted and tortured.

“They need to come forward ... if they have any information.”

Other directors of QIH have been the targets of several attacks and acts of intimidation in Co Cavan and Co Fermanagh in recent years.

Mr Coveney added: “This was a

FAMILY ENDURED ‘WEEK FROM HELL’

shocking incident that I think a lot of people across the country are talking about.

“A completely innocent person coming home from work and getting rammed by a car and then brutally pulled from his car by a masked gang of men and taken across the border in a way that will potentially induce life-changing injuries both mentally and physically, and then left in a ditch. This is not what people living in the border counties want or expect and they need to work with both An Garda Siochana and the PSNI to stamp it out and respond to what, quite frankly, could have been a man’s death.”

Mr Lunney’s leg was broken, some of his fingernails were removed and he was slashed with Stanley knives during the ordeal.

FORMER OWNER CONDEMNS ATTACK

Sean Quinn insists attacks should not be linked to him AINE MCMAHON

Large numbers of people joined a solidarity rally in Derrylin. (Inset) Liam McCaffrey, CEO of Quinn Holdings. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Community solidarity with stricken family AINE MCMAHON

The family of Kevin Lunney have spoken of their “week from hell” after he was abducted and kidnapped from his home and left badly injured on a roadside.

Staff at Quinn Industrial Holdings called for “an end to this reign of terror” following the “horrendous premeditated attack” on their colleague and called on those responsible to stop their campaign of intimidation.

The attack is the latest in a fiveyear campaign of violence and intimidation directed at the new management that has been running Quinn Industrial Holdings since the fall of Sean Quinn who was once Ireland’s richest man.

Around 800 workers at QIH and local people turned out for a solidarity walk in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, in support of Mr Lunney and his family. Staff gathered at the Quinn Quarry Office in Derrylin to march to Quinn Building Products’ head

office up the road. Two family members of Mr Lunney spoke of their anguish and shock at what had happened to the father-of-six.

Kevin Lunney’s sister-in-law Margaret Lunney said she was comforted by the number of people in the community who turned out in support of him.

“Words could not describe what has happened, we are all very upset.

He is the kindest, nicest fella you could ever meet. He is loyal to everybody and such a gentleman. He’s head of the family and the one who brings us altogether,” she said.

Mr Lunney is still receiving treatment for his injuries in hospital in Drogheda and had a procedure to have a metal pin placed in his leg after it was broken by his attackers.

“It is going to be a difficult road for him and him and his family,” she said. “We’re very upset. It has been a week from hell for the family.”

His other sister-in-law Geraldine Lunney expressed her shock at the

There have been over 70 reported incidents involving violence and intimidation against members of the Quinn board since 2011 yet no arrests have been made by gardaí.

In the last 12 months, there have been fire attacks on a car at the home of Chief Financial Officer Dara O’Reilly in Butlersbridge, Cavan, and one at Kevin Lunney’s tyre factory in Cavan.

The car of QIH’s senior manager Tony Lunney’s daughter was set alight outside the family’s home in Ballyconnell, Cavan on Halloween night. Tony Lunney is a brother of Kevin. Gardaí in the Cavan district have been carrying out detailed investigations into all three incidents and believe they are linked to a campaign of intimidation against members of QIH.

barbarity of the attack.

“How anyone could do something like that to someone - especially someone like Kevin. It is beyond belief. He is the kindest person you could ever meet.”

Amongst those in attendance was DUP leader Arlene Foster.

“Kevin is a Fermanagh man who is very much rooted in his community,” she said. “We do not want to see fear take a grip of this community.

That is why today is so important.”

Local business owner Padraig Donohoe said the community “are disgusted” by what had happened to Mr Lunney.

“This is taking us back to the bad times where there was military-style operations,” he said.

“That man was tortured and it is only by the grace of God that we are not attending a funeral today.

“Local people are awe stricken at what has happened to him. They can’t believe this has gone so far. It needs to stop.”

BUSINESSMAN Sean Quinn has said attacks being carried out on Quinn executives are not being carried out in his name and are damaging to him and his family.

Mr Quinn, who was once Ireland’s richest man, formerly owned the companies now known as Quinn Industrial Holdings. His empire collapsed in 2012 and he lost control of his portfolio of businesses. He was later employed as a consultant at his former companies but left that role in 2016 and later said he was forced out and his family had been “stabbed in the back”.

Kevin Lunney, who had worked with Mr Quinn for many years and remained loyal to him after he lost control of the empire, was reinstated as a director and Mr Quinn was employed as a consultant.

A sinister element in the community in the Fermanagh/Cavan border area continues to vent anger at the demise of Mr Quinn’s empire. Police suspect paramilitary involvement is a campaign of intimidation.

Last year, posters branding Mr Lunney and other QIH directors as “traitors” appeared in Derrylin where the company is based.

The Quinn family has consistently condemned and distanced itself from those attacking the new owners.

Mr Quinn, responding to the latest attack on Kevin Lunney, said: “As far as I am concerned, I have moved on and am involved in other things. We don’t want to be labelled with this.

This is the last thing we want.

“The people doing this are not doing this for the Quinns because they should know this is going to damage the Quinns. My view is that you wouldn’t do that to a dog. That is not natural and it doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Mr Quinn told Northern Sound radio station: “That man has a wife and kids, so of course I would condemn it totally. My reaction would be the same as anyone else’s. It would be a sense of outrage.

“It would appear to me to be a fairly barbaric attack. Of course any proper individual and anybody with any sense of any morals would of course condemn that.”

He said he has repeatedly condemned the attacks on Quinn executives and that he and his family have no involvement with them.

“My family have been on to me and they are outraged as well. They have said we’re going to take the flak for this and we are being blamed for this and that some people will look our direction at it,” he said.

“It is a pity people are coming back to me all the time and asking me to condemn this... with all of these incidents... of course I condemn them. I am disappointed that people are always coming back to me and asking me about this because, since I left there and was sacked from there, the current executives and directors have issued legal proceeding against former directors, managers, staff, neighbours and friends. There is an awful of conflict down there.

“It is not me. I haven’t been involved in those businesses for three and a half years. I’m condemning it totally and absolutely. There is no way around that. I am just saying it shouldn’t still be linked to me or up to Sean Quinn to condemn this.”

Mr Quinn said he has never been involved in violence in his life and all he could do is offer his condolences to Mr Lunney and his family.

“What do people want me to do?

Do they want me to hang by the cross and say I am responsible for a, b, c or d? I’m not. I had nothing got to do with it.”

14 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

IRELAND

IRISH FOOTBALLER PLEADS GUILTY TO STALKING EX-PARTNER

Former Celtic star convicted LAURA PATTERSON

IRISH footballer Anthony Stokes has been given an eight-month deferred sentence for stalking his ex-partner.

The former Celtic star has been ordered to stay away from her and her mother. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard the forward recognises his behaviour towards the pair was “horrendous”.

Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen nevertheless warned the former Ireland international player he was concerned about his attitude towards the “abusive” conduct.

For this reason, he also imposed four-year non-harassment orders, meaning Stokes must not contact the two women for four years, apart from when arranging contact with the twoyear-old son he shares with his ex.

Stokes, 31, who currently plays for Turkish side Adana Demirspor, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to stalking Eilidh Scott and her mother, May Scott, between July 2018 and February this year.

The court previously heard he sent 100 messages a day and also turned up at May Scott’s home in Shotts, Lanarkshire, late at night when Eilidh Scott was staying there.

Michael Gallen, lawyer for Stokes, told the court: “He recognises his behaviour, which he quite rightly describes as being horrendous, will have

impacted on both ladies in question.”

He said a social worker assessed the footballer as having a low risk of reoffending.

Morag McLintock, prosecuting, said: “The complainer is very much of the view that the relationship is at an end and that she does not wish a relationship with the accused.”

Sheriff MacFadyen said: “This was a prolonged period of abusive behaviour towards your ex-partner and, also for a period, her mother.

“It is quite unacceptable behaviour and I have to say I am concerned by your attitude towards the offence.

“I do think there is a suggestion of minimisation in your attitude towards the offence. I think some form of control is appropriate in this case.”

He deferred sentence until May 11, 2020 for Stokes to be of good behaviour and for further social work.

It is not the former Celtic player’s first brush with the law.

In 2017, he avoided jail for headbutting an Elvis impersonator in a Dublin nightclub.

The then Blackburn Rovers striker paid his victim €30,000 for breaking his nose and two of his teeth but is facing a second potentially expensive payout as he is being sued.

Former car park attendant Anthony Bradley, 53, was attacked by Stokes in the VIP section of what was then Buck Whaleys nightclub on Leeson

Street in Dublin on June 8 2013.

The court heard Stokes had been in Buck Whaleys with friends, one of whom was drunk and who twice spilled drink over Mr Bradley at about 3am. Mr Bradley, who had only arrived two hours earlier and only had one pint in the club, spoke to the friend in a “friendly manner” about the spillage.

Within three or four seconds, Stokes had intervened and headbutted him, the court was told.

Parts of statements from members of staff were also read to the court, including one which said Stokes was escorted from the premises without further incident and had told an employee: “If someone puts it up to me I’m going to nut him.”

A victim impact statement was read to the court during the hearing.

Mr Bradley was headbutted across the bridge of his nose and suffered a deviated septum and two front teeth were broken, in what was described as a “nasty, cowardly attack”.

He was off for eight months from his job as a car park attendant in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin following the incident and subsequently stopped working as he suffered physical and psychological effects.

Stokes left Ireland aged 15 to join the Arsenal youth academy and moved to Falkirk aged 17 before going on to Hibernian FC and then Celtic.

Anthony Stokes, pictured in 2017, has been ordered to stay away from his ex-partner Eilidh Scott, with whom he shares a two-year-old son.

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October, 2019 | 15

IRELAND

REFUGEE NUMBERS NOT ADDING UP

Ireland failing intake pledge AOIFE MOORE

IRELAND has accepted just over half of its target number of refugees in four years, according to research.

The Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) was established in September 2015 by the then minister for justice and equality, Frances Fitzgerald, in response to the European refugee crisis.

Ireland pledged to accept 4,000 refugees through EU resettlement and relocation programmes, prioritising families, children and unaccompanied minors.

By June this year, 2,519 people had been relocated or resettled.

Almost half of the refugees admitted were under 18 on arrival, and the majority of these - 85 per cent - were under 12. The report was

commissioned in November 2017 by the Children’s Rights Alliance, and Muireann Ní Raghallaigh, Karen Smith and Jennifer Scholtz of University College Dublin researched the needs of refugee children who had recently arrived in Ireland through the IRPP. The research, conducted through interviews with parents, children and other relevant stakeholders, resulted in a number of recommendations on how the state should be proactively working to improve the lives of refugee children. Language barriers in education and recreational activities as well as mental health issues and accommodation shortages have all been flagged as concerns for asylum seeker children.

“It is clear from the research that schools and educational services

Children’s rights advocate Tanya Ward.

need more support in assessing the academic abilities and needs of young refugees independent from language,” the report said.

“The study reveals that schools are trying their best despite not always having the resources they need. Extra supports to learn and

‘VERY POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT FOR IRELAND’

integrate are being provided and work well in some places but are not always available in others. One teacher reported sourcing materials for refugee children herself because school funds were not enough.”

The report also flagged “gaps in appropriate mental health services” and “a lack of qualified and experienced interpreters” that presented significant barriers to quality of life.

“Many refugee parents are also experiencing debilitating mental health problems but are not always getting the help they need,” the report added. “Child refugees may find it difficult to build a relationship of trust with mental health professionals or to seek help where they will have to relive the trauma of what they faced in their home country or what they experienced on their jour-

CHILD POVERTY

One in ten children ‘going to bed hungry’, charity says AOIFE MOORE

Phil Hogan will be the European Union’s next Trade Commissioner.

Former Fine Gael TD set for top EU role CATE MCCURRY

IRELAND’S EU commissioner Phil Hogan has been nominated as the European Union’s next trade negotiator. Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan was nominated by President-elect Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr Hogan will play a central role in overseeing the future trade talks with the UK after Brexit.

Mr Hogan, a former Fine Gael TD for Carlow-Kilkenny, said he was “very pleased” to be nominated.

“This is undoubtedly one of the most important economic portfolios in the College of Commissioners, and the appointment comes at a very important time for the European Union and for Ireland,” he said.

“International trade is the lifeline of the EU economy and its economic importance is illustrated by the fact that one in every seven jobs in

the EU is supported by the export of goods and services,” he said.

Mr Hogan said that as a result of the European Commission’s trade agenda, the EU has become the largest exporter of agri-food products in the world, with exports of €138 billion last year. He added that following several recent trade agreements, there was “enormous untapped potential” for job creation through those trade agreements.

“Given that every €1 billion of exports supports 14,000 jobs, the scale of the potential is clear for all to see,” he added.

“Ireland is a small, open, export-orientated economy, which has been a very significant beneficiary of EU trade policy and the growth of exports over many years.

“Today, it is estimated that that exports to countries outside the EU support around 650,000 jobs in Ire-

land, particularly in such sectors as agri-food, pharma, medical devices, med-tech and financial services.

“I am very much looking forward to starting in this exciting and challenging portfolio.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar congratulated Mr Hogan, describing his appointment as a “very positive development” for Ireland.

“Ireland sought a major economic brief in the new European Commission, and I am very satisfied that we have secured it,” Mr Varadkar said.

“Commissioner Hogan will of course work for Europe as a whole, but it is a definite advantage to have an Irish person in charge of this crucial brief over the next five years.

“Phil did an excellent job in the Agriculture ... brief. He is widely respected in Brussels and across the EU as a skilled negotiator and someone who builds alliances.”

ney to safety.”

Recommendations in the report include funding for schools to access interpreting support, consultations with refugee children and adults following resettlement on how resources can be utilised to meet their needs, and additional dedicated resources to child and youth organisations to help young people develop friendships in local communities.

Tanya Ward, chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, said more must be done.

“The state has begun to respond to the wider refugee crisis and important steps have been taken to support these families but there is much more we can do,” she said.

“We need to act now to close these gaps if we want to support and empower these children.”

THE Children’s Rights Alliance has called on the Government to tackle child poverty in the next budget.

The group published its Budget 2020 Recommendations last week, outlining six first steps the Government can take in this year’s upcoming budget to reduce child poverty.

It highlighted the long-term effects of living in consistent poverty on children, and said the Government should take action now to prevent more youngsters growing up in deprivation.

According to the group, which advocates for the rights of children across Ireland, more than 100,000 children are living in consistent poverty, with one in 10 children going to bed or school hungry.

A total of 3,778 children are currently homeless in Ireland, and one in 11 families experience food poverty.

One third of parents find themselves in debt sending their child back to school, and single-parent families are five times more likely to live in consistent poverty.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), childcare costs in Ireland are the highest within the OECD for lone parents.

The six recommendations are: - Free school books, with the Government providing free books to every child in primary school, at an estimated cost of €20 million; - Hot school meals, to enable schools and non-formal educational settings to provide a decent meal to every child at a cost of €114 million; - The Government to increase the income thresholds for families with children to qualify for a medical card at a cost of €126 million; - The introduction a €30 subsidy per child to cover the cost of a child

and an accompanying adult to attend one cultural or arts activity of their choice through the introduction of a ‘Culture Card’, at an estimated cost of €36 million; - To increase the number of hours available for children in school age childcare from 17 to 25, investing in childcare for families experiencing deprivation and social exclusion, costing around €138 million.

Chief executive of the Children’s Rights Alliance, Tanya Ward, stressed the importance of taking steps now to help families currently trapped in consistent poverty.

“The Budget is the last chance for this Government to do something to free families trapped in poverty.

“It should mark the beginning of what needs to be a long-term, concerted effort by our political leaders to end child poverty at the scale we have now. Spending your childhood in poverty means you miss out on the things most of us take for granted: a stable home, warm clothes, school trips, having friends over.

“These recommendations are proposed as first steps of what needs to be a larger, long-term plan, directed by a lead or a unit entirely focused on reducing these numbers. Without a long-term vision to free Ireland’s children from the grip of poverty, we will fail an entire generation.”

Suzanne Connolly, chief executive of Barnardos, stressed the importance of Irish children participating fully in education.

“The long-term vision needs to be one focused on making education truly free for the children in this country,” she said.

“The Government can use Budget 2020 to make a start by making school books free for every child in primary school. This can be done with €20 million, just 0.2 per cent of the Department’s budget.”

16 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

IRELAND : BREXIT

ANGLO-IRISH RELATIONSHIP

Brexit has injected tension back into relations: Blair AINE MCMAHON

BREXIT has injected tension back into the relationship between Britain and Ireland, Tony Blair has said.

The former British prime minister, who was one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, said the relationship between the two countries needs to be maintained after Brexit.

“In my view, the reason we managed to achieve the Good Friday Agreement and create the circumstances of peace in Northern Ireland was because the relationship between Britain and Ireland had improved so much. And because we’re both partners in Europe,” he told the first cross-party public hearing on Brexit in the European Parliament in Brussels.

“One of the things that I think is really tragic about the situation is the tension it has injected back into that relationship. So I think, as far as we’re concerned, we have got to make it clear to people that this relationship between the Republic and the UK has got to be maintained on a basis where there is consistent, friendly relations between two sovereign countries, and in a way that keeps that border open and therefore secures the basic objectives of the Good Friday Agreement.”

Mr Blair said if a second Brexit referendum was held in the UK, it should not be tied in with a general election.

“If there isn’t a deal - and I still think it’s going to be very hard for this Government, because it’s got such an extreme view on Brexit - then I think it’s going to be hard for them to get to an agreement with the European Union.

If it doesn’t, and we face... no deal, then in my view, it is really important that this goes back to the people in a form where the people can make up

their minds on Brexit as a particular issue, and it should not be mixed up with the general election, which will be on the range of issues to do with who runs the government of the UK.” Former Irish premier John Bruton said Boris Johnson’s “policy of progressive divergence from the EU must be called out”.

“The whole point of Brexit, according to the Prime Minister, is to divert from EU standards on environment, product and labour matters. Although it has been promoting Brexit for three years now, the UK Government has so far failed to identify which of these it wishes to diverge from,” he said.

Mr Bruton said if a no-deal Brexit takes place, checks on the Irish border will be needed.

“After the deliberate divergence has been done by the UK, far more border controls will be necessary. There will be no end point to the progressive divergence over time... there is no certainty as to the destination of UK proposed divergence.

“That is why the issue affecting the border and Ireland had to be settled up front before the final arrangements for the future were entered into. That is why there had to be a backstop in the withdrawal agreement, and not in any subsequent agreement.”

He said Mr Johnson “seems to want the EU legally to bind itself not to enforce its own rules and its own borders”.

“He seems to want some sort of no man’s land in the vicinity of the Irish border where no controls or checks would apply,” Mr Bruton said.

“This is an open invitation to criminal and subversive organisations who have financed themselves in the past by smuggling.”

Strained relations: Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar in Dublin last month. Picture: Niall Carson

We will be ‘your Athena’, Taoiseach tells Johnson LEO Varadkar has told the UK Prime Minister that protecting peace on the island is his top priority.

Speaking before his meeting with Boris Johnson in Dublin last month, the Taoiseach said he believed a no-deal Brexit is possible, and would cause severe disruption.

“The people of this island, North and South, need to know that their livelihoods, their security and their sense of identity will not be put at risk as a consequence of a hard Brexit,” he told Mr Johnson. “The stakes are high.

Avoiding the return of a hard border

on this island and protecting our place in the single market are the Irish Government’s priorities in all circumstances. We must protect peace on the island and the burgeoning success of the all-island economy.”

The Taoiseach, who has said he would be open to an extension to Brexit, added that more talks will be needed which the UK leaves the EU. Mr Varadkar said: “The story of Brexit will not end on October 31 or even January 31 - there is no such thing as a clean break. Rather, we just enter a new phase.

“We will have to get back to the negotiating table. When we do, the first and only items on the agenda will be citizens’ rights, the financial settlement and the Irish border.”

He went on to tell Mr Johnson that negotiating trade agreements is going to be a “Herculean” task for Britain.

“We want to be your friend and ally, your Athena, in doing so,” he said.

“The manner in which you leave will determine if that’s possible. But what we cannot do, and will not do, is replace a legal guarantee with a promise,” Mr Varadkar said.

NO-DEAL WILL IMPACT IRELAND NORTH AND SOUTH, SAYS VARADKAR

Hard border will be ‘UK’s fault’ AOIFE MOORE

IF there is a hard border on the island of Ireland post-Brexit it will be the fault of the UK, not the EU, the Irish premier has said.

Leo Varadkar, speaking in New York at the UN Climate Action Summit, responded to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s comments that border checks will be an inevitable consequence of a nodeal Brexit.

“It is the case that in the event of no-deal, checks will be necessary, and we’ve been saying that for months now,” Mr Varadkar said.

“Checks in ports, airports, at business level, near the border, and if that happens, it will happen as a consequence of the UK leaving without a deal. It won’t be a decision we made and certainly won’t be something we sign up to or agree to in any way.”

When asked how he will prepare Irish businesses, including farmers and agricultural enterprises, which

know a lot already, they know what’s going to happen with customs, declarations and tariffs rates that come along with a no-deal.

“In relation to any arrangements near the border, I understand businesses and farmers will want to know, but that’s not agreed yet, once we know we’ll inform people, we’ll give them time to prepare.”

When asked about reports that British diplomats had been briefing that Ireland would falter on their position on the backstop the closer negotiations came to October 31, the date set for the UK EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. to leave the EU, Mr Varadkar said he did not know if that was true.

“There is one thing I do know are set to be hit the hardest by a nodeal Brexit, Mr Varadkar says once about Brexit from the last two or arrangements have been decided, he three years, is that there are some people in Britain, perhaps not in govwill inform the country.

“I think businesses and farmers ernment, but some people who took

the view that France and Germany and the bigger countries would gang up on Ireland, and that’s never happened. There are also some people that believe at the last minute that Ireland will somehow fold or give up our position, and that’s not going to happen,” he said.

“The position that we’ve had all along is that we’re willing to examine alternative arrangements that achieve the same objectives as the backstop, that we agreed to.

“No hard border, North/South co-operation, protecting the all-island economy, and if the UK can come up with alternative arrangements that meet those objectives that are legally binding, we’re willing to accept that and examine those.

“So far anything they’ve come up with falls very far short of that, and we will work to that last moment to avoid no-deal but not at any cost.”

Meanwhile, a new armed police support unit will be moved closer to the border in preparation for Brexit,

Ireland’s top police officer has said.

“Overall we are ready, we’ve been, in effect, thinking about this for two years and building up resources in the border area during that time,” Commissioner Drew Harris said.

“We have a passing out parade in November and that will allow us to further supplement the border counties. We’ve built up resources around our armed support unit, at the moment we have about 30 more members trained and ready.

“We’re also looking towards the introduction of an armed support unit in Cavan to reduce response times in the border area, so there’s a lot more to come, but we’re very aware of the Brexit challenges.”

Mr Harris refused to be drawn into speculation about possible violence in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

“I’m not going to speculate on what border infrastructure is going to be, I’m responsible for providing a policing service to protect society,” he said.

irishecho.com.au

October, 2019 | 17

IRELAND :: BREXIT

MINISTER SAYS IRELAND IS PREPARED FOR ALL EVENTUALITIES

No extra Brexit Budget AOIFE MOORE

THE Irish Finance Minister has ruled out a supplementary budget in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Paschal Donohoe has already indicated Ireland’s 2020 budget, due on October 8, will reflect a hard Brexit scenario, but a new report from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) warned of the risk of recession posed by a no-deal exit and advised an additional budget may be needed to deal with the fallout.

Mr Donohoe said his department has already made preparations for such eventualities.

He added: “The report from ERSI published figures that are very similar to what I have published a number of times during the year and reflected in the Summer Economic Statement.

“If we do face a disorderly Brexit, it will present a challenge to our economy, a challenge that I’m confident that we will be able to respond back to in those type of circumstances.

“Deal or no deal, I will not be doing

another budget. On October 8 I will outline the overall budgetary framework and any response I need to put in place will be inside that.

“The Taoiseach and I are absolutely aligned on what our priorities are, and the Taoiseach ruled out the prospect of any supplementary budget.

“Any changes we are going to make, if we make changes, are going to be minimal and affordable, we can’t put out changes on October 8 that we can’t afford in March.”

As Westminster remains in disarray over Brexit, many have speculated the UK will be forced to delay leaving the EU. Mr Donohoe refused to be drawn on the issue, saying: “I would be very wary about making predictions about what is going to happen across the coming weeks and months.

“The Prime Minister is making it very clear that he is going to leave the EU in any circumstance that he can see on October 31.

“From our point of view, what that means is the potential for no-deal is either happening in the planning pe-

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.

riod for budget 2020, or across the period in which budget 2020 will be implemented.

“So maybe we could be looking at a timing shift in the uncertainty taking place, but then that uncertainty moves into the period that Budget 2020 is planning for.”

Speaking in his north Dublin con-

stituency at a North East Inner City Programme event which seeks to rejuvenate the area, previously plagued with drug and gang violence, Mr Donohoe also sought to reassure the public as the potential of recession has been pushed to the forefront of political debate.

He said: “Absolutely I understand the return of the recession word into commentary under way here, I understand the concern that can cause and I feel it first-hand, the concern people do have over what no-deal Brexit could create.

“What I would say to those citizens is, if you look at our economy now, we have 2.3 million people at work, in the absence of the private credit bubble that nearly destroyed our country a decade ago, we have national finances, that of course always have vulnerabilities in them, in a position of strength,” the minister said.

“In Budget 2020 I will outline what I and this Government will do if we find ourselves having to deal with the vista of no-deal Brexit.”

MANY MOTORISTS MUST ACT AHEAD OF DEADLINE

Thousands of drivers may be on the road ‘illegally’ after Brexit CATE MCCURRY

TENS of thousands of people living in the Republic of Ireland who use a UK driving licence could be driving illegally in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the Irish government has warned.

Some 40,000 people who live and work in the Republic and drive with a UK licence have been urged to change to an Irish licence before the end of October. Ireland’s European Minister Helen McEntee said that while a significant number have already exchanged to an Irish licence, there could be thousands of illegal drivers on Irish roads if the UK crashes out of the EU. Speaking at the National Driver Licence Service in Santry, Ms McEntee said: “We would encourage people to change over. It’s a process that takes no longer than five to 10 days. It’s €55.

“If the UK were to become a third country they will no longer be recognised under EU legislation.”

Drivers who do not exchange their UK licence before October 31 will be forced to take driving lessons and resit their theory and driving tests to get an Irish licence.

Moyagh Murdock, chief executive officer at the Road Safety Authority, said: “This will not affect people that are (in Ireland) as a tourist or as a visitor, you will still be able to travel on a UK licence. There are many people who are still driving on a licence they may have acquired from Northern Ireland or in the UK over the years.

“We want to advise them that after October 31, in the event of a no-deal, it will not be recognised as a valid EU driving licence.

“Just like other third countries, you will have to go through a very different process and you may find that in-

IN BRIEF

FOSTER CALLS FOR ‘SENSIBLE’ BREXIT THE leader of the Democratic Unionist Party has called for the result of the Brexit referendum to be respected, adding that the UK should leave the EU sensibly. Arlene Foster told members of the business community in north Belfast that the fundamental issues of the Withdrawal Agreement “have not changed”.

“The Prime Minister wants to secure a deal before the UK leaves the European Union,” she added. “We will give every assistance in trying to secure a deal. That has always been our position.”

FERRY WILL BECOME ‘BOOZE-CRUISE’ A PASSENGER ferry which crosses the Irish border every day will become a “booze cruise” in the event of a nodeal Brexit, a committee has heard.

Fianna Fáil’s Declan Breathnach claimed that differentials in VAT and taxes on commodities will drive people to buy cheaper alcohol across the border. Mr Breathnach told Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe that there was a need for “some form of fiscal alignment”. His comments come after Mr Donohoe last week said that duty free shopping for people travelling from Ireland to the UK would return if the UK crashed out of the EU without a deal. Mr Breathnach said that people living along the border will certainly welcome the opportunity to go on the “booze cruises”.

“The Carlingford Lough Ferry is going to become a booze cruise in relation to the differentials in VAT and taxes in relation to the commodities that will ultimately drive people not just to buy those items, but also their weekly shopping,” he said.

NO DISRUPTION TO FLIGHTS ENVISAGED

Chief executive of the Road Safety Authority Moyagh Murdock (right) and Minister of State for European Affairs Helen McEntee reminding UK license holders to change their license before a no deal Brexit. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

convenient. It could pose problems in terms of insurance and other matters.

“We have about 250 people a day applying to change from UK and Northern Ireland licences in the event of a hard deal.”

Ms Murdock said that there are plans in place to increase capacity and staff numbers to deal with the expected influx of applications over the coming weeks.

Some 32,000 UK licences have been

exchanged this year compared to 6,000 in 2018.

Ms Murdock added that gardai will enforce the matter “as they see fit”.

She continued: “Some people are maybe, through human nature, leaving it to the last minute to come forward and we really urge those people don’t get caught and don’t be stuck without a licence.

“The bigger concern is the fact that if you’re involved in a collision,

that opens up a lot of questions with your specific insurance company and people need to ascertain from those insurance companies where they stand if they’re driving post the 31st of October with a non-EU licence and yet they are resident in this country.

“I think the awareness campaign here is to get people to take responsibility. “It is not down to the government to advise people how to drive legally after Brexit.”

FLIGHTS will continue as normal at Dublin and Cork Airports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, according to an airport director.

Niall MacCarthy, the Dublin Airport Executive Brexit lead and Cork Airport managing director addressed an Irish Parliament Select Committee last week, outlining contigency plans for a crash Brexit on Ireland’s airports.

“I would like to reassure the Committee that we expect flights will continue to operate as normal at Dublin and Cork Airports in the event of a no-deal Brexit,” Mr MacCarthy said. “If the UK leaves the EU without a deal, emergency regulation will come into force at EU level to protect air connectivity for passengers and freight between the EU and the UK.” This EU regulation will take effect immediately in the event that the UK exits the EU without a deal on October 31 and will apply until October 2020. The British government has also confirmed that it will mirror the provisions set out, in respect of the rights of EU air carriers within the UK. Similarly, neither UK or Irish passports holders will encounter any significant security or administration changes.

18 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

IRELAND

FATHER DEPORTED FROM DUBLIN AIRPORT ATTEMPTING TO VISIT CHILDREN IN OMAGH

Family ‘absolutely heartbroken’ as dad is refused entry A FATHER of three was arrested and deported from Dublin while attempting to visit his children in Tyrone.

Ryan Volrath, an American citizen who currently lives in Wisconsin, met and married his Northern Irish wife 10 years ago and she gave birth to two of their children in America.

His wife has since returned to her home town of Omagh and given birth to their third child, however Mr Volrath has remained in the US as he does not currently meet the financial threshold needed to apply for residency in the UK. Mr Volrath had planned a trip for 10 days to see his children last month when he was detained in Dublin Airport when asked by immigration officials about the purpose of his visit.

Despite Mr Volrath having a return flight booked and having stated his intention to return home, he was arrested by gardai and taken to Clontarf Garda station in Dublin where he spent the night before being deported early the next morning.

“I only wanted to visit my family for 10 days, then return to the US where I am employed,” Mr Volrath said.

“It was a surprise for my three children on my birthday and I was whisked away without the chance to see them.”

His wife Kylie Volrath said the family are devastated not to have their father home to visit.

“It’s overwhelming, I’m feeling a bunch of emotions at once,” she said.

“While all this is going on, I still have to tend to kids and deal with and figure it out all by myself. It’s a challenge but one we are prepared to fight.

“The boys have no idea any of this is happening. We got to see each other

briefly before they took him back to the airport, which was good, but Ryan is absolutely heartbroken.”

Detailed submissions have been lodged on behalf of Mr Volrath seeking to challenge the validity of Mr Volrath’s detention.

Solicitors representing Mr Volrath said they believe that the so-called “hostile environment” immigration stance being implemented by the UK and current Brexit tensions are the reasons for the deportation.

“It is hard to depart from the theory that such unwarranted and unreasonable removals are closely tied with the UK’s pending exit from the European Union, with the Irish authorities now operating a much more rigid and aggressive regime regarding entry to the North of Ireland, via Dublin Airport,” solicitor Sinead Marmion said.

“The UK’s pervasive hostile environment policy is being mirrored in the Irish state. This case, if left unchallenged, would set a very dangerous precedent. In light of the reasons we have been provided to date, we remain of the view that the decision to remove Mr Volrath ... was unlawful.

“It is still very much our position that the Irish state’s actions have infringed our client’s human rights and we have firm instructions to initiate proceedings against the Irish state for his removal.”

A spokesman from the Department of Justice said: “The Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service does not comment on individual cases.

“Under the Immigration Act 2004, the question of entry for any individual, visa or non-visa required, is determined by the immigration officer at the time of the individual seeking leave to enter the state.”

SEAN COX

IRISH PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASSES AMONG LARGEST AND WORST FUNDED IN EUROPE

AOIFE MOORE

Football attack victim moves to UK for rehab SEAN Cox, the Irishman who suffered severe injuries in an unprovoked attack in Liverpool last April, will begin rehabilitation in England.

Mr Cox, a 54-year-old father of three from Dunboyne, Co Meath was injured before the 2018 Champions League semi-final at Anfield.

Three men are currently serving separate jail sentences for the attack.

His wife Martina Cox said: “Sean has made progress over the past 18 months but it is extremely slow. He finds it very difficult to express himself verbally and, while it seems he can hear and understand more, his speech remains very challenged. It is unlikely that he ever will walk again which is difficult to accept for someone as active as Sean used to be.”

“Being able to bring Sean to England for rehabilitation ... is all privately funded and has been made possible by the generosity of so many ... who took Sean into their hearts,” she said.

Kylie Volrath’s three children (left) who currently live with their mother in Omagh, Co Tyrone. Their father, Ryan (above), who lives in Wisconsin, USA, was arrested and deported from Dublin Airport while attempting to visit his children. Picture: Family Handout/ Kylie Volrath

Schools top ‘shame’ league The average class size for an Irish primary school is 25, compared to an EU avearge of 20.

AOIFE MOORE

IRISH primary school classes are among the largest and worst funded in Europe, a report has found.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report found that the average class size in Irish primary schools is 25, compared with an EU average of 20.

Ireland is also bottom of the table when it comes to investment and funding, which has dropped significantly between 2010 and 2016.

Funding at primary level is also significantly lower than that of second and third level.

For every €10 spent at primary level, almost €12 is spent at second level and almost €16 at third level. The report finds that Irish primary school teachers are among the hardest working in Europe, with an average of 905 hours per year, compared with 726 hours at second level and an EU average of 754 hours.

Irish National Teachers’ Organisa-

tion general secretary John Boyle said the report confirms his own view.

“We are topping the league of shame when it comes to class size and funding at primary level,” he

said. “Many teachers have become fundraisers, raising funds to cover basic school costs.

“The workload burden of principals and teachers in our primary schools is huge.

“It’s time for a funding boost, a reduction in class size and for Government to deliver a minimum of one leadership and management day per week for teaching principals.”

The Education at a Glance 2019 report comes after a separate study which said one in four children with disabilities in Ireland is being effectively “suspended” by short school days.

The average short school day lasted only two to three hours, with many pupils attending for less than an hour.

The report from Inclusion Ireland and Technological University Dublin detailed the “widespread, hidden and often illegal suspension” of children with disabilities by placing them on shorter school days – resulting in missed classes and opportunities to socialise with other children.

A spokesman for the Department of Education said it was important to note the figures relate to 2016.

“Annual investment in education is €1.7 billion higher in 2019 than it was in 2016,” he said. “The Department of Education budget in 2019 is €10.8 billion compared to a budget of €9.1 billion three years ago.

“It should also be noted that using GDP, as the OECD report does, gives a distorted view of Ireland’s relative position internationally, given the globalisation effects that disproportionately impact the measurement of the size of the Irish economy.”

irishecho.com.au

October, 2019 | 19

IRELAND

GALWAY WEST TD SINGLES OUT AFRICANS IN ASYLUM SEEKER STAND-OFF

TD sparks racism row AINE MCMAHON AND CATE MCCURRY

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has called for an Independent TD to withdraw remarks he allegedly made about African migrants.

Claims that Galway West TD Noel Grealish made controversial comments about asylum seekers emerged earlier this week.

In audio from the public meeting, Mr Grealish can be heard telling hundreds of people that African migrants arriving into Ireland were “economic migrants” who “sponge” off the system. He was addressing the crowd who gathered in Oughterard, Co Galway in relation to proposed plans to locate a direct provision centre in a nearby disused hotel. Direct provision is the system under which asylum-seekers are accommodated by the Irish state. People seeking asylum are not allowed to work.

Mr Varadkar said: “I haven’t heard those comments, I haven’t heard the

audio myself but if what’s said is true I think he needs to withdraw those remarks and issue a statement to clarify what he said.”

“We don’t have a formal arrangement with Noel Grealish in the Dáil.

He is an independent [who] very often votes with the Government, sometimes doesn’t.”

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan urged people in rural Ireland not to be “exploited” by “anti-immigrant” groups trying to “whip up” race hate in the aftermath of the Oughterard direct provision stand-off.

In an op-ed piece for the Irish Examiner, Mr Flanagan said that while some direct provision concerns are legitimate, an “insidious and dangerous” trend, in line with international anti-immigrant campaigns, is increasingly apparent, which “I want to call out”.

In his most detailed remarks on the Oughterard stand-off and on racist comments by Independent TD Noel Grealish, Mr Flanagan accepted Ireland is in “a most difficult situa-

RENTAL CRISIS

Dodgy landlords seeking ‘sex for rent’, TD claims

Galway West TD Noel Grealish

tion” in terms of its asylum-seeker responsibilities. However, criticising the “rumours” about direct provision centres, he urged rural communities not to be exploited by groups pushing unfounded allegations.

“There has been much debate about direct provision in recent weeks,” said Mr Flanagan. “There has been debate, too, about the location of centres and how local people should be interacted with and consulted. I welcome that debate.

However, I would appeal for it to be thoughtful, respectful, and factual.

But there is a... group which I don’t understand and I do not think any of us should tolerate.

“That is the group made up of those who would exploit the genuine concerns above to whip up anti-immigrant, anti-asylum seeker sentiment. This is insidious and dangerous behaviour,” he said.

The justice minister said that Ireland has gained an “invaluable” reputation worldwide for our own emigration history, while also being an “hospitable people” to newcomers.

While acknowledging that there are issues with the direct provision system, he hit out at the “myths” about what new centres involved, and argued, in a staunch defence of the much-criticised system, that “no one is incarcerated in direct provision”.

Mr Flanagan’s comments came after a protest on September 14, involving 1,500 people, against a potential direct provision centre in the former Connemara Gateway Hotel.

EUROPEAN CITY OF CULTURE 2020

SAMUEL BECKETT’S WORK REIMAGINED ONE of Samuel Beckett’s key works is now available in augmented reality following a creative experiment at Trinity College. Augmented Play has reimagined the playwright’s pioneering theatrical text from 1963, Play, in a modern digital format.

Guests put on a headset, embody an interrogator and confront Beckett’s characters in augmented reality.

They activate characters into speaking simply by looking at them.

Assistant professor in drama studies at Trinity College Dublin, Nicholas Johnson, said: “We honour his radically experimental legacy by continuing to research his works through contemporary creative technologies, and to explore what his ideas might mean in 21st century digital culture.”

STORM NAMES FOR 2019/20 REVEALED ATIYAH will be the first storm to blow in across Britain and Ireland this winter, according to the new list of names for this year’s strongest weather systems. Also on the list of storm names for 2019-20 announced by the Met Office and Met Eireann are Ciara, Francis, Gerda, Maura, Noah, Piet, Samir, Willow and Olivia. Other Irish names on the list are Brendan, Liam, Maura, Roisin and Tara.

ORDER TO SETTLE €6.8 REDRESS BILL

AINE MCMAHON

PEOPLE in receipt of Housing Assistance Payment are being propositioned by landlords for sex instead of rent, the Housing Committee heard.

Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger told the Dáil that a young woman living in Rathmines was propositioned by her landlord who told her she could stay without paying rent “if we agree something”.

“So insane has the housing crisis become... and so much power you’ve left in the hands of landlords, that sex for rent is becoming a reality for many tenants,” said Ms Coppinger.

Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy said the alleged exchange “sounds disgusting and a horrible thing for someone to have to go through”.

Solidarity-People Before Profit TD Mick Barry said a number of people in receipt of Housing Assistance Payment had come forward to say some landlords are raising the idea of sexual favours when they go to view houses.

“It seems to be the case that some landlords interviewing people for HAP tenancies are raising the idea of sexual favours from the tenant,” said Mr Barry. “I met this woman with Deputy Coppinger recently. She was a working woman. The idea of having a place of her own was a real difficulty because of the high cost of rent. She had been sharing accommodation with a friend. The friend decided to leave the accommodation and the woman in question was facing the threat of homelessness. The landlord found himself in a position of power with this young woman,” he said.

IN BRIEF

CHRISTIAN Brothers is to pay its outstanding debt of 6.8 million euro to a redress organisation by the end of the year, it has been confirmed.

The Catholic order confirmed to the department that it will complete the pledge through a series of monthly cash transfers between September and December of this year.

The total to be transferred will amount to €6.8 million.

People Before Profit TD Ruth Coppinger.

Mr Barry said the landlord sent the alleged texts a few days before she had to leave the house.

“There were three offers made to this woman by the man she estimates to be in his mid 60s. One of them was ‘solve your problem by coming to live with me’. One offer was ‘come to dinner with me and see what happens’, which would be half rent on the property. The other one was that maybe if things went the right way, there could be free.. no charge for the rent,” he said.

Mr Barry pointed to the UK, where there are 250,000 estimated cases of sex for rent, and said there could potentially be numerous cases in Ireland.

“This could be a Me Too moment for the housing crisis,” he added.

In response, Mr Murphy said his department has brought forward emergency support for vulnerable people in times of crisis.

“HAP is working successfully for tens of thousands of people. If HAP was not in place more people would be vulnerable due to the housing shortage,” he said.

THE reporting of cervical check results has been reduced to six weeks, down from six months, the Health Service Executive (HSE) said.

Interim National Director of the National Screening Service Damien McCallion said the backlog of more than 81,000 slides has been reduced, with the number of slides in the screening process down to 23,000.

The backlog developed after free repeat screening was offered to women by the Government following the CervicalCheck crisis last year.

Mr McCallion told a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health that the HSE had increased testing capacity by consulting existing providers and private and public services in other countries.

“The turnaround times for reporting of results were at one point taking up to six months and these have now reduced to ... six weeks,” he said. “We hope to sustain the turnaround times at this level going forward.”

SMEAR TEST WAITING TIMES REDUCED

Galway has launched its year as European Capital of Culture. There were celebrations and live performances in Galway during August as the city celebrated the launch of its Capital of Culture programme. The county will be ablaze in a week-long festival of fire to launch the programme in February, as flames move through six towns and villages in an ancient pagan Celtic tradition, ahead of an opening ceremony in the city. Highlights of the 12-month project, which cost €39.7 million, include a talk by The Handmaid’s Tale author Margaret Atwood (above), and an art installation called Borderline, involving communities in the county working with those from across the border in Derry. The Connemara mountains will be lit up in green for St Patrick’s Day in March in a commission entitled Savage Beauty by Finnish artist Kari Kola.

20 | October, 2019

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TIME OUT

Cr ssCountry Mal Rogers scans Ireland’s regional media for what’s making news in your county.

the 22 parishes of the diocese would be served by five or six priests.

A spot survey of all Masses over three consecutive weekends indicated that attendance overall was just 29 per cent. A steering committee looked at how to explore issues within the diocese.

According to Fr Brendan Hoban, a member of the Association of Catholic Priests, Bishop Fleming gave a commitment that whatever suggestions emerged that were within the diocese’s capacity to pursue would be incorporated into diocesan policy.

He said that whatever suggestions emerged that were not within the diocese’s capacity would be forwarded to the Irish Episcopal Conference and to the Apostolic Nuncio who would be asked to forward them to the relevant authorities in Rome.

LIMERICK

Burglary rate above national average

President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina at the National Ploughing Championships in Carlow, Ireland. Photo: Niall Carson

BORDER AREA

Helen Mirren speaks out on border issues ACTRESS Dame Helen Mirren has said it would be a “tragedy” if a hard border were reintroduced in Ireland because of Brexit.

The Irish Sun reports that multi-award winning actress, who has filmed three movies in Ireland - Excalibur, Cal and Some Mother’s Son - said she doesn’t want to see Northern Ireland go back to the bad old days post-Brexit.

She told the Irish Sun: “I was in Belfast at the time of the Troubles and it was a very different Belfast to how it is now.

“I was so excited to see things like Game Of Thrones being shot there and to see that beautiful, beautiful part of the country really beginning to flourish.

“It was very exciting for me, especially having seen it in its darkest days.”

“All I can say is that I hope the North of Ireland continues to flourish.

I hope that films will continue to be made there.”

BELFAST

Referee target of homophobic abuse AN Irish League referee feels he has been “massively let down” by the Irish Football Association after claiming he was the target of homophobic abuse while officiating in a friendly match earlier this year.

The PSNI confirmed to Sunday Life Sport it has launched an investigation into the incident and

is treating it as a “hate crime”. But the referee has been left fuming that the Irish FA disciplinary committee initially dismissed his case when it was brought to their attention. The alleged homophobic slur took place during a pre-season friendly game in July when one participating player approached the referee and allegedly directed a comment towards him.

Sunday Life Sport has learned that at the hearing, the player in question was represented by a barrister and also accompanied by his manager and club secretary.

He refused to comment on the case under instruction and the IFA’s disciplinary committee dismissed it on the grounds that “the evidence did not meet the threshold for action”.

The official has been left upset by the decision but insists he will not let it prevent him officiating at games in the future.

The club involved apologised to the referee at the time and Sunday Life Sport understands the player tried to reach out to the referee to apologise but was unable to get contact details.

MONAGHAN

Search for one of ‘Disappeared’ yields no results A renewed search for the remains of Columba McVeigh, abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1975, was called off after no trace of his body was found during a search at a bog in Co. Monaghan, reports the Belfast Telegraph.

Columba is one of three of the Disappeared victims of the Troubles whose bodies have still to be found.

He was just 17 at the time of the abduction.

The search for his remains was conducted by the Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR).

ICLVR senior investigator Jon Hill said it was a bitter blow for the McVeigh family. “It is a huge disappointment but we did absolutely everything we could in often difficult circumstances,” he explained.

He said the terrain and the weather combined to make the search a “very challenging” piece of work.

“We covered the ground that had been identified to us and revisited areas that had been searched at the very beginning of the process nearly 20 years ago but to no avail.

“If Columba had been here, we would have found him,” the investigator added.

Columba’s sister Dympna McVeigh spoke of the family’s anguish that his body had not been found.

“All we want is for him to be brought home to be buried alongside his mother and father so that he and they can rest in peace.. . . . Someone knows where he is.

MAYO

Bishop supports ‘special process’ for women priests

A bishop has given his support for a specially devised delegation process for the ordination of women priests, reports The Irish Examiner.

Killala diocese, made up of 22 mainly rural parishes in Mayo and west Sligo, undertook the process with the blessing of Bishop John Fleming as part of its efforts to arrest the decline of the church in the area after an analysis of priest numbers indicated that, by 2037,

MORE than 11,000 burglaries have been reported in Limerick over the past decade, new figures have revealed. According to an analysis

by PhoneWatch, there were 11,379 break-ins across the Limerick garda division between January 2009 and December 2018.

This is equivalent to one in every seven homes or businesses in Limerick being broken into – slightly above the national burglary rate, reports The Limerick Leader.

“While we’re seeing a welcome reduction in burglaries in recent years, the reality is that burglary still remains all too common in Ireland,” said Eoin Dunne, managing director of Phonewatch. The analysis of the figures also confirms the trend of more and more burglaries taking place over the winter months.

“Over the past decade, the research shows that when the clocks go back, until they go forward again, burglary rates have been 31 per cent higher,” states the report.

In most recent years, there has been a significant rise in burglaries in January and February, with burglaries almost doubling over the past decade (+92 per cent).

WICKLOW

Wicklow pong investigated THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ordered Irish Water to investigate thoroughly why there is an increase in complaints over odours coming from the Wicklow Town Wastewater Treatment Works.

The Wicklow People reports that EPA inspector visited both sites on two occasions.

Following both inspections, the EPA ordered Irish Water to assess the suitability of the existing foul odour abatement systems to determine if they are adequate to prevent odour nuisance in the local community, Irish Water were also told to provide a local liaison contact to the local community and arrange a meeting with the local community to

discuss the foul odour issues and to inform them on how and when Irish Water will address them, Locals should be furnished with the direct contact telephone number for the plant operators, so that they may submit complaints of foul odour at the time of the occurrence.

Cllr Mary Kavanagh has long been a critic of the odours emanating from the wastewater treatment works and welcomes the EPA’s recent visits. ”I tried to organise a visit to the plant last year by Councillors and local business people.

It was cancelled at the very last minute which I was very annoyed about. I wanted to see the plant in operation.

“In the past I have complained and I was asked to provide dates for when there were bad odours. I told Irish Water I don’t have to supply dates because it is smelly nearly all of the time.

“I have visited other plants in the country and they don’t have the same problem. Why is Wicklow smelly all the time? The local population is growing with a number of houses and housing schemes to be linked into the sewage scheme. You would have to ask if it is big enough to cope with this level of demand. I can see the problem only getting worse,” said Cllr Kavanagh.

MAYO

Man, 84, released after Aghamore shooting A man in his 80s was released without charge after being questioned in relation to the fatal shooting of a 67-year-old Knock man near Aghamore earlier this month.

Brendan Kilduff of Sallyhernaun, Knock, was fatally wounded when he was shot at a property in the townland of Coogue.

The arrested man (84), who lived at the property where the shooting took place, was taken into custody when gardaí arrived at the scene after responding to a 999 call. He was detained and questioned at Castlebar Garda Station before he was released without charge.

A postmortem examination was completed, but the results have not been released for operational reasons.

An incident room has been set up at Claremorris Garda Station and a file will be prepared for the DPP. The victim was named locally as Brendan Kilduff, a 67-year-old single man, well-known in farming circles and also worked as a mechanic. It is understood that the two men were known to each other and initial investigations suggest that Mr Kilduff was calling to the house on his way to his own home.

Gardaí investigating the shooting do not believe there was anything sinister about the visit to the property and that it was a social visit. It is understood that the shots were discharged after the arrested man heard activity outside his property.

The shooting, which is being described locally as a tragic incident, has deeply shaken the east Mayo community, where both men were well-known and respected, according to a local councillor.

MERC_MELB CUP_echo_2019_FA.pdf

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11:07 am

THE IRISH ECHO

October, 2019 | 21

22 | October, 2019

THE IRISH ECHO

Interview

DYLAN Moran, one of Ireland’s best loved comedians is coming back to Australia to tour with his show, Dr Cosmos.

Dylan Moran is well-known as the creator and star of Channel 4 sitcom Black Books which ran for three series between 2000 and 2004. He has been well known for his observational humour and unique take on things since the 1990’s when he won the Edinburgh Festival’s So You Think You’re Funny award. In 1996, he was the youngest comic to win the Perrier Comedy award at 24. The Meath stand up was voted 14th in Channel 4’s list of the greatest comedians in 2010.

Moran told The Irish Echo he is looking forward to bringing his show to Australia again.

“I always enjoy the shows when I’m there.

I’m looking forward to getting to Oz, for sure.

“I first went when I was 22 or 23. I was in Melbourne for six weeks and obviously I had a great time. I vividly remember the taste of coffee and wine and the evenings in Melbourne. I was madly in love and followed my girlfriend all the time. It was wonderful, it was a great place to be young and hang out and work. It was very memorable.

“Me and my family have gone there something crazy like five times. We have a fantastic relationship with Australia. It’s been part of our lives in an unexpected way.”

Subjects in Moran’s Dr Cosmos show range from religion to cat personalities and politics to shampoo adverts. Can he sum it up for us?

“I can’t because it’s not like that,” he says laughing. “It’s more of a complicated Irish stew, there’s a lot of things in it. It came together over time. I’m talking about everything, literally everything but in what I hope is a relatable, accessible, funny way. That’s what I do so I’m trying to

irishecho.com.au

make time go by pleasantly. I mean sometimes it might involve a bit of shouting but nobody dies.”

It has been described as a poetic reflection on the absurdities of life: “Family life and the news and what your life feels like, what I think life feels like. What I think it is that we’re in, trying to describe what we’re in together, that’s kind of what I do I think.”

In his show, he tries to resist talking about Trump and Brexit but to no avail: “I think everybody knows we live in particularly exotic times, everything is feeling far too fruity so everybody craves stability and sanity. The people we’ve got at the moment, the universe has lined them up so they’re all arseholes at the same time which is unusual and then people are losing their minds because it’s frightening.

We need to get rid of these people, we need to get some other sane human beings because there’s just far too much rage floating around.”

Moran has stopped drinking which may surprise some fans as a lot of his comedy came from drunken misadventures.

Has this affected his writing?

“I don’t really think it has. If anything, I’ve probably got a bit more energy than before. I’m just a bit more pleasant. It suited me (to stop drinking). Different things work for different people. That works for me.”

Dylan has acted in comedy films such as Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy, Run but he has also taken on more serious roles such as his parts in Calvary and Good Vibrations.

Is he keen to do more of the straight acting?

“Yeah. If the phone rings, I am available, midweek especially. I’m writing something for BBC that we’re going to make next year so there’s stuff going on.

“I’ve been on the road for a couple of years with this show. I’m going to shoot it pretty soon in Vicar Street before I forget all of it you know. I’m doing a lot, I’m kind of busy.”

All he will say about his BBC project is that it is a comedy series. Some fans may want to see his channel 4 hit Black Books return but Dylan is categoric in his response when he sees the question coming: “The answer is no. I know what you’re going to ask. the answer’s no.”

Beyond the

Cosmos

Dylan Moran tells David Hennessy about how much he enjoys Australia, why we need to get some more sane people to run the world and that there is no return for Black Books on the cards.

Dylan Moran tours Australia from late October to December.

irishecho.com.au

Travel

October, 2019 | 23

TIME OUT

Fresh, locally sourced, crafted and seasonal – make space for food and drink on the island of Ireland that always evokes a strong sense of place.

THIS September, October and November, the island of Ireland is welcoming the world to a celebration of the very best of the country’s food and drink.

Bring a healthy appetite, because Taste the Island is offering the opportunity of a lifetime to tuck into a profusion of flavours that evoke a unique sense of place, culture and hospitality.

From regional food specialities and local traditions to new, complex and varied gastronomy, the island of Ireland excels in elevating its native food and drink produce into top-notch tastes, experiences and memories.

As the rich harvest comes home, savour the magic behind special European PGI status foods and everything from native Irish beef, lamb, venison and seafood to chutneys, yoghurts, ice-creams and chocolates. Not to mention the island’s craft beers, ciders, gins and whiskies.

Recognised the world over for its fantastic oysters, the pristine coastline around Galway is home to some of the best seafood that can be found. Native to these Wild Atlantic Way shores and only in season from September–April, the local Galway Oyster is a revered among seafood gourmands due to its relative rarity, meaty texture and notes of seaweed and grass.

Taste them during the Galway International Oyster and Seafood Festival (27-29 September), where there will be live music, sensational seafood, mouth-watering dining and the National Oyster Opening Championship kick-starting an amazing weekend of food.

Oysters are often washed down with Irish stout, and while Guinness is most associated with Ireland, there are lots of other brilliant stouts being brewed all around the island evoking a sense of place. Porterhouse Oyster Stout is a dark and aromatic

Taste the Island with a strong sense of place

Meet the makers at the heart of the culinary scene on the island of Ireland Captivate your imagination as well as your taste buds by meeting some the people who deliver brilliant food and drink experiences around the island of Ireland.

THIS autumn Ireland is throwing open the doors to a celebration of the very best of the country’s food and drink. Island-wide, all kinds of restaurants, farmers markets, producers, festivals, tours and everything in between will be serving up a feast of unmissable food and drink.

Taste the Island will also be offering plenty of opportunities to meet the makers and hear the stories behind great Irish food products. It’s the perfect way to get to the heart of their craft, see how the soil-to-service journey happens and what makes Irish food and drink so good.

Start with a tipple and experience the whole process of cider making in the fertile ‘Orchard County’ of Armagh. Meet the McKeever family, who will take you from ‘blossom to bottle’ on a tour of their Long Meadow Farm (October 19).

Pick some apples, see where the cider, apple juices and cider vinegar are made, and finish off with tea and coffee, slices of apple tart and Long Meadow Cider samples.

For those interested in meeting a foraging expert, head to Broughgammon Farm on the Causeway Coastal Route on 13 October. Professional forager Dermot Hughes will be there to share his extensive knowledge of foraging for wild edibles. Kick off the day with a farm walk, where you’ll learn all about what’s edible in the hedgerows in the autumn. Learn how to harvest safely and sustainably and see a demo using the foraged food.

Every Friday and Saturday in the autumn, the family-run Ardkeen Quality Food Store in Waterford city will be the place to be for tasting one of the world’s best selections of Irish artisan food and drink. The superb in-store samplings and

Dublin favourite, Export Stout by Boundary Brewing has a core following around Belfast, and the main geographic hold for Murphy’s is Cork.

The pretty harbour town of Ballycastle on the Causeway Coastal Route is home to the local delicacies of Yellowman (honeycomb) and dulse (a seaweed snack), and also in Northern Ireland the Lough Neagh Eel is regarded as the king of the eel.

This creamy flesh has a rich, pure flavour and can be deliciously prepared in many ways. The eels gained PGI status in 2011 in recognition of the heritage, tradition and authenticity of the best quality freshwater eels available in Europe. Taste them in an eel supper around the restaurants and pubs on the shores of Lough Neagh, particularly at Hallowe’en or the River to Lough Festival (September 29).

Ireland has a delicious bread heritage and all around the island you can taste the likes of freshly-baked soda bread, potato bread, wheaten bread and the delicious barmbrack, a sweet yeasted bread dotted with sultanas and raisins.

A range of brilliant cheeses can also be found, with Gubbeen farmhouse cheese from County Cork, Cashel Blue in County Tipperary and the raw milk cheese Young Buck from County Down among the many artisan flavours to be enjoyed.

There is so much to taste around the island of Ireland, but don’t leave without sampling the salmon. Try the oak-smoked salmon of the Burren Smokehouse in County Clare or the beechwood-smoked salmon from the Connemara Smokehouse.

Featuring native and completely unique local flavours in more than 500 events island-wide, Taste the Island will offer an array of festivals, restaurant deals, cooking experiences, food tours and more all through the autumn.

There is no better time to dive into the native food and drink of one of the world’s best-kept gastronomic secrets.

conversations with the small-batch makers of Ireland’s Ancient East will feature everything from the floury County Waterford ‘blaa’ bread, foraged cordials, heathery mountain lamb and botanical gin.

In Dublin, the Pearse Lyons Distillery is offering Meet the Distiller tours every Thursday (5 September to 7 November) as part of Taste the Island. On this tour you can see first-hand how a boutique distillery – in a restored church – operates, while smelling, touching, tasting and talking about every step of the distilling process. The tour finishes with a tasting of the award-winning Pearse Irish Whiskey range.

Elsewhere, you can meet pioneering brewer Adrienne Heslin and her team at the West Kerry Brewery to taste and discuss craft beer, sample Joe the Baker’s sour dough, Pat O’Doherty’s famous black bacon, Tickety Moo ice cream, Boatyard Gin and more on an Enniskillen Taste Experience in the Fermanagh lakelands, or experience the delights of County Wicklow’s food and drink on a day trip to a country estate, a winery, a brewery and a distillery.

Meet the Makers – Wicklow is ideal for small groups of 10–16 people and will let you meet the chef of the historic Killruddery House and Estate and have a chat with Pamela and Brett of the Wicklow Way Winery, creators of Ireland’s first and only premium berry wines.

You will also meet Quincey or Simon, co-owners of the Wicklow Wolf Brewery, and enjoy an informal tour and tasting.

Then on to enjoy whiskey samples and carefully selected food pairings at Powerscourt Distillery. Delicious.

FIND OUT MORE :: www.ireland.com

24 | October, 2019

Hurler

Mike Pence with Michael D at the Aras where apparently all the flowers were conspicuously pink for the Veep’s visit.

“huge, with silvery horns, and snow white skin”. Clearly a reference to the odious Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is certainly capable of producing plenty of bullshit.

So the analogy makes sense, if you accept that Britain has gone mad, is determined to ruin the lives of its children and has to be protected from itself by any means.

Oh Lord, how the Veep came, saw and shat on the rug MIKE Pence is an important guy.

He will be US president should the Donald, God forbid, have a heart attack on the tricky uphill Par 3 16th at Mar A Lago or get shot by some well meaning lost soul with a semi-automatic.

In Ireland last month, Pence was cranking up the blarney to beat the band as he retraced his Irish roots in, wait for it, Doonbeg where his boss

Quiz 1. Which sister ship of the Titanic sank in 1916?

2. How was the Irish-American film director Sean Aloysius O’Fearna known?

3. In which discipline was Daniel Maclise prominent?

4. What is the first name of the Ryan who founded Ryanair?

5. Where was Terry Wogan born?

6. Which novelist came up with the title A Fairytale of New York?

7. Anna Burns won the Booker Prize this year for her novel set in the Troubles.

What is the name of the book?

8. Which Irish sports are both included on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity?

9. Which organisation, to which Ireland belongs, has the motto “United in Diversity”?

10. Large White Ulsters are what?

They said it...

on the ditch

All Greek to me, Ireland wants to be Britain’s Athena

TAOISEACH Leo Varakkar had the British and Irish press corps franctically googling greek mythology after a peculiar reference to Hercules and Athena in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Speaking ahead of his meeting with Mr Johnson in Dublin, the Taoiseach turned to his British counterpart and said securing trade agreements with the EU and US in less than three years would be a “Herculean” task.

As Mr Johnson laughed, he then added: “We want to be your friend and ally, your Athena, in doing so.”

According to Greek mythology, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, repeatedly helped Hercules, her half-brother and the son of Zeus.

On one of those occasions, Athena stepped in after Hercules went mad and killed his own children, knocking him unconscious and thus preventing him from murdering his mortal father.

She then, according to legend, helped him complete 12 labours - feats so hard they seemed impossible - to atone for his crimes.

One of the tasks was to bring The Wild Boar of Erymanthus back to the castle. Mmmm. Could this be a reference to Nigel Farage? He’s a wild bore and the Tories desperately need his votes in the next election.

Another task was to placate the Cretan Bull which was said to be

irishecho.com.au

TIME OUT

“I don’t think it a border poll is soon. It is some way off. If there is a demand for a border poll within the terms of the Belfast Agreement and supported by the government in Dublin, I think we would, obviously, consider it.”

just happens to have a five-star resort on golf course. Lucky, eh?

We’ve seen this show before.

Ireland meekly tugged the forelock although with less enthusiasm than in past days, conscious of the US dollars which Pence would help deliver.

But it was his comments about Brexit and Boris Johnson which left his hospitable hosts choking on their carefully-selected Dublin Bay prawns.

Miriam Lord, writing in the Irish Times, colourfully described the awkward scene as akin to “pulling out all the stops for a much-anticipated visitor to your home and thinking it has been a great success until somebody discovers he shat on the new carpet in the spare room”.

Pence urged Ireland and the European Union “to negotiate in good faith” with the new British prime minister and chastised his hosts to have “respect for the UK’s sovereignty”.

Pence brought his mother and wife with him on the trip. Miriam Lord opined that it was a backstop of sorts for the homophobic Pence.

“It would be a grand trip for his mother,” Lord wrote, “and, in an emergency, if Mike’s wife was otherwise detained, mammy could sit in as chaperone should the VP have found himself unavoidably alone in a dining room with our gay Taoiseach.”

His visit, Lord said, “was a great example of diversity in action.

President Trump...likes to grab women in all sorts of places. And his second in command is the opposite. He won’t stay on his own with a woman who isn’t his wife. God bless America.”

British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

“Mr Trudeau has apologised,” Varadkar said during a press conference ahead of UN meetings in New York. He’s given a very direct apology about those actions in the past and I think people should accept that apology.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar insisting that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s apology for ‘blacking up’ should be accepted.

“Creating an advent calendar from some of our most beautiful diamond products has been a huge milestone for us, with each piece hand-selected to ensure the utmost beauty and sparkle in every drawer.”

May Ingram, store manager at Beaverbrook’s Jeweller’s Belfast, speaking about diamond-a-day Advent calendar that comes with a hefty price tag of £100,000.

“I think we did push the war forward more than anyone else did.

And I think it was Gerry who was largely responsible for that because it was Gerry who sent me to America to get the Armalites.”

Former senior IRA man Brendan Hughes claiming that Gerry Adams sent him to America to buy Armalite rifles for the Provisionals, according to a BBC TV documentary.

“This is a complete nightmare. . . No-one from Thomas Cook has been in touch. The last communication we had was an email last week saying that everything was fine... but of course nothing could be further from the truth.”

Leanne Rafferty (39) from Armagh was due to fly to Cyprus with the Thomas Cook travel company to get married. The company has now gone bust.

The ‘Echo’ Crossword Clues across: 1. Country singer in valley with a clan member who is coming according to song (4,8) 8. The shape of eggs - 50 of them (4) 9. Western island here is in tumult (8) 10. Try to put on a vest? It’s a mockery! (8) 11. Ramble, it’s said, to the city (4) 12. Male person hold-up we hear in Asian city (8) 15. Finance from abroad for some risky endeavour (3) 16. Restricted view until venison is cooked (6,6) 18. Freeholder, one May, in chaos (6) 20. Realm of Ireland consumes politician (6) 22. Note messy pudding in school (4) 21. President in Maulikeeve (3) 23. Irish republican leader is ideal for lifting loads at harbourside it’s said (6) 25. The boss I announced hid character from Scots, Irish mythology (6) 27. Dried fruit for leader (6)

28. Loud noise breaking leg on Irish peninsula (6) Clues down: 1. My wig agony transformed IrishAmerican film (5,2,3) 2. Music company subvention for expat (8) 3. Stretching across Co. Cork peninsula sinuously, a chain amounts to upland range (4,9) 4. Drink plaything in articulated salver in Co. Antrim (14) 5. Bring back sketch of French kings (6) 6. Emotion means nothing to a tennis player (4) 7. Embargo on witches leaving cathedral city in England for an Irish town (6) 13. Fathead in the morning makes tea (6) 14. Native sailor finds derivation with a learner (10) 17 & 26 down: Part of Atlantic washing Ireland, that’s cold, with ice least dispersed (6,3) 19. Newsdesk erstwhile reports conceal Irish uprisings (6) 20. Finish within seven days (3) 24. One fled from the Islands (4) 25. Howling disguises hooter (3) 26. see 17 down

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8 9 10 11 12

13

14

15 16 17 18

19

20 21

22

23 25

27

24

26

28

LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS: Clues across: 1. Sally Rooney 6, 10, and 14 across: Man of Aran 8. Bay 9. Begin. 10. see 6 across 11. Kilkenny. 13, 31 across, 17 down: St Stephens Green. 14. see 6 across 15. Tyrone. 16. Reg. 18. O’Hare. 23. Slane. 25. Nellie 24. Neil Lennon. 26. Neon. 29. Castle Leslie. 30. Sadat. 31. see 13 across Clues down: 1. Sabina Coyne (Mrs Higgins). 2. Lughnasa. 3. Yanks.

4. O’Malley. 5. Nuneaton. 7. Apostle. 12. Nore. 17. see 13 across 19. Relented. 20, 28 down: Glengesh Pass. 21. Beckett. 22. Anglers. 27. Onion. 28. see 20 down

Answers: The Britannic; 2. John Ford; 3. Art (painting); 4. Tony; 5 Limerick; 6. JP Donleavy; 7. Milkman; 8. Hurling and camogie; 9. The European Union; 10. Pigs

irishecho.com.au

THE IRISH ECHO

October, 2019 | 25

Interview

Young, free and Dingle Patrick Sheehy, lead singer of Walking on Cars, tells David Hennessy the band are looking forward to coming to Australia for the first time, how the band overcame losing a guitarist to produce their second album and why they, and the rest of Dingle, are proud of Geelong’s Mark O’Connor.

“IT’S BEEN on the to do list for a long time but we never got the chance to do it,” Patrick Sheehy tells the Irish Echo ahead of Walking on Cars’ first Australian tour. “It’s going to be amazing. We’ve never been out there before.

We all have friends out there that we haven’t seen in years. It’s going to be a really cool trip.

It’s a big deal for us.”

Dingle band Walking on Cars burst onto the scene in 2012 when debut single Catch Me if You Can went to number one in the Irish iTunes chart. They would follow this with their debut album Everything This Way topping the Irish charts in 2016. However, their success hasn’t been limited to home shores as singles like Speeding Cars charted in numerous countries, building fanbases all around Europe and in Australia and New Zealand.

Of course, Ireland was in the grip of recession when they formed as a group. If Patrick and schoolfriends Sorcha Durham (keyboard), Dan Devane (guitar), Paul Flannery (bass) and Evan Hadnett had not formed a band that soon started making waves all over

the world, it is likely that some if not all of them could have ended up here themselves.

“It was either get out of Ireland or start a band. Those were the two options we were looking at and we chose to stay and play music and most of our brothers and sisters and friends chose to go to Australia.

“In the meantime some of them have been and come home. My brother is still out here, he’s in Melbourne. He was in Adelaide a long time so he’s been there nearly ten years now and this is his final year so I’m going out to bring him home,” Sheehy laughs.

“When we were writing the first album, it was a case of everybody we knew and loved leaving for the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. It was a tough time for the country.”

The band released their follow-up album Colours earlier this year when it was positively received and reached number two in the Irish album charts.

They say the second album can be difficult for any band but it might have been particularly the case for Walking on Cars as they were

shocked when guitarist Dan Devane left the band suddenly and in the middle of recording.

“It was a difficult time for everybody. It definitely came as a shock but once we dealt with it and moved on a little bit, we got the second album right and now we’re a four piece and everybody’s really happy. We can’t wait for the next chapter.”

Getting it right took time with the band scrapping a lot of material that they were not happy with and starting again before they were happy to release Colours.

“We spent the second half of 2017 starting the process and maybe nine months later we realised what we had wasn’t big enough, wasn’t strong enough. I think we got caught up a little too much in the production side of things and it lacked a bit of heart.

“We got so caught up in what it sounded, we forgot what it made people feel so it was just a case of getting honest and getting creative and going back to basics. When we did that, it was a very simple process.”

Patrick did get personal with Coldest Water,

Colours’ second single, which is about his own struggle with alcohol.

“I’m sober nearly six and a half years now. I was in my early 20s and I was below in Cork.

I was in UCC and I was an absolute disaster. I didn’t see the inside of a lecture room. It was full on. I was just writing from that place of hopelessness and that place of depression.

“Was this going to be me for the rest of my life just being a bit of a bum around the place or was I actually going to do something with myself? Coldest Water kind of captured that little moment in time in my life.”

“I’m very lucky.”

It is from the band’s town that one of Ireland’s AFL stars hails from. Do the band happen to know Mark O’Connor of Geelong Cats? “Dingle’s a very small town, everyone knows everyone. Yeah, Mark O’Connor is a big deal in Dingle and he’s a really nice dude and he’s absolutely bossing it over there. He’s a bit of a local legend.”

Walking on Cars tour Australia and New Zealand in November/December.

26 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

THE IRISH ECHO

Visa-bility

Your visa questions answered.

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

Dear John, My girlfriend and I are in Australia on our first working holiday visa and looking at getting the second year visa.

I’ve also heard you can now get a third year working holiday visa.

Is this correct?

Are the rules to get the second year and third year visas the same?

What do we need to do?

Any help appreciated.

AUGUST

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days you work is really important. If you come up even one day short you may not get the next visa granted . Some examples include: - working five days a week for a continuous period of three calendar months, - working less than five days a week over a period longer than three calendar months, - working multiple short periods of work in any combination of full time, part time , which add up to the equivalent of five days a week over three calendar months.

When applying for the next 417 visa , you have to provide proof that you did the correct period of specified work so keep good evidence of your employment to show Immigration. The proof should cover all periods you worked and can include any of the following: - pay slips - bank statements covering the period of work - piece rate agreement with your employer, if you were paid piece rates.

The agreement must show the pay rate per piece and how it is measured - group certificates - payment summaries - tax returns - employer references.

A good place to look for harvesting work is jobsearch.gov.au/harvest Don’t be tempted to bluff or lie about your regional work. This will lead to the visa application being refused and a bar on reapply for future visas.

If you have any police records or charges , even minor matters make sure to disclose these and supply your police reports .

The working holiday visa applications are reasonably straightforward – you might do the application yourself.

If you do need help or advice you can find a registered migration agent at mia.org.au.

Don’t be tempted to bluff or lie about your regional work.

This will lead to the visa application being refused and a bar on reapply for future visas.

”

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PJ O’BRIENS, SYDNEY J B O’REILLY’S, LEEDERVILLE PJ O’BRIENS MELBOURNE, SOUTHBANK DURTY NELLYS, PERTH THE IRISH TIMES, MELBOURNE MALONEYS HOTEL, SYDNEY THE PORTERHOUSE, SURRY HILLS FIBBER MCGEES, LEEDERVILLE THE DRUNKEN POET, WEST MELBOURNE MERCANTILE HOTEL, SYDNEY

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J B O’REILLY’S, LEEDERVILLE DURTY NELLYS, WEST PERTH FIBBER MCGEES, LEEDERVILLE THE MIGHTY QUINN TAVERN, TUART HILL THE WOODVALE TAVERN, WOODVALE MURPHY’S IRISH PUB, MANDURAH THE DUKE BAR & BISTRO, CARRAMAR CURRAMBINE BAR & BISTRO, CURRAMBINE SOUTH BEACH HOTEL, SOUTH FREMANTLE CROWN PERTH, VICTORIA PARK

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NEW SYDNEY HOTEL, HOBART IRISH MURPHYS HOBART, HOBART COCK AND BULL HOTEL, LAUNCESTON THE WHALERS RETURN, BATTERY POINT PADDYWAGONS HOTEL, GLENORCHY

PJ O’BRIENS SYDNEY, SYDNEY MALONEYS HOTEL, SYDNEY THE PORTERHOUSE, SURRY HILLS MERCANTILE HOTEL, THE ROCKS KING OMALLEYS, CANBERRA FORTUNE OF WAR HOTEL, THE ROCKS JIMMY’S BAR & RESTAURANT , RANDWICK THE MEAN FIDDLER, ROUSE HILL NORTHERN STAR HOTEL, HAMILTON THE DOSS HOUSE , THE ROCKS

Paul McDermott DEAR PAUL, TO be eligible for a second Working Holiday 417 visa, you have to complete three months, that’s at least 88 full days, of specified work in regional Australia while on your first Working Holiday visa (WHV).

The 88 days is based on the shortest possible combination of a three-month period. From July 1, 2019 you can now also get a third year working holiday visa.

The rules are different for the third year working Holiday visa. You have to complete six months, that’s at least 179 full days, of specified work in regional Australia while on your second Working Holiday visa or on a bridging visa while waiting for the second-year visa grant.

The work has to have been undertaken after July 1, 2019. Irish, French and Canadian passport holders can be aged 18-35 to apply for these visas.

Other eligible passport holders must be 18-30 years old.

The ‘specified work’ incudes many options. As an example working in plant and animal cultivation, fishing, tree farming, mining and construction can count but also check which type of job counts. Fruit picking, feeding and herding farm animals , scaffolding, fencing area all good examples. Trade work in construction can also count.

‘Regional Australia’ is defined by the post code of the area so you must also check this carefully to make sure your work is in the right location. See the details on types of specific work and regional areas on the immigration website here : immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/what-we-do/ whm-program/specified-work-conditions/specified-work-417 Calculating and recording the correct number of

2019

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SHENANIGANS IRISH PUB, DARWIN NORWOOD HOTEL, NORWOOD FOX & FIRKIN, TEA TREE GULLY MICK O’SHEA’S IRISH PUB, HACKHAM ALMA HOTEL, WILLUNGA

Find your closest pint. guinnesspubfinder.com.au 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. 2019.

irishecho.com.au

October, 2019 | 27

ARTS

Review

Troubled tales, missing links BOOKS A BROAD CHURCH The Provisional IRA in the Republic of Ireland 1969-1980.

By Gearóid Ó Faoleán MERRION PRESS 234 Pages €19.95

CC THE CHAIN

By Adrian McKinty HACHETTE 355 Pages $32.99

CCCC Frank O’Shea IMAGINE an academic lecture on modern physics. It would be reasonable to assume that the attendees would have a general understanding of technical areas – radiation or quantum theory or astrophysics, say. You would not expect the speaker to need to explain relativity or the uncertainty principle or Kepler’s Laws. If, however, you attended the lecture as an ordinary citizen with little background in the area, you would expect to be out of your depth.

That image of someone out of their depth meeting a topic about which they have limited knowledge comes to mind when reading this book. As the title suggests, it sets out to explain the spread and influence of the Provisional IRA in the first twenty years or so of its existence. The reader is expected to

aspects of training, financing know that there was a split in the IRA at some unspecified date and to have some and general acceptance of the Provisional IRA in the Republic general idea why it took place. He would of Ireland, many elements of need to be familiar with names like which are here examined for Cathal Goulding and Rúari Ó Brádaigh, the first time. “The South was integral Seán MacStiofáin and Daithi Ó Conaill to the Provisional IRA’s existence and to and know to which side they belonged the longevity of their when the split military campaign,” took place: all the author says. “[The are brought IRA] would not have into the You would not expect been able to materially story without the speaker to need to sustain a campaign for introduction more than a year or as to their explain relativity or the so without the guns, background training and finance although all are uncertainty principle or which that state supplied with Kepler’s Laws. provided, willingly or appropriate not.” sine fadas.

However, if your On page 28, understanding of the there is menTroubles is limited to what you would tion of “Taoiseach Jack Lynch’s famous have read in the newspapers or seen on ‘no longer stand by‘ speech in 1969”, television, the book will not make much with the assumption that the reader sense. would know the context and contents of ________________________________ that speech. Some pages later we find the first mention of the INLA, “Following WE were getting fond of DI Sean Duffy. a later split in the Officials, Jack Lynch We were a bit concerned about his departed from the Goulding faction drinking and his fondness for good weed, to form the Irish National Liberation but when we last left him it seemed that Army (INLA) with Seamus Costello.” The his love life was on the mend and we reader is expected to understand that felt that there was still plenty of work the two men from Cork named Jack for him in the underworld of Belfast and Lynch are not the same person. Some Derry. However, it appears that despite pages later, there is a mention of an IRA many positive reviews for his books and QMG (Quarter Master General?) killed a number of rewards from his peers, when mixing HMEs, whatever they are.

Adrian McKinty had a livelihood to earn The organisation known as Saor Éire is and Sean Duffy was not making that mentioned for the first time on page 71, happen. “In fact, I was broke, driving for with no explanation of who they were or Uber and thinking about quitting writing where they came from. completely,” he says in an afterword At this stage, a reader will understand to this new book which is a complete that the book is essentially a set of departure from his earlier work. connected academic papers written for For one thing, the story is set in people who know what happened during the early years of what we call the recent America, to which haven of ongoing folly he has moved from his former domicile ‘Troubles’. If you are such a person, you in Melbourne. For another thing, his will be impressed by the thoroughness story introduces a form of criminality with which the author deals with all

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recklessness with which people tell the which is so wicked that, though it is beonline world what they are doing, where lievable, it appears to plumb the depths they are going, who they met, what their of ruthless evil. A child is kidnapped and plans are, information that is cleverly the parents are required to pay a sum of used by the criminal minds. As the story money through the untraceable realms progresses, we learn more about what of bitcoin. They are also required to is called the Dark Web and how it can kidnap a child from some family of their be manipulated by criminals in ways that choice and insist that its parents also make Al Capone and his modern parallels pay into the same account and kidnap look like noisy amateurs. yet another child. Only when the third Unusually for a book about crime, payment has been made and the third child kidnapped is the first child released. since the police cannot become involved, the author has to depend on This is the chain of the title. one particularly strong person, a lecturer The masterminds behind this scheme in philosophy, to break the chain. She are a young couple who have learned has help from her how to manipulate brother-in-law, a social media so that former GI with a they are kept in heroin problem, touch with everyone Unusually for a book and towards on the chain. After about crime, since the the end, from the first kidnapping, a mathematics they are involved police cannot become professor feeling only in keeping the guilt about his chain going; they get involved, the author earlier part in information about has to depend on one the chain - he what is happening particularly strong provides a way simply by breaking of breaking into in to the social person, a lecturer in the electronic networks of their philosophy. world of the victims – facebook, masterminds. twitter, WhatsApp This is the and their ilk. If a kind of book that grabs you from the family involves the police or FBI, they beginning, and though you may wonder and their child are killed, not by the whether a scheme like this might work, masters of the scheme, but by one of McKinty covers all your questions, those who have done their bit along requiring only a little suspension of the chain and are therefore themselves belief. The action is quick and the kidnappers keen to keep their own part characters believable if not entirely in the chain secret. lovable, and though the showdown is It is a long way from robbing a bank the kind of thing that will make a good or selling drugs or even kidnapping for action finale – as the Americans see such ransom. It is also a fiendishly clever things – this is the kind of book you will scheme that relies on the love which want to tell people about. parents have for their child and the

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THE TOP 10 BOOK CHARTS FROM IRELAND PAPERBACK NON FICTION

BESTSELLERS

1. Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling 2. The Testaments 3. Schmidt Happens 4. The Second Sleep 5. Overcoming: A Memoir 6. The Handmaids Tale 7. Girl 8. The Importance of Being Aisling 9. Normal People 10. My Crazy World

S Breen/ E McLysaght Margaret Atwood Ross O’Carroll-Kelly Robert Harris Vicky Phelan Margaret Atwood Edna O’Brien S Breen/ E McLysaght Sally Rooney Christy Dignam

CHILDREN’S

1. Overcoming: A Memoir

Vicky Phelan

1. Dog Man 7: For Whom the Ball Rolls

Dav Pilkey

2. Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz Jeremy Dronfield

2. The World’s Worst Teachers

3. This is Going to Hurt

3. The Outsiders

S.E. Hinton

4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

J.K. Rowling

5. The Wonkey Donkey

Craig Smith

Adam Kay

4. No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference 5. The Playboy of the Western World 6. The Irrational Ape 7. Philadelphia, Here I Come 8. Reboot 9. Say Nothing 10. The Education of an Idealist

Greta Thunberg J.M. Synge

David Robert Grimes Brian Friel Michale Owen Patrick Radden Keefe Samantha Power

6. Once (Once/Now/Then/After)

David Walliams

Morris Gleitzman

7. A Place Called Perfect: The Battle for Perfect Helena Duggan 8. Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid 9. Fing 10. Beano Annual: 2020

Jeff Kinney David Walliams D.C. Thomson & Co.

28 | October, 2019

irishecho.com.au

SPORT IN BRIEF

Gaelic Games :: Dublin make no mistake in replay

Dubs make it five in-a-row

DUBLIN WOMEN WIN THIRD STRAIGHT CUP A record crowd of 56,114 watched Dublin claim their third TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship in a row with goals from Sinéad Goldrick and Hannah O’Neill critical to their victory.

Neither team mastered the very wet conditions at Croke Park, but Galway closed to within three points of Dublin with seven minutes remaining, only for experienced duo Sinéad Aherne and Noelle Healy to kick the security points for Dublin. Tim Rabbitt’s side were looking to win a second All-Ireland in their history, but five first-half wides meant they never threatened the Leinster champions.

LOUTH WOMEN CLAIM JUNIOR TITLE LOUTH left the disappointment of 12 months ago behind them as goals from Katie Flood, Niamh Rice and Lauren Boyle sealed their third TG4 All-Ireland Junior title. Full-forward Flood caused havoc throughout, but either side of her Boyle and Rice also got their better of their opponents as Louth recovered from defeat to Limerick at the same stage last year to wrap up promotion to Intermediate for 2020. Lisa Maguire and substitute Aisling Woods tried to launch a Fermanagh comeback with second-half goals, but there was no way back after a near faultless display from Louth.

Brian Fenton, left, and Ciarán Kilkenny of Dublin celebrate with the Sam Maguire trophy after the All-Ireland Senior Championship Final replay at Croke Park. Picture: Eóin Noonan

Former Sydney Swan Tommy Walsh of Kerry and Dublin’s Philip McMahon.

Picture: Seb Daly

IT took a replay but Dublin made sure they were All-Ireland champions for a historic fifth time in succession when they overcame Kerry by 1-18 to 0-15 at Croke Park on September 14.

Dublin had a nightmare start to the first game with the early dismissal of Jonny Cooper but would ensure they started quicker this time, putting distance between themselves and Kerry early on.

Dublin’s key forwards Con O’Callaghan, Ciarán Kilkenny and Paul Mannion all fired scores within the first three minutes. With the reigning champions ahead by 0-5 to 0-1 by the eighth minute, it looked like Kerry had a mountain to climb.

Kerry hit back through their attacking talismen of David Clifford and Paul Geaney, Clifford kicking three first half points to haul the Munster men back into the game.

Davy Byrne’s point put Dublin up by 0-7 to 0-3 on 16 minutes but Dublin’s scoring slowed down for the remainder of the first period while it was Kerry who had chances at the other end. David Clifford put Tadhg Morley through on goal in the 29th minute only for O’Callghan to bring him down just outside the penalty area. Sean O’Shea converted the free to bring Kerry closer before Geaney burst through for his third point of the match that brought the teams level at 0-10 apiece just before the break.

The only goal of the game came from a defender and only seconds into the second half. It was Eoin Murchan who would gather the ball after the referee’s throw-in, storm through

the Kerry defence and keep his composure admirably to blast Dublin into a commanding lead.

Con O’Callaghan followed it up with a point but Kerry then hit three points without reply to take them to within a score. However, this was as close as they would get to the defending champions as the Kingdom’s shooting deserted them in the second period. And when Kerry could break through, Stephen Cluxton stood tall to divert Stephen O’Brien’s powerful attempt away, preventing a goal that would have levelled things up.

It was not the first time Cluxton had come to Dublin’s rescue as he saved Geaney’s penalty in the first game. Kerry can lament the opportunity that they had in game one when playing a fourteen man Dublin was definitely their best chance of derailing the five-in-a-row.

Kerry managed two points in the last 25 minutes as the game’s result looked to be beyond doubt. Instead, Dean Rock would have the last say with the last two scores that put a little gloss on the score-line.

Dublin became the first GAA team to ever take five consecutive titles.

One of their best performers on the day was Ciarán Kilkenny who spent some time in Australia in 2011 as a rookie with Hawthorn but quit Aussie Rules after only four months to pursue a career with Dublin.

Dublin have been unbeaten in championship football since 2014 when Donegal pulled off a surprise semi-final win. Who’s to say they can’t make it six in 2020.

GALWAY WIN THIRD CAMOGIE CROWN THREE first-half goals, and particularly two just before half-time from Niamh Hanniffy and Ailish O’Reilly, and a player-of-the-match performance from Niamh Kilkenny were key as Galway held off a determined Kilkenny in front of a record attendance for a standalone Final of 24,730, to bag a third Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship.

MORGAN BULLISH ON REBEL PROSPECTS CORK’S All-Ireland U20 and minor successes is a great boost for the county, according to Rebel legend Billy Morgan. Morgan – who guided UCC to Sigerson Cup honours this year – was delighted with the attitude displayed by the minors in last month’s extra-time final victory over Galway.

“Like most people I thought it was gone when Galway got that goal near the end,” he told echolive.ie “So under the circumstances it really was an extraordinary comeback and everyone deserves enormous credit. Galway really frustrated us in the opening half and they were very economical with possession.

“We trailed by three points at the break and we looked in serious trouble when we went four and five down.

But the goal from Jack Cahalane gave us hope,” he said.

“There is lots of talent there. After the manner of the U20 victory this is another great boost for Cork football.”

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October, 2019 | 29

SPORT

AFL :: Bombers sign Armagh star; top GAA players try out

Taekwondo

Sweeney siblings taking on the world DAVID HENNESSY

Oisín Gallen of Donegal is in Australia to try his hand at AFL. Teenager Gallen is considered one of Gaelic football’s brightest stars. Picture: Daire Brennan

AFL’s affinity with Irish players set to continue DAVID HENNESSY

THE number of Irish players in the AFL looks set to swell further after Essendon signed talented Armagh player Ross McQuillan, who will now join fellow Ulsterman Conor McKenna at the Bombers.

The Armagh youngster had a successful trial with the Melbourne outfit and has signed an international rookie deal that makes him a Bomber until 2021. The 20-year-old Cullyhanna clubman told The Irish Echo that he is delighted to be joining the club and is eager to start his AFL career.

“It is the dream to be a professional sportsman, there is no better job in the world. It’s such a great opportunity to get. To be able to go out there and live the professional lifestyle. To get up and train in the morning and it’s your job, I can’t think of much better things to be at,” he said.

“I just can’t wait to get out there to get started. When you get an opportunity and you’re lucky enough to be in the position I’m in, you have to take it and you have to work your socks off because you’re giving up so much. You want to go out there and become successful.”

McQuillan trialled with Essendon in April when he impressed with his speed in particular, running 20 metres in 2.77 seconds which would make him the quickest player at the

New Essendon recruit Ross McQuillan

club. McQuillan will start training with Essendon in November.

Ross would like to emulate McKenna who has played 73 AFL games and become a key player for the club.

“I lived with Conor for the first week I was out there. He took me in, took me under his wing a wee bit and introduced me to everybody at the club and made it a home away from home so I can’t really wait to go back out and join up with him again.

“He’s worked his socks off and from what everyone at the club is telling me, he’s absolutely flying. He’s a consistent starter. For an Irishman to be able to do that is a pretty special thing to do considering you’ve never played the game before.”

McQuillan made his debut for Ar-

magh in the McKenna Cup last year and was named as a forward on the 2018 EirGrid U20 Team of the Year.

He knows what lies ahead of him in Australia is a whole new challenge: “It’s a completely new game, new rules, new tactics. Everything is going to be brand new. There will be a few similarities between it and Gaelic but in terms of game plans and even the language that people use on the field and off the field in coaching meetings is completely different.

“Everything will just be a new learning curve, just have to get used to it and prepare for it.”

McQuillan is the latest Irishman to be picked up by an AFL club.

In June Sydney Swans signed Barry O’Connor from Wexford and Sligo’s Luke Towey has trialled with Gold Coast Suns and looks set to join Pearce Hanley there.

Oisín Gallen from Donegal and Cian McBride from Meath have just come to Australia for a two week trial that includes the NAB AFL Draft Combine. Gallen is considered one of Ireland’s brightest Gaelic football prospects, along with Kerry rising stars David Clifford and Sean O’Shea Just last year, six new faces joined AFL lists when Anton Tohill, Mark Keane (both Collingwood), Callum Brown (GWS Giants), Stefan Okunbor (Geelong), James Madden (Brisbane Lions) and Red Óg Murphy

(North Melbourne) were all signed up. However, Murphy has already returned home.

Three Irish women are also believed to be coming for similar trials as AFLW clubs are looking towards Ireland for talent due to the success of Cora Staunton and then Premiership-winning Ailish Considine.

Carlton made 25-year-old Joanne Doonan the latest Irish woman to join an AFLW club when they signed the Fermanagh captain in early September. Joanne became the 12th Irish woman to be added to an AFLW list.

Ailish Considine took Adelaide Crows to the Premiership last season while Sarah Rowe, Aisling McCarthy, Yvonne Bonner and Cora Staunton proved to be fantastic signings for their respective clubs.

AFLW clubs had already signed six women for the 2020 season before securing Doonan’s signature.

Tipperary dual star Orla O’Dwyer joined Brisbane Lions.

Galway star Mairead Seoighe has penned a deal with North Melbourne.

Fremantle have signed Aine Tighe of Leitrim and Kate Flood of Louth while Mayo sisters Niamh and Grace Kelly have moved from the West coast of Ireland to the West Coast of Australia by joining the Eagles.

For the first time, there will be a women’s AFL Europe Combine for Irish players in Dublin in December.

TWO Brisbane-Irish teenage siblings are conquering the world on the taekwondo mat.

Liam Sweeney, 16, is five time national champion and has taken medals in international competitions while his 13-year-old sister Tiarnagh also has a national title and became the first Australian to take a medal at the World Cadet Taekwondo Championships in Tashkent in August when she won bronze.

Dubliner mum Sadhbh Sweeney said: “They’re flying it at the minute. I’m proud of both of them.”

Liam (right) is set to be a contender at the Junior World Championships in Sofia next year and is aiming to compete at the 2024 Olympics. Mum Sadhbh is also a taekwondo trainer, and hopes to take both talented young athletes to events in Europe in November. However the costs associated with competing internationally may prevent them from going. This puts Liam’s dream of getting to the Junior World Championships in doubt as he has to compete at a number of international events in order to be selected.

“Because we’re in Australia, everywhere is so far away. We have to attend these competitions or he doesn’t get selected. It doesn’t matter how well he does in a selection event, he has to attend all of these other tournaments. It’s tough going but it is what it is and he’s obviously shown a lot of promise.”

An article in the Irish Echo last year brought Liam his first ever sponsor and helped him to get to events in Europe last year where he took a medal.

“He called me after seeing the article and said, ‘I would be delighted to sponsor him’. It was really, really generous of him. It was fantastic. That got us to Europe last year.”

Unfortunately, this sponsorship was just a once-off for last year.

Liam and Tiarnagh (pictured) were born in Wexford while their mother comes from Terenure, Dublin. The family have been in Australia since 2011. Their other sibling Tadhg, 9, also practices taekwondo.

Sadhbh would like to take Tiarnagh as well as Liam to the Paris Open and Israel Open in November but without sponsorship, it will be very difficult.

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SPORT

Rugby World Cup :: All is not lost

Rugby World Cup

Sexton finds silver lining to Irish loss NICK PUREWAL

Garry Ringrose sums up the Irish mood after the devastating loss to Japan at the World Cup.

FATE STILL IN OUR HANDS, SAYS HEALY NICK PUREWAL

CIAN Healy has admitted Ireland are running out of time to turn their World Cup around in the wake of their stunning 19-12 defeat to hosts Japan. The Leinster prop shouldered the burden of responsibility for a poor personal performance as the Ireland collective wilted in the face of a brutally accurate Japanese onslaught.

Wing Kenki Fukuoka bagged the crucial try to add to 11 points from the boot of Yu Tamura, leaving Ireland hugely chastened and desperate to reassert their grip on Pool A. And the vastly-experienced Healy insisted the coming days will be critical to Ire-

land’s chances of setting their World Cup campaign back on track.

Asked if turning things around now could prove the making of Ireland’s tournament, the 92-cap prop Healy replied: “We have to take the learnings from it and bring those reviews to bear, to get tighter as a group.

“You don’t need extra motivation in a World Cup, but something like that defeat and performance is going to have to do it for you: because it’s too easy to get knocked out and go home. We’ve got big goals for this tournament, and we have to turn the page. So we must take our learnings, turn the page and bounce back.

“I’m not sure we’ve digested what the hardest part of that was: I per-

sonally didn’t have a good game and that’s stinging with me at the moment. So we’ll review it, look over it and take what learnings from it personally and as a group.”

Head coach Joe Schmidt heaped pressure on referee Angus Gardner ahead of the contest, insisting the last time the Australian had officiated had proved “incredibly frustrating”.

Healy insisted however that Ireland can ill afford to lament the refereeing, refusing to be drawn on whether Gardner’s performance was sub-par.

“We just take that out of the equation, you play what you’re dealt and that’s always the situation,” said the Leinster prop.

JOHNNY Sexton has branded Ireland’s stunning loss to Japan a “blessing in disguise” because it happened in the World Cup’s pool stages.

Sexton insisted Joe Schmidt’s men must be thankful their hefty defeat did not occur in the knockout stages and was at pains to explain how Ireland swept through the pool stages in 2011 and 2015 only to be dumped out both times in the quarter-finals - by Wales in New Zealand eight years ago and by Argentina four years back.

“The only blessing in disguise is that in the last two World Cups I’ve been involved in, we’ve not cruised through the group, but we’ve had everything go our way in the pool stages,” said Sexton. “And then we’ve had the day we had yesterday in the quarter-final. And we’d be going home today. So the great thing now is that we’ve got the rest of the pool to get things together.

“We know to a certain extent things are in our hands if we can win the last two games and score a number of tries that we can definitely qualify for the quarter-final. First or second place is out of our control, so we won’t worry about that.

“But it’s up to us now to put in two big performances and hopefully get ourselves in to a quarter-final. And we know that if we can get there we’ve got a chance,” Sexton said.

“We’ve responded really well in terms of the other recent setbacks. At the start of the Six Nations we turned

Raring to go, Johnny Sexton.

things around, had a brilliant performance against France.

“A five-game winning run now would be great, that would do nicely.”

Sexton controversially missed Ireland’s stunning loss to Japan, ostensibly due to a thigh knock suffered in the 27-3 bonus-point thrashing of Scotland. But many believe the star ou-half could and should have played against Japan.

Sexton says he is desperate to get back into action as soon as possible.

“One thing about this team is that we back the squad, the 31 guys, we said that when we picked the squad, everyone here is ready to play,” said Sexton. “I picked up that strain against Scotland, and I wasn’t going to train fully Monday, Tuesday.

“The preparation time was so short the guys made the decision for me to sit this one out.

“You want to play every game but hopefully I can pay back the squad this week and next week too.”

Rugby World Cup :: Ireland’s overseas-born players hit back over criticism

Ireland’s foreign legion dismiss critics NICK PUREWAL

IRELAND are “hugely proud” of the way Bundee Aki embodies the spirit of representing his adopted nation, according to Rhys Ruddock.

Bullish Connacht centre Aki has stood firm on his status as an Ireland player, and now his team-mates have also leapt to his defence.

New Zealand-born with Samoan heritage, the 29-year-old Aki has been criticised in some quarters for chasing a Test career with Joe Schmidt’s squad. Aki has not only qualified for Ireland on residency, he has also since rejected strong overtures from France to continue to commit to Connacht.

A range of former Ireland players have hit out at Ireland’s naturalised

stars, while New Zealand assistant coach Ian Foster said directly of Aki in November: “They’ve turned him into an Irishman - he looks like an Irishman now, doesn’t he?”

Ireland’s players regard Aki as among their most committed and focused, as Leinster loose-forward Ruddock was at pains to point out.

“We’re hugely proud of him,” said Rhys Ruddock of his team-mate. “I don’t think anyone could argue that he’s one of the people who most displays the values of the group, and every time you see him play for Ireland you really see the passion and the emotion that he brings.

“And I think he represents the jersey with pride every single time.”

Ruddock is joined by brother and

strength and conditioning coach Ciaran in Ireland’s World Cup ranks.

Born to an Irish mother with their father just happening to be Wales’ 2005 Grand Slam-winning coach Mike, the Ruddock brothers know a thing or two about complicated backgrounds.

Rhys Ruddock admitted hearing his and his brother’s Welsh accents could lead some to make snap judgements on their loyalties or heritage. And that has left the 28-year-old star in no doubt about what matters most when it comes to his team-mates.

“Obviously people have opinions on these things. But people might not know our full situation or our background,” said Rhys Ruddock. “If they just hear the accent they might have an opinion on us playing for Ireland

and representing Ireland. But it is what it is. I think everyone in the group is hugely proud (of Aki) and there’s a huge responsibility associated with putting on the jersey, but I think everyone represents the group massively well within this squad, so it’s great.”

The Ruddock brothers both broke through the ranks at Leinster, but while Rhys has gone on to captain both province and country, lock Ciaran was unable to make a success of his top-level rugby.

Ciaran Ruddock reacted to the setback of missing out on an extended professional rugby career by launching what has become a hugely-successful fitness business. He said he is relishing his work with strength and conditioning chief, Jason Cowman.

Kiwi-born Irish player Bundee Aki is of Samoan background.

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October, 2019 | 31

SPORT

IN BRIEF

Football :: McCarthy still unbeaten in new era

Euro 2020 hopes rising

David McGoldrick celebrates his equaliser against Switzerland in Dublin.

DENMARK were held to a surprise goalless Euro 2020 qualifying draw in Georgia last month, boosting Republic of Ireland’s hopes of progressing from Group D. Mick McCarthy’s side are unbeaten and remain top with 11 points from five games, while the Danes are two points adrift in second place.

The Republic face a trip to Georgia in their next qualifier on October 12, with Denmark hosting Switzerland on the same day.

The Irish must also face Denmark at home and Switzerland away.

Ireland emerged from their toughest Group D fixture to date, Switzerland’s visit to the Aviva Stadium last month, with a hard-earned 1-1 draw thanks to David McGoldrick’s late header. Switzerland, ranked 11th in the world, had the better of the game but were unable to push home the advantage given to them by Fabian Schar’s fine 74th-minute strike.

And just as they had done in Denmark in June, the Republic fought back and scored a late equaliser.

Asked where that refusal to be beaten comes from, captain Seamus Coleman said: “It’s just in us, I think it’s in the Irish people and it’s in the Irish fans, it’s in the Irish players.

“We don’t get things handed to us.

Every one of us out there on the pitch has probably been rejected at some point in our career and you have to have something inside you to keep going, and a lot of our lads out there have that,” he said.

“You see Richard Keogh bust a gut

every week at club level - he’s played 600 games. We’ve got great characters in our squad and that helps drive us on.”

Ireland rode their luck at times, with the Swiss having dominated the midfield battle on a night when highly-rated Borussia Monchengladbach striker Breel Embolo was unable to mark an otherwise impressive individual display with a goal.

Manager Mick McCarthy admitted his side will have to be significantly better in the return game in Geneva, and ultimately it seems likely that if they beat either Switzerland or Denmark they will qualify. McCarthy’s mood was further improved after seeing wild-card selections Jack Byrne and James Collins shine on their senior debuts for the Republic of Ireland in a friendly against Bulgaria.

Shamrock Rovers midfielder Byrne, who started his career at Manchester City, had a hand in two of the goals and Luton striker Collins scored the third after coming off the bench in the 3-1 friendly victory.

Ireland finally broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half when keeper Hristo Ivanov spilled Ronan Curtis’ shot and Scott Hogan laid the loose ball across goal for Alan Browne to score his first international goal.

The visitors were level within 10 minutes but central defender Kevin Long and Collins on his debut both struck inside the final seven minutes to seal the win. McCarthy said: “Ultimately the result pleased me. There were some really good performances.”

War of words

Football :: Excitement builds around teenager

KEANE, WALTERS RESUME THEIR FAMOUS FEUD

McCarthy sets target for Troy Parrott

ROY Keane has re-opened his war of words with former Republic of Ireland international Jonathan Walters. The former Ireland skipper, who served for five years as Martin O’Neill’s assistant manager with the national team, famously crossed swords with Walters and Harry Arter over their managed training regimes in a spat which was later detailed by defender Stephen Ward in a leaked WhatsApp audio message. Speaking in Dublin last month, Keane referred to an emotional television appearance made by Walters in which he spoke about the death of his mother when he was 11 years old.

Keane said: “He talks a good game.

Imagine if he’d won a trophy. He goes on the TV about how he was harshly treated by me. He’s crying on the TV about his family situation. Maybe he should lie low for a while. Have a look at his medals?

That wouldn’t take long.”

MICK McCarthy has challenged Troy Parrott to force his way into contention at Tottenham to stand a chance of making the Republic of Ireland senior squad.

The 17-year-old year-old striker has enjoyed a remarkable month with the Republic’s Under-21s, scoring the winner on his debut against Armenia before adding a double to that first goal after coming off the bench in a 3-1 European Championship qualifier victory in Sweden.

His feat came just hours before McCarthy’s much-changed senior side beat Bulgaria 3-1 in a friendly in Dublin with the manager having resisted the temptation to draft in players from Stephen Kenny’s squad.

Asked afterwards what Parrott had to do to catch his eye, the manager said: “Get in the first team. You do realise that the U21s and the U23s where he’s playing is far-removed from where we are playing, don’t you?

There’s a huge difference.

“If I think he’s right, I’ll take him.

We’ll try and get him watched. It’s interesting - if he hadn’t come on and scored his goals, I wonder what would

Spurs and Ireland teenager Troy Parrott.

the questions be had he not come on, because Stephen’s not played him?”

Parrott was called up to the Spurs first team for the Caraboa Cup clash with Colchester but the fixture did not go well for Tottenham who were embarrassingly dumped out of the tournament after losing on penalties.

Parrott would have been dreaming of this night for some time and he al-

most made the perfect start but a low shot was deflected wide after he was played in by Dele Alli.

Parrott had another chance when he sent a near-post effort over the crossbar, before Kyle Walker-Peters struck a post with a cross-shot that beat Gerken.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino has called for a relaxed approach regarding Parrott’s future.

“He needs time, he is so young,” Pochettino said.

“For sure he is going to be a very important player for Tottenham in the future but maybe it needs one or two years of being involved and playing in this type of game, like Japhet, like Oliver Skipp.

“Young players need the space in the squad like it was five years ago with Eric Dier, Ryan Mason, Harry Kane. We need to create this belief and space again for the younger players to find their natural space in the squad. We are still trying to fix this.

“We need time with the young players, we need time with the new signings like Ryan Sessegnon, like Tanguy Ndombele, it will make us stronger.”

‘I WAS THREATENED OVER SWITCH TO ENGLAND’: RICE DECLAN Rice has revealed his switch from the Republic of Ireland to England led to threats against him and his family - something manager Gareth Southgate always feared could happen. Having represented the Irish team at youth level and won three senior caps, the 20-year-old made ripples at the start of the year by announcing his attention to switch to the country of his birth. Rice’s change of allegiance did not go down well with some, leading to some vitriolic online abuse. “Yeah, I’ve had a few bad bits,” he told ITV News. “I’ve had people saying online they’re going to come to my house. It was tough, there has been some abuse, it was more for my mum and dad really. They were more worried about me than anyone else. I don’t take any notice of it. I just try to keep focused.”

TRAINER FERDY MURPHY DIES TEN-TIMES Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Ferdy Murphy has died at the age of 70 following a long battle with cancer. Murphy was responsible for many talented, as well as popular, jumpers from the moment he took out a licence in 1990 and especially when based at Wynbury Stables in West Witton in North Yorkshire from 1996 to 2013. The Wexford-born relocated to a farm in Upper Normandy in France in search of better prize money and to be near his eldest daughter, Caroline. Murphy’s son, Barry, said: “It’s a sad day, but he’s in a better place. We had some amazing days. He’s a true great, in my opinion.”

ULSTER’S GILROY ON THE DOUBLE CRAIG Gilroy claimed a brace of tries as Ulster opened their Guinness PRO14 season in style with an emphatic 38-14 bonus-point win over the Ospreys at the Kingspan Stadium.

The home side also claimed tries from back-rower Greg Jones and full-back Matt Faddes, the new signing from New Zealand who crossed on his competitive debut for the Irish province. Ulster’s other score was a late penalty try awarded after Faddes was impeded trying to dive on a ball over the Ospreys’ line.

LATE RALLY PAYS OFF FOR LEINSTER A late rally from Leinster carried them to a narrow Guinness PRO14 victory over 14-man Benetton Treviso. The Italians led 27-22 with 20 minutes left, helped by 12 points from debutant fly-half Ian Keatley, but Dave Kearney scored his third try and replacement Harry Byrne sent over a penalty to give the reigning champions a bonus point in a 32-27 victory. Both teams, who have played several memorable matches recently, were severely depleted by the World Cup.

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Sport PAGE 30

Defeat may be a blessing in disguise, says Sexton

Japanese players celebrate after their stunning victory over Ireland in Shizuoka. (Below) Embattled Irish coach Joe Schmidt. Pictures: Adam Davy/ Yuki Sato.

Rugby World Cup :: Loss to Japan rocks Ireland’s hopes

Schmidt calls on team to lift NICK PUREWAL

JOE Schmidt has challenged his Ireland squad to reassert their class by hitting back immediately after suffering one of the all-time World Cup shock defeats by Japan.

Hosts Japan set alight the first World Cup in Asia by pummelling Ireland into 19-12 submission in Shizuoka, leaving visiting head coach Schmidt accepting a quick-fire rebuilding job was on the cards.

Ireland are still likley to reach the quarter-finals but may wind up facing back-to-back world champions New Zealand rather than South Africa, should they finish second in Pool A. Ireland have also lost Jack Conan for the rest of the World Cup, the Leinster flanker laid low by a foot fracture suffered in training.

Back-row forward Jordi Murphy

has been called up in Conan’s stead after being withdrawn at the last minute from Ulster’s Pro14 opener against Ospreys last weekend.

“The strength of the team will be how they respond and rebound from this,” said Schmidt. “A six-day turnaround was a little bit tough.”

By the time you read this Ireland will have played Russia in their third Pool A match. The Russians have shown some form, particularly against the Japanese in the tournament’s opening match, but they are not expected to trouble the Irish.

Injuries have become a problem for the Irish camp with highly-regarded back-rower Jack Conan falling victim to a training ground fracture.

“Unfortunately Jack Conan has a fracture in his foot,” Schmidt said on Sunday. “And he will return home to Ireland tomorrow.

“Rob Kearney has got a decent shiner, but he’s feeling okay now. He failed his HIA (head injury assessment) as far as I know. If he doesn’t pass HIA two and three he will be a confirmed concussion and he would miss the Russia match.”

Japan shocked the world for the second time in four years, adding this superlative victory over the globe’s number-two ranked side to their 3432 win over South Africa at the 2015 World Cup. Wing Kenki Fukuoka sealed Japan’s famous win, racing into the left corner and flooring a stunned Ireland side. Jack Carty had a hand in tries for Garry Ringrose and Rob Kearney as Ireland edged into a 12-3 lead, but that control evaporated.

Japan wound up dominating both the loose and tight exchanges, even taking control in the scrum.

Ireland boss Schmidt branded referee Angus Gardner’s performance “incredibly frustrating” the last time the Australian had officiated his side, in the 25-7 loss to Wales in March that sealed the 2019 Grand Slam for Warren Gatland’s men.

And in the wake of this loss, Schmidt was again left to lament a referee with whom Ireland cannot seem to get to grips.

Asked about the officiating in Shizuoka, Schmidt said: “We’ll go back and have a look at it. I certainly understand the frustrations of some of our players. It’s not too dissimilar from the last time we had this referee. We’ll make our comments to the referee body rather than make any public comment.”

Ireland were continually penalised for ruck infringements and conceded nine penalities to Japan’s six.