Irish Echo April 2019, Vol 32 No 4

IRISH FILM FESTIVAL

AUSSIE RULES

PAGE 8

PAGE 23

Big Screen Treats For Fans Of Irish Cinema In Sydney And Melbourne

Ailish Makes AFLW History As Premiere Irish Winner

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AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R April, 2019 | Volume 32 – Number 4

AU$5.95 (incl GST)

Green light for global celebration

The Melbourne Star along with the Carillon in Canberra, Sydney Town Hall and Perth’s Optus Stadium all lit up in green for St Patrick’s Day.

Australia embraces Global Greening party CANBERRA

SYDNEY

PERTH

Main photo: Rebecca Hughes

PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON WANTS MORE WOULD-BE MIGRANTS TO MOVE TO REGIONAL AREAS

GO BUSH, SAYS PM dency. Prime Minister Scott Morrison claims regional businesses need workers to fill vacancies.

“We’re only talking about people going into places where there is the jobs and opportunities,” he said at a press conference in Canberra. “We have a lot of shires around the country saying to us ‘We want people’.”

But immigration exper ts have claimed that demand for so-called

regional visas is actually falling and have cast doubt on the PM’s claims just months before an anticipated federal election in May. One migration agent said the new ‘three years in the bush’ provision would “suit some but will be a turn-off for many”.

“A larger number of the visas available will require migrants to first take a provisional visa to live in a regional area and then, after proving they have

lived there for three years have the opportunity to apply for permanent residence,” he said.

“This will suit some but will be a major turn-off for many.”

Also, demand for regional visas (the current 187 employer sponsored visa) has actually fallen from 10,198 places in 2016/17 to 6221 places in 2017/18.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

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AUSTRALIA will encourage skilled migrants to live and work in country towns in a bid to ease congestion in major cities, the Morrison government has announced.

As part of a new national population plan announced on March 19, two new regional visas will be introduced, requiring skilled workers to live outside major cities for three years before they can apply for permanent resi-

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

RIVERSIDE THEATRES IN ASSOCIATION WITH MERRIGONG THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS FISHAMBLE: THE NEW PLAY COMPANY PRODUCTION

WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY MARGARET MCAULIFFE

16 – 18 MAY A story full of heart, humour and wisdom.

A vivid portrait of a world far removed from the showbiz glitz of Riverdance, this award-winning work is a charming reminder that there’s more to life than learning the right steps. ««««« ‘…a delight… sit back and enjoy this emotional rollercoaster ride.’

Broadway Baby

Developed as part of Show in a Bag an artist development initiative of Dublin Fringe Festival, Fishamble: The New Play Company and Irish Theatre Institute to resource theatre makers and actors.

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AUSTRALIA’S IRISH NEW SPAP E R

irish australia IRELAND’S POP SUPERGROUP JET IN FOR FINAL CURTAIN CALL

The Boyz are back in town

David Hennessy

BOYZONE, Ireland’s first true pop supergroup, are ready to take their final curtain call.

More than two decades since they first got together, the band are back in Australia for one last time with their Thank You & Goodnight tour.

The ‘boyz’, now all in their 40s, have decided to let go of the vehicle that brought them huge success.

Boyzone first burst onto the scene in 1994, scoring hits in the UK and Irish charts with songs like Love Me for a Reason, Key to My Life, Picture of You, Father and Son, Words and Baby Can I Hold You. Shane Lynch reflects on the early days, describing their sudden fame as “a hell of a ride”.

“I was 17 years old and kind of catapulted around the world just not really knowing what lay ahead, just being on a crazy adventure,” he tells the Irish Echo. “But I was lucky enough to experience some major things with the other boys. Some of it is very vivid and some of it is very poignant in my life and then some of it is a distant memory like it never even happened.”

Put together by pop mogul Louis Walsh in 1993, the band was originally made up of Ronan Keating, Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham and Lynch. Although some of them had promising careers and spor ts scholarships, the five lads from Dublin gave up these to pursue a career in music. They quickly became the biggest pop group to have ever come out of Ireland.

“I think the magic times for Boyzone were, without a shadow of a doubt, the 90s that brought us our huge success.

I think probably the best memories for me is when we got back together in ’07, ’08, those kind of times when we were fresh in our minds and it wasn’t such a mad ride anymore.

“The way music worked had changed and you weren’t really going from radio station to radio station anymore. It all became a lot easier in the noughties and I think those are kind of the best memories for me.

“The blur factor of the 90s, it’s hard to pinpoint anything that was a highlight as such. I think the highlights really came in our older stages and just being able to enjoy being a band.”

Lynch, who took part in last year’s Celebrity Big Brother and also regu-

larly competes in motor racing, says the farewell tour has been a great excuse to reconnect with his old mates.

“We really don’t get to hang out anymore. It’s only a blessing if our paths cross at any point. We don’t get to call around, ‘you wanna play football?’ It’s not like that. When you have children, it just all gets a bit distant.

“It’s almost like a continuous stag weekend when you go on a tour; it’s a celebration of the joyous moments.

We’re very blessed to be able to do it.”

Over the years, the 42-year-old has also come to terms with previously undiagnosed dyslexia which, he reveals, made it very difficult for him to read tour schedules or autocues in the early days.

“It was the 80s when I went to school, dyslexia wasn’t really a thing and it was just more that you couldn’t read and write or you were a troubled kid or whatever.

“I was able to hide it for those (Boyzone) years and it was just as I became older I found my real confidence to be able to say, ‘Actually, you know what? I actually can’t do what you guys do’.

“All the Boyzone boys didn’t know for many, many years. As it turned out I’m massively dyslexic.

I wish I took that journey on that path many, many years ago. A lot of people say the school system let me down and all that stuff; it really didn’t. I let myself down. I’m the one who didn’t say anything.

Boyzone on stage in Belfast in January as part of the Thank You & Goodnight tour.

“It became a great thing in the end because it built my character into who I am today in a survival test of things.

That said, life could have been very difficult and it can be very difficult for people out there who can’t read and write and are scared to go back.

“They’re horrible times and horrible memories, those kind of schooling times. So to go to adult education, or to find out you can get to read and write the older you get, it’s a lengthy process but I would advise anyone out there who has any sort of problem like that not to be afraid.”

The other members of Boyzone have had differing levels of success since the original split in 2000. Ronan Keating, 42, has enjoyed huge success as a solo artist and spends a lot of time in Australia with his second wife Storm, a Queenslander.

He has also appeared on a number

Boyzone’s original line-up pictured in 2008. (From left) Keith Duffy, Ronan Keating, Mikey Graham, the late Stephen Gately and Shane Lynch.

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of Australian TV shows including All Together Now and X Factor. Keith Duffy, 44, has been acting on screen and stage since breaking into a new career with a part in the long-running TV soap, Coronation Street.

Mikey Graham, 46, trained as an actor after Boyzone split in 2000 and has made a number of TV appearances including in TV3’s Celebrity Apprentice Ireland.

The group was hit by tragedy in 2009 when original member Stephen Gately died. He was 33 years old.

The band, the nation and the world were shocked by his untimely death.

Lynch says Gately continues to inspire the remaining Boyzone members.

“It’s coming up to 10 years now since we lost Stephen and 10 years is a long time and, without a doubt, time is a great healer. What we try to do in our show is to make it a celebation of Stephen also.

“He was an amazing part of Boyzone, amazing character and without a doubt very much missed amongst us as a group, let alone as a friend and a guy that I would have grown up with.

“The way to miss him, it’s not necessarily a tear to the eye, it’s more of a smile. There’s a lot of emotion for sure that r uns through the crowd and certainly has done on this tour.

“It gave different emotions to different people and I think that’s what music does, that’s exactly what music is all about.

“When we meet up and we talk about Steo, we celebrate Steo. It delivers different impacts for different people but for us guys, we’re definitely there to celebrate it.”

While L ynch savours those early days of Boyzone he admits he ‘lost it’ on The Late Late Show last year when host Ryan Tubridy showed a clip of the

band’s cringeworthy first appearance on the show 25 years ago. “I’ve busted my bollocks to get here. See that clip?

You can shove it up your fucking hole,” Lynch told Tubridy on the live show.

L ynch now laughs when asked about the outburst, which went viral on social media.

“You know what it was? It’s kind of plain and simple and I, as a grown man, perhaps should have expressed myself in a little bit more of a controlled way but I guess I had had enough at that point. We all kind of lash out at times.

“My frustration was they invited us onto the show to celebrate Boyzone and talk about the great 25 years and to give us a real boost.

“The first thing they do is try and take you down or take you back to a time that was not nice for you.

“What I mean by that is The Late Late Show as we all know is not Boyzone’s best time in life ever, it’s actually the worst so it’s like being reminded of being the dumb kid in school, the fat kid in school, the ugly kid in school.

“That was a hard time in Boyzone’s life so to be kind of kicked in the bollocks by your own TV show, the biggest TV show in Ireland and to regress you back to those times was, I thought, very unfair.

“I think it was a nasty thing to do, it was like bullying at its highest level.

Laugh it off because it’s a TV show?

No, I just felt I was being bullied at that point and I guess I came out kicking and screaming or expressed myself the way I did. “That’s just how I felt at the time.”

Boyzone play the ICC Theatre in Sydney tomorrow (April 5) before wrapping up their tour at The Star on the Gold Coast on April 6 and 7.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

irish australia SONG AND DANCE SHOW A TASTE OF IRELAND EMBARKS ON MASSIVE AUSTRALIAN TOUR

A Ceili like you’ve never seen David Hennessy CEILI Moore’s very name offers a hint as to her artistic passion.

The 24-year-old’s life became something of a whirlwind after she was crowned world champion in London 2014, beating the best dancers from all around the world.

She has also performed in Riverdance and alongside Michael Flatley in the lead role of Lord of the Dance.

But now she’s in a new show, A Taste Of Ireland, which is embarking on a massive Australian tour.

Performing alongside her partner Brent Pace, a world medallist and six- time national champion, and her brother, Jonty, who is also a world champion, Moore says it isthe elite cast that sets apart the show.

“We pretty much take everyone [in the audience] from the beginning of Ireland to now. A lot of Irish history and it literally is a taste of Ireland,” Moore tells The Irish Echo.

“There’s a lot of things that probably make our show different to a lot of the other Irish dance shows.

“One thing that really stands out for me is definitely the calibre of musicians and dancers. We have in our cast a lot of world champion dancers, dancers from Lord of the Dance, Riverdance, really well-accomplished dancers both in the performance and competition field so anyone who comes to the show will really be wowed by how incredibly talented the performers are.

“Our show also has a storyline which a lot of other shows do not have. We have a narrator who tells the story throughout the show but every single person, depending on their relationship with Ireland, comes away with their own spin on it.

“We always have people saying, ‘Oh my gosh, remember when that happened’ or ‘That really reminded me of ...’

“The fact that everyone is able to bring their own personal experiences and relate it to the show is really cool.”

Ceili has been steeped in a proud family tradition of Irish dancing. Her

TASTE OF IRELAND: Ceile Moore (in gold) with her partner, Brent Pace, in A Taste Of Ireland which is touring Australia. (Below) Ms Moore with her mother, Fiona Gaye Moore, at the 2014 World Irish Dancing Championship where Ceile was crowned world champion. mother, Fiona, was the first woman from outside the UK and Ireland to win a world title when the Sydney dancer won in Dublin in 1980. When she was emulated by not just Ceili with her win but

by Jonty, who won world championship honours last year, it made the Moore family the first to have three world title winners in one family.

Straight from her international win in London, Ceili would join the cast of Riverdance and then Lord of The Dance which would take her to Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Europe, South Africa and London’s West End: “It definitely was a bit of a whirlwind. I was actually touring with a show called Heartbeat of Home which was by the creators of Riverdance. I was touring with that show during the time I won the world championships, which is actually very rare. A lot of people either compete or do shows; there’s not very many that do both. I went straight from winning the worlds on to Riverdance and then on to Lord of the Dance, so it definitely was a bit of a whirlwind.

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, I will finish my civil engineering degree here in Ireland in the next two months. I am looking into jobs in Australia hoping to find an employer to sponsor me. Is there a work visa I can get without a job offer?

I have a partner so I need to be able to work.

Gemma P

Dear Gemma, ONE option to look at is the Recognised Graduate 476 visa.

The visa application fee is $375. Add $190 for a partner and $95 for a child.

The current stated processing time for the 476 visas is about six months.

This is also a really good option for anyone that has yet to come to Australia and has recently finished or is set to finish an engineering qualification.

This visa allows an 18-month stay in Australia with unlimited work rights.The open work rights would be attractive to employers because there is no sponsorship requirement.

“It was very cool to work alongside Michael Flatley. He really knows how to get the best out of every performer that he works with. He’s very passionate about what he does.

“He does a lot of working one-onone with dancers so the first time he worked one-on-one with me was very nerve-wracking and scary but it was also amazing. The one incredible thing about dancing alongside Michael Flatley is the audiences just go crazy. Everyone knows who Michael Flatley is. He pretty much put Irish dancing on the map.”

Working with Flatley has benefitted Moore as she embarks on this tour and works on it as not only a performer but promoter.

“I think with Lord of the Dance, as opposed to Riverdance, there’s a lot more storyline and acting so I played the role of Morrighan when I was in Lord of the Dance. Flatley was definitely helpful in teaching me how to bring my personality into a role and I play a few roles throughout A Taste of Ireland.

“He was hugely helpful and beneficial

in helping shape me as a dancer and therefore helping me be able to play these roles effectively.”

Although she was based in the Sunshine Coast until recently, Moore is now back in Sydney where she can give back to young dancers by doing some teaching at her mother’s Fiona Gaye-Moore Academy.

“I’ve spent the last couple of weeks teaching with mum. I step in and give a helping hand whenever I can. It’s a bit busy at the moment but I’m definitely around whenever I can be.”

Ceili and the current show are also giving back to the community as Pace Entertainment Group and A Taste of Ireland signed a corporate partnership with Camp Quality, one of Australia’s biggest children’s charities.

You can travel in and out of the country and work in any industry. Family members can join the visa.

The aim of this visa is to give engineering graduates a chance to find work experience, and can lead to options for sponsorship.

It is worth remembering that the Department of Home Affairs’ migration rules now require sponsored 482 visa applicants to have at least two years’ relevant work experience; so this 476 visa can be a really good way to build up the necessary time.

Civil Engineers may be able to apply directly for independent 189 or state sponsored 190 skilled visas.

These are points tested permanent visa options; application costs are higher and processing times longer.

These applications could be made from outside Australia or inside Australia while on a temporary visa.

See immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/ visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/ skilled-independent-189 To be eligible for the 476 Recognised Graduate visa you need to be under 31-years-old when applying and have completed a degree, masters or postgraduate diploma in engineering from an eligible university within the past two years.

Qualification must contain a major sequence of study or specialisation in an engineering discipline. For example: civil, structural, environmental, electrical,

mechanical, production and plant engineering.

You must have completed your engineering qualification at a recognised educational institution. Generally this is an institution offering an Engineering qualification accredited under the “Washington​n Accord” See the list at www.ieagreements.org/ accords/washington It is also possible for Irish passport holders under 35 years of age to gain a 12-month working holiday visa (417 WHV).

A working holiday visa is typically granted within a week or two. A second and third working holiday visa can also be obtained subject to completing specified regional work.

A strategy for engineering graduates who have not yet had a working holiday visa might be to take the 476 Recognised Graduate visa, and keep your options open for a working holiday visa later on.

The 18-month open work rights on the 476 visa will make finding the right job in Australia much easier. Remember to apply within two years of completing your studies.

You also have to be outside Australia for this visa to be granted, and here are no bridging visas. The application can be lodged online immi.homeaffairs. gov.au/visas/getting-a-visa/visa-listing/ skilled-recognition-graduate-476#HowTo Consider asking a registered migration agent for help with assessment of your eligibility. Find one at mia.org.au

A Taste Of Ireland is touring regional Victoria before moving on to SA, WA, Queensland and New South Wales.

The tour ends in August at The Concourse in Chatswood in Sydney.

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

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

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

irish australia IRISH-AMERICAN CELTIC PUNK OUTFIT ‘FLOGGING MOLLY’ ANNOUNCE EXTRA SHOWS

Aussie return for Flogging Molly DUE to high demand, quintessential Irish-American Celtic Folk/Punk band Flogging Molly have added extra shows to their Australian tour.

Known for their distinctive fusion of traditional Irish music and hard-hitting punk, their impassioned live show has won the hearts of many Aussies over the past two decades.

Flogging Molly, who are in Australia to perform at Bluesfest in Byron Bay, are often compared to The Dropkick Murphys and The Pogues.

The social and political awareness that drives Flogging Molly’s music is never more prominent than in their latest release Life Is Good.

Though many of the lyrics found in Flogging Molly tracks have been sparked by events in vocalist Dave King’s youth – he seamlessly addresses themes of war-torn Ireland, his father’s premature death, and his move to the United States as a child into the fold – there is a political commentary that hangs in the balance with Life Is Good, their first full-length release since 2011’s Speed of Darkness.

With 20 years of performing together under their belts, the music is mature, well-crafted, equally polished and almost aggressively topical.

With a plethora of instruments on stage – including acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bodhráns, violin, tin whistle, banjo, mandolin, accordion, piano, concertina, bass guitar, drums and percussion – their powerful live performance is sure to entertain audiences across Australia this April.

Flogging Molly play The Croxton in Melbourne on April 14 and the Metro in Sydney on April 18.

Taoiseach’s fan mail to Kylie TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar asked Australian pop star Kylie Minogue if he could welcome her to Ireland personally when she came to Dublin for a concert last year, the Mail On Sunday has revealed.

Mr Varadkar wrote a note on official headed notepaper from the Office of the Taoiseach, which was released following a freedom of information request.

The letter, which was signed “Leo V Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister)” was sent before Ms Minogue’s planned concert at Dublin’s 3Arena on October 7, which she had to reschedule due to a throat infection.

“Dear Kylie,” the Taoiseach wrote.

“Just wanted to drop you a short note in advance of the concert in Dublin. I am really looking forward to it. Am a huge fan! I understand you are staying in the Merrion Hotel which is just across the street from my office in Government Buildings. If you like, I’d love to welcome you to Ireland personally.”

The Mail on Sunday, which obtained the letter, reported that the Department of the Taoiseach twice refused a request for the letter to be released under Freedom of Information legislation, arguing that it was written in a personal capacity by the Taoiseach and “does not relate to matters arising in the course of, or for, the purpose of the Taoiseach’s functions as the head of Government”.

Ultimately the Taoiseach consented to the release of the letter after an appeal against the decision was refused.

Mr Varadkar received a phone call from the singer apologising for the cancelled gig, the paper reported. He eventually went to the rescheduled concert, which took place in December and met the singer after the gig.

Flogging Molly are back in Australia for Bluesfest and side gigs in Melbourne and Sydney.

AUSTRALIA A KEY PART OF IRELAND’S POST-BREXIT DIVERSIFICATION STRATEGY

Aussie opportunity beckons Billy Cantwell

AUSTRALIA is very much part of the Irish government’s plans to explore new markets to diffuse the impact of Brexit, according to Minister Heather Humphreys who represented the Varadkar government in Sydney and Perth over St Patrick’s Day. “Diversifying our markets is part of our Brexit strategy,” she told the Irish Echo. “We consider Australia to be a very good opportunity. I know its a long distance but the world is a small place now. There are many opportunities for Irish companies here.”

She also said that Ireland provides excellent opportunities for Australian companies.

“They see Ireland as a gateway into the European Union. Ireland will be the only English language country left in the European Union when the UK leaves.”

The Minister said the fintech sector is particularly active. A number of Australian enterprises, including Macquarie Bank, are seeking licences to operate in Ireland.

“We welcome that,” she said. “Their corporate governance structures are very similar to ours. They’re happy

that our government regulation is strong and we have a stable country.

So they know, when they business with us, we do what it says on the tin.”

Ms Humphreys led an eight-day trade and investment mission, covering Melbourne, Sydney and Perth and Singapore. Seventy-one Enterprise Ireland client companies participated in 24 business events and pre-arranged meetings with potential business partners including Telstra, Optus, ANZ Bank, CBA, Cochlear, BT Financial, NAB Bank, Deloitte, Macquarie Bank, Stone and Chalk, and Amazon Web Services.

The minister confirmed plans to open new Enterprise Ireland offices in Melbourne as part of the Government’s Global Ireland 2025 strategy. She would not be drawn on whether the absence of diplomatic representation in Melbourne and Brisbane would be addressed. Perth has an honorar y consul.

“We will continue to expand our representation through Global Ireland so whether its our agencies opening new offices or the diplomatic service, we’re always looking to increase our presence all over the world,” the Minister added.

Pictured at a green-lit Sydney Town Hall are (from left): Owen Feeney, Consul General of Ireland; Linda Scott, Deputy Lord Mayor of Sydney; Heather Humphreys, Ireland’s Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation; Breandán Ó Caollaí, Irish Ambassador in Australia, and Sofia Hansson, director of, Tourism Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Improved economy attracting Irish workers home Billy Cantwell

IRELAND’S Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys says the salary levels on offer in Ireland are attracting emigrants home.

“Our economy is good. The wages back home are attracting people back to Ireland. For that reason, there are more people coming back to Ireland than leaving right now.”

A large number of expat nurses sent a strong message of solidarity with

their striking colleagues in Ireland during the recent industrial action.

Protests in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth featured banners with a clear message for the Irish government: “Give us a reason to come home”.

Did the minister have a message for those nurses?

“The HSE always welcomes nurses back and has established a ‘Bring Them Home’ campaign to suppor t nurses to make the move back,” she said. “There are a range of incentives to encourage Irish nurses who cur-

rently live abroad to consider returning home and joining the Irish health service. Those incentives include up to €1500 in vouched removal relocation expenses including the cost of flights, nursing registration costs and a funded postgraduate education.”

The Government could not say how many nurses had taken advantage of the Bring Them Home incentives, which has run since 2017.

The minister spoke at a number of events about the important role the diaspora has to play in Ireland’s future.

One way to engage Irish citizens abroad is to allow them to vote in elections. Does she personally support extending the voting franchise to Irish citizens abroad?

“This is something that the Government has looked at and we’re going to bring forward a referendum [on whether Irish citizens abroad can vote in presidential elections] and leave that decision to the people.”

Ireland is one of the few western democracies that does not allow its citizens abroad to vote.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

irish australia TORRENTIAL RAIN FAILS TO DAMPEN SPIRITS AT SYDNEY ST PATRICK’S DAY CELEBRATIONS

Patrick Rocks, despite downpour THERE was more than 44mm of rain on St Patrick’s Day but thousands of revellers were not dissuaded from attending the Sydney Irish festivities.

The Rocks was a sea of green as backpackers and families descended on the historic area in huge numbers for the official Irish celebrations.

The determination of the Irish community to celebrate the national day despite the appalling weather impressed Property NSW, who manage The Rocks area.

“Our vision to transform The Rocks into an Irish village was a great success, with our restaurants, bars and retailers, and the Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival organisers worked hard to ensure visitors had the best experience possible, despite the w e a t h e r, ” s p o k e s w o m a n S a r a h Cleggett told the Irish Echo.

“The Rocks shares a rich history with the Irish in Sydney and we look forward to celebrating St Patrick’s Day here again next year.”

More than 600 people took part in the modified parade, which weaved its way through the narrow streets of The Rocks. Outside the Mercantile Hotel hundreds of revellers enjoying the live music cheered on the parade as it made its way up to Dawes Point Park, the festival site.

Karen Murphy, president of the Sydney Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival committee, was delighted that so many turned up to celebrate, despite the downpour.

“The Sydney St Patrick’ Day Organisation volunteers would like to

thank the Irish, friends of the Irish and those who were Irish for the day who braved the rain, walked with the parade, splashed in the puddles and demonstrated that hail, rain or shine nothing stops the celebrations on St Patrick’s Day. We are so proud of you.

“We have come home to The Rocks and will return next year. A big thank you to Property NSW who manage The Rocks precinct for their help and support. They have now been adopted into the Sydney St Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival family. Looking for ward to seeing everyone again next year.”

The rain eve¡ntually took its toll on the festival site at Dawes Point Park, which closed early, at 2pm.

“Even though the day was a great success, the weather did mean that [we] took a financial hit. The fact the park had to close early and the heavy rain meant that forecasted revenue and donations fell short. In order to make up for this the committee are planning a couple of exciting fundraising events.

Alternatively you can donate using the donate button on the website.”

Organisers may be counting the cost of going ahead with the event but the public reaction was positive.

Briege Gormley’s Facebook message was typical of the reaction.

“Congratulations to all the committee and volunteers for putting on a great day, despite the weather. Your many months of hard work very apparent.

Hopefully donations will still come in to ensure Sydney’s Irish community can continue to enjoy celebrating together for many years to come.”

RAIN ON OUR PARADE: Business Minister Heather Humpreys and official guests at the start of the rain-soaked St Patrick’s Day parade in Sydney. (Below) Revellers made sure the wet weather did not dampen spirits.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

irish australia IRISH FILM FESTIVAL RETURNS TO SYDNEY AND MELBOURNE

LITERATURE

Dervla McTiernan

Two Irish writers for Sydney festival BREAK DANCERS: Between Land And Sky celebrates the mecca the west coast of Ireland has become for surfers from all over the world.

Irish eyes, film fest returns THE Irish Film Festival returns to Sydney and Melbourne this May. The festival officially launches in each city with Float like a Butterfly, an uplifting drama from the producers of Sing Street and the Oscar winning film Once. Set in 1972 when Muhammad Ali was set to fight in Dublin, the film follows Frances, a young Traveller girl with big dreams of becoming a champion boxer.

The film has been acclaimed at the Cork and Toronto International Film Festivals.

The celebration of Irish cinema begins in Sydney with a community screening of Unquiet Graves at Penrith Gaels Club on Wednesday May 1, followed by the official opening night at the Chauvel in Paddington on Thursday May 2. The festival runs in the Chauvel until Sunday May 5.

The Melbourne leg of the festival takes place at the Kino Cinema in Collins Street from Thursday May 9 until Saturday May 12.

Festival director Enda Murray says he is proud of the programme for this year’s festival. When pressed for a ‘must-see’ he nominates The Drummer And The Keeper.

“Nick Kelly, who is the writer and director, was the lead singer with Irish band The Fat Lady Sings back in the day,” he said.

“He brings a songwriter’s sensibility to the film and I love the fact that it revolves around music.”

The director also singled out A Lifetime Of Stories, a documentary in which older Irish emigrants reflect on their lives. Sydney residents Tomás de Bhaldraithe, Pat Foley, Marian Reilly, Marie MacMillan and Damien McCluskey are some of the locals featured.

“From witnessing Derry’s Bloody Sunday in 1972 to sailing around Ireland on a Galway Hooker, these are men and women who have experienced life to the full,” Murray said.

SOME IRISH FILM FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS Float Like a Butterfly

IT’S Ireland in 1971. Muhammad Ali is fighting in Croke Park in Dublin and Frances (Hazel Doupe, right) a young Traveller girld dreams of being a boxer. From the producers of Once and Sing Street, Float Like a Butterfly is a powerful and timely story of a girl’s fight for freedom and belonging.

Unquiet Graves

THIS documentary alleges that the British government colluded with Loyalist paramilitaries in the deaths of more than 120 citizens in Ireland in the early 70s. Unquiet Graves details how members of the RUC and the UDR, (a British Army regiment) were centrally involved in the murder of over 120 civilians during the recent conflict in Ireland. Director Seán Murray will be a guest of the festival.

The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid

AN Irish farmer takes on a multinational company in this weird and wonderful documentary.

Dublin Oldschool

A WANNABE DJ deals with life head-on in a drug-fuelled weekend Dublin’s rave scene in the ‘90s. Ulysses meets Trainspotting. Director Dave Tynan is a festival guest.

TWO Irish writers, Dervla McTiernan and Caoilinn Hughes, will take part in this year’s Sydney Writers Festival, which begins on April 29.

Der vla McTiernan is an international bestselling and critically acclaimed writer. She is the author of The Ruin and The Scholar, both set in Ireland. The Ruin is the first in the Cormac Reilly detective series and was named one of Lit Hub’s Most Anticipated Crime Myster y and Thrillers of 2018 and an Amazon.com Best Book of 2018 and has been optioned for TV by Hopscotch.

McTernan, who was born in Cork before her family settled in Galway, has been in Australia since 2008 and lives in Perth.

Hughes is an Irish writer whose poetry collection Gathering Evidence won the Irish Times Shine/Strong Award.

She has received fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation, Art Omi, La Napoule Foundation and Siena Art Institute, as well as a Literature Bursary Award from the Arts Council of Ireland and the Ireland Funds Monaco Award.

She holds a PhD in English Literature from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anthony Doerr calls Hughes’ debut novel Orchid And The Wasp, “a gorgeous novel told in an onrush of wit and ferocity [that] will rattle your most basic assumptions about money, ambition, and the nature of love.

Caoilinn Hughes is a massive talent.” www.swf.org.au

Metal Heart

Between Land and Sea

LAHINCH, Co Clare is an unlikely home to five surfing schools and one of the world’s most dramatic big-wave breaks beneath the majestic Cliffs of Moher. This enthralling documentary presents some incredible surf photography and an engaging portrait of new lifestyles for young people on the West coast of Ireland.

The Drummer and the Keeper

TWO young Dublin men find friendship despite their mental health problems in this tender and uplifting rock’n’roll story.

Gabriel (Dermot Murphy), a drummer who is bipolar, meets Christopher (Jacob McCarthy), a teenager with Aspergers Syndrome, while the pair are in rehabilitation.

An unlikely friendship blossoms despite the hardships giving both young men something to live for.

WE hear amazing stories of travel, work and family in the oral histories which the subjects present in their own words. From partnering with Hurricane Higgins in snooker to a young woman driving overland to Australia via Kathmandu on the ‘magic bus’ in the ‘70s - these are men and women who have experienced life to the full.

No Party for Billy Burns

BILLY Burns (Kevin McGahern) is a would-be cowboy lost in the dreary fields of Cavan. Billy seeks romance and adventure and dreams of riding into the sunset but the local rednecks have other ideas.

The Camino Voyage

FIVE artists including Oscar winner Glen Hansard (left) embark on a modern day Celtic Odyssey as they row a currach 2,500km from Ireland to Northern Spain.

Captain Morten and the Spider Queen A FAMILY cartoon featuring a shrinking boy, a talking caterpillar, and the voices of Brendan Gleeson, Pauline McLynn and a host of Irish comedians.

Caoilinn Hughes

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AUSTRALIA’S IRISH NEWSPAP E R

irish australia NEW PODCAST SERIES SEEKS TO CAPTURE IRISH AUSTRALIAN IMMIGRANT STORIES

Irish voices in the Lucky Country LUCKY Countr y is a brand new podcast and national community radio series in which Irish immigrants tell their stories in their own words.

Produced by Dubliner and long-time Sydney resident Ciarán O’ Raighne, the series seeks to get to the kernel of the Irish emigrant experience in Australia.

“Lucky Countr y is all about Irish voices,” O’Raighne explains.

“Why they came, their trials and tribulations. Men and women from all provinces. Catholics, Protestants and everywhere in between.

“Aged in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and even an 82-year-old who worked on the Snowy Mountains scheme. Some grew up in the six counties at the height of the conflict in Nor ther n Ireland.

Others came in more recent years after the Celtic Tiger imploded nine years ago.

“The stor ytellers come from the island of Ireland and work as semiprofessional soccer players, business owners, graphic designers, television producers and even a boxer who holds NSW and Australian titles.”

Putting the podcast together has been a labour of love for O’Raighne, who presents a twice-weekly show on Celtic FM under his broadcasting name, Jack Murphy.

“The Irish are known for their storytelling,” he says. “Perhaps it dates back to pre-electronic media device days, when village storytellers went from house to house to tell stories to the locals in exchange for a bite to eat and something to drink. Oral story telling was also a critical way to keep Irish Gaelic culture intact under British colonial rule.”

The Irish, O’Raighne says, also have a particular affection for radio.

In an address to the United Nations in 2016, President Michael D Higgins spoke of Ireland’s affection for the spoken word. “Irish people spend more time than most nations listening to the radio. Our national, local and community radio stations are invaluable resources.”

The father-of-two has been in Sydney since the late 1980s and recently celebrated 25 years on the air.

Before leaving Ireland he presented arock music show on a Dublin radio station. He also worked as a news announcer in his university days.

In the late 80s, O’Raighne got his US Green Card but decided to first go on an adventure to Australia on the fledgling Working Holiday Visa. He has called Australia home since then.

He continued his passions of playing rugby and was selected to play for the Western Australian state squad and, later, played first grade for Northern Suburbs in Sydney.

He has also worked as a freelance broadcast journalist with ABC radio, BBC and RTÉ.

“The series has been made possible with the assistance of many volunteers and I’m grateful to ever yone who worked on Lucky Country,” O’Raighne told the Irish Echo. “We also received some help from the Irish government’s Emigrant Suppor t Programme together with the Australia’s’ Community Broadcast Fund.”

Listeners can tune in or download the Lucky Country series by visiting celticfm.ie/podcasts

Ciarán O’Raighne, aka Jack Murphy, has created a podcast featuring Irish emigrants to Australia.

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Remarkable emigrant tale of Maureen O’Carroll A NEW memoir has been published that celebrates the early life of cellist Maureen O’Carroll, who died in 2012.

Bor n in the Sydney suburb of Balmain to Irish immigrant parents, John and May O’Carroll, Maureen carved out a very successful career as a professional musician.

She and her nine siblings all showed a gift for music and their parents saw this as the path out of poverty.

Six of them, including Maureen, attended the NSW Conservatorium of Music High School and went on to become professional musicians.

O’Carroll was drawn to the cello at a very young age, and would prop her brother Robert’s violin on a jam tin and play it like a cello. At 17 she joined the New Zealand National Orchestra and went from there to New York, where she performed with Frank Sinatra, among others. In 1974, she returned to Australia as a single mother of three.

She played a blind audition behind a curtain (to avoid gender discrimination) and was accepted into the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Being a child of two rebels who had fought for Irish independence, Maureen was deeply patriotic about Ireland. At one Sydney Symphony concert, she noted Rule Britannia was on the program and refused to play it.

She placed her cello down and marched off stage, only returning at its end.

The new book, A Musical Memoir of an Irish Immigrant Childhood, has been written by her daughter Leora although Maureen is posthumously credited as a co-author.

“Even though her family endured

hardships and poverty, my mother a lways had an optimistic outlook and her humorous takes on her childhood is what makes her recollections so enchanting,” Leora told the Irish Echo.

“As an adult, I was working in New York City as a television writer and producer and decided to move to Seattle where my mother lived, so that we could finally work on this memoir.

We sat side by side for many months to write the book. It was important to us to authentically capture the memories as seen through the eyes of a child.

During the writing process, I learned much more about my mother’s life, and I will always be grateful for the opportunity to work with her to capture these memories.”

Maureen O’Carroll: A Musical Memoir Of An Irish Immigrant Childhood is available via Amazon

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

ireland SHAMROCK DIPLOMACY IN WASHINGTON DC AS THE TAOISEACH IS WELCOMED TO THE WHITE HOUSE

Trump confirms Irish trip during Vadarkar visit Cate McCurry US president Donald Trump will visit Ireland later this year.

Mr Trump told Leo Varadkar, during a meeting with the Taoiseach in the Oval Office in the White House at St Patrick’s Day, that he wanted to make the trip soon.

“I am coming at some point during the year,” Mr Trump said. “I missed it last time and I would’ve loved to have been there. It’s a special place and I have a very warm spot for Doonbeg, I will tell you that. It’s just a great place.”

One of Mr Trump’s golf courses is in the Co Clare village of Doonbeg.

Mr Varadkar said he had a “really good meeting” with the president.

“We spoke about Brexit. Needless to say we have very different views on Brexit as to whether it’s a good thing, but it was a real opportunity for me to set out Ireland’s position, particularly when it comes to protecting the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement and protecting the border.”

Mr Varadkar also said the leaders spoke about the issue of the undocumented Irish in the US.

Homeless numbers now top 10,000 THE number of homeless people

in Ireland has reached more than 10,000 for the first time, new figures have revealed. A total of 10,264 people were in emergency accommodation in February, according to official statistics from the Department of Housing. The figures included 6,840 adults and more than 3,700 children.

Police quizzed over Cookstown tragedy POLICE officers who responded to a hotel disco crush that killed three teenagers are to face investigation after it emerged they initially withdrew from the scene. Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable George Hamilton has referred the actions of the officers to the region’s independent police watchdog, the Police Ombudsman.

Co Tyrone schoolchildren Morgan Barnard, 17, Lauren Bullock, 17, and Connor Currie, 16, died following a crush near the entrance to the Greenvale Hotel in Cookstown on March 17, St Patrick’s Day.

Taoiseach defends corporate tax rate LEO Varadkar has defended Ireland’s corporate tax rate, saying that it gives investors certainty.

Speaking in Washington DC as part of his four-day St Patrick’s tour of the US, the Fine Gael leader said that Ireland’s corporate tax has been at 12.5 per cent for decades and that “isn’t going to change”.

“There are actually countries in the European Union that have a lower tax rate than us so we are not even the lowest,” he added.

“I think what we offer is certainty that even though there may be changes in government, even though we may go through different economic cycles of recession or growth. I think that gives investors or potential investors that certainty you need if you’re making a multibillion-euro investment.”

“We talked about immigration. Very strong support from the president around the issue of securing more visas for Irish people to come and work here in the US, and (to) help us solve the issue of tens of thousands of Irish people who came here a long time ago but are undocumented,” he said.

US vice-president Mike Pence confirmed he was planning a trip to Ireland with his mother Nancy.

Mr Pence made the comments at a breakfast meeting with Mr Varadkar and his partner, Matthew Barrett, at the vice-president’s residence in the capital.

During the meeting Mr Varadkar said that he is not judged by his sexual orientation but by his political actions.

“I stand here leader of my country, flawed and human but judged by my political actions and not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender or religious beliefs,” he said. “I don’t believe my country is the only one in the world where this story is possible. It’s found in every country were freedom and liberty are cherished.

“We are, after all, all God’s children.

And that’s true of the US as well: the land of hope, brave and free.”

President Donald Trump receives a traditional bowl of shamrock from Leo Varadkar during the Taoiseach’s visit to the United States for St Patrick’s Day. Picture: Niall Carson

PRESIDENT ATTENDS MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR CHRISTCHURCH MOSQUE VICTIMS

Condemnation for NZ killings Michelle Devane

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins attended a memorial ser vice at Dublin’s Pro Cathedral on St Patrick’s Day for the victims of the New Zealand mosque shootings.

A service of silence and reflection was held by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to remember those who died in the mass shootings and to renew the rejection of all forms of religious and racial intolerance.

The death toll stands at 50 after the shootings at two Christchurch mosques on March 15. Dozens more were wounded.

Archbishop Mar tin expressed solidarity with the people of New Zealand, and Muslims in Ireland and abroad. New Zealand ambassador to Ireland Brad Burgess was among the large crowd that attended.

“I felt that it would somehow be incongruous to hold our regular joyful celebration of the feast of Saint Patrick here in the Pro-Cathedral, without first finding a moment to pause and reflect on a horrific event which took place

on the other side of the world but which involves us all,” Archbishop Martin said.

The brutal murder of 50 people anywhere would in itself be a “deplorable event of world dimensions”, he added.

“The inspiration of the event in Christchurch – to attack people at prayer just because they were of a different faith – is something that offends Christian culture; it offends our own Irish culture, just as it offends the culture of New Zealand, a country known for its tolerance and welcome.”

Racism and religious intolerance can never be allowed to assume even a token tone of respectability or reasonableness, the archbishop said.

“There is no such thing as halfracism. There is no way any society can think that racist or religious intolerance should have any place within it,” he said. “History shows that when racism and religious intolerance are not addressed they contain within themselves a frightening power for fostering social destruction.”

President Higgins and his wife Sabina sign the book of condolence for the victims.

Irish political and religious leaders condemned the attacks.

President Higgins said the attacks were an attack on democratic values.

“As President of Ireland may I offer the sympathy of the people of Ireland to the families of the victims, and express the solidarity of the people of Ireland with the people of New Zealand at this time,” he said.

“I have conveyed deepest sympa-

thies on behalf of the Irish people to Prime Minister [Jacinda] Ardern and to Governor General [Patsy] Reddy.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, speaking from the US, said hatred would not triumph.

“New Zealand and its people are open, tolerant and welcoming. We join them today, united in our condemnation of this appalling attack and determined in our resolve that hate will not triumph,” a statement said. “I will be writing to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to express sincere sympathies and support.”

The New Zealand ambassador to the EU and Nato, David Taylor, said his home country was reeling from the dreadful events.

“New Zealand is reeling from this,” Mr Taylor told an Irish Farmers Journal conference, “but, as the prime minister said, New Zealand represents diversity, kindness, compassion. We’re a home for those who share our values and a place of refuge for those in need and that will not change. We will stay as strong as we have been and will continue and go forward from here.”

REPORT POINTS TO SUSTAINED RECOVERY IN IRISH PROPERTY MARKET

Dublin house prices have risen 74 per cent since crash Cate McCurry

HOUSE prices in Ireland jumped by 2.9 per cent during the first three months of 2019, a report has found.

According to the latest house price repor t released by Irish proper ty website, daft.ie, the national average price was €261,000.

This is an increase of 5.9 per cent on the figure for the same period last year.

It is the twenty-second consecutive quarter that the national average price has risen year-on-year.

In Dublin, prices in the first three months of the year were 4 per cent higher than a year previously, com-

pared to a rise of 8 per cent seen a year ago. The average house price is now €383,000 – 74 per cent above its lowest point.

In Dublin, prices reached their lowest point in the second quarter of 2012 and have risen by an average of 74 per cent – or €163,000 – since that time. In four Dublin postal districts, prices have doubled in that time.

Prices also rose strongly in the four other main cities, with increases of 2.5 per cent in Cork and 3.4 per cent in Galway, between December and March. Limerick had the largest increase of all the cities with a rise of 3.6 per cent. Outside the cities, prices

rose by 2.5 per cent on average. The number of properties available to buy on the market nationwide was just more than 22,500 in March, up 11 per cent year-on-year. The report found that the increase is being driven by Dublin, where availability is up 40 per cent year-on-year.

“On the face of it, the signals from the market in early 2019 appear to be largely unchanged from recent years, with prices rising in all 54 markets, 25 parts of Dublin, the four other cities and remaining 25 counties, in the first three months of the year,” said Ronan Lyons, an economist at Trinity College Dublin and the report’s author.

“However, in many markets, this may be just a rebound following falls in late 2018, driven in large part by the calendar-year basis of exemptions under Central Bank rules. The Dublin market shows a big improvement in availability and a cooling off in inflation.

With completions set to increase in coming quarters, a period of much more moderate inflation – at least in Dublin – appears likely.”

Martin Clancy from Daft.ie said: “The volume of transactions is also up.

In the year to December, there were nearly 19,000 residential property sales in Dublin alone, an increase of four per cent compared to the previous year.”

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland SOLITARY BLOODY SUNDAY PARATROOPER TO FACE COURT OVER 1972 MASSACRE

Derry families vow to continue fight for justice David Young

THE Bloody Sunday families have vowed to continue their campaign for justice after it was announced that only one former paratrooper is to be prosecuted over the shootings.

The veteran, known as Soldier F, will face charges for the murders of James Wray and William McKinney and the attempted murders of Joseph Friel, Michael Quinn, Joe Mahon and Patrick O’Donnell in Derr y in 1972, Nor thern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said.

However, the PPS said 16 other former soldiers and two suspected ex-members of the Official IRA, all of whom were investigated as part of a major police murder inquiry, will not face prosecution.

Thirteen civil rights demonstrators were shot dead on January 30, 1972, on one of the most notorious days of the Troubles. Relatives of those

who died reacted to the news with a mix of vindication, disappointment and defiance.

While welcoming the decision to prosecute Soldier F as a “victory”, the campaigners said they would keep fighting for the other dead and injured.

“The dead cannot cry out for justice,” said John Kelly, whose 17-year-old brother Michael was shot dead. “It is the duty of the living to do so for them. We have cried out for them for many years, and now we have succeeded for them. Do not deny us justice any longer.”

Mickey McKinney, who is set to see Soldier F in court over the murder of his brother Willie, said: “It is important to point out that justice for one family is justice for all of us.”

Mr Kelly highlighted there were legal means of challenging the decisions not to prosecute.

“The Bloody Sunday families are not finished yet,” he said.

Britain’s Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed

the Ministry of Defence would support Soldier F and pay his legal costs.

“We are indebted to those soldiers who served with courage and distinction to bring peace to Northern Ireland,” he said. “The welfare of our former ser vice personnel is of the utmost importance and we will of fer full legal and pastoral suppor t to the individual affected by today’s decision.”

The British Prime Minister’s official spokesman echoed Mr Williamson’s words, adding: “We recognise the suffering of anyone who lost loved ones during the Troubles.”

As well as the 13 who died on the day, 15 others were shot and injured. A 14th man later died from his injuries.

A decade-long investigation

by Lord Saville concluded that the troops killed protesters who posed no threat. The then prime minister, David Cameron, said the killings were “unjustified and unjustifiable”.

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Jean Hegarty’s brother Kevin McElhinney was shot dead on Bloody Sunday at the age of 17.

Picture: Liam McBurney

‘I want to meet my brother’s killer’ Aine Fox THE sister of a teenager shot from behind as he crawled away from soldiers on Bloody Sunday has said she would like to meet his killer.

Jean Hegarty’s brother Kevin McElhinney was 17 when he was shot dead during Bloody Sunday.

After learning that no paratroopers will be prosecuted for his death, Ms Hegarty, 70, said she would ask his killer why he did it.

“I would love to know what was going through his mind when he pulled that trigger. What motivation he had to do that? I mean, if the opportunity presented itself [to face her brother’s killer], I think I would take it and ask those questions.”

Ms Hegarty was among the relatives of the 13 killed and 15 injured, who were informed that just one of 17 soldiers would be charged for his involvement in Bloody Sunday. She said while she was disappointed for her brother and the others

who did not receive news of a charge in their loved ones’ cases, she was happy for those who got “good news”.

Ms Hegarty said she felt she needed to immediately approach some of those families “to assure them they had our complete support” after they were briefed by prosecutors.

“There’s a feeling of unity that would transcend personal feelings (of disappointment).”

Forty-seven years ago on her journey home from Canada, where she was living when Kevin was killed, Ms Hegarty said she had wanted to kill the soldier responsible for shooting her brother.

“On the plane on the way back, I plotted to kill the soldier that killed Kevin,” she said. “And I had a sort of moment at the funeral Mass, I looked across to see how my mammy was coping, and my father was a beaten man. And I just thought if I do anything to that soldier, there’s another beaten man. Revenge left me then.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

ireland :: brexit IMMIGRANTS IN BRITAIN FACING INCREASED THREAT OF ABUSE AND HATE CRIMES

‘I was told to f-off back to Ireland’ Aoife Moore

AN Irishman living in Britain says Brexit has heightened tensions and caused considerable concern about anti-immigrant sentiment.

Emmett Polland, 31, originally from Derry, now lives in Wolverhampton with his partner and young son. He says that since the referendum, tensions are running high as hate crime increases.

Hate crime offences recorded by the police rose by 17 per cent to 94,098 in the 12 months to March 2018, figures for England and Wales have shown. This is an increase of 123 per cent since 2012-13, when there were 42,255 hate crimes.

The British Home Office noted that the statistics showed “spikes in hate crime following certain events such as the EU referendum and the terrorist attacks in 2017”.

Mr Polland says he had never experienced anti-Irish abuse before the referendum but has since encountered a number of incidents.

“The amount of racial abuse has risen,” he said. “I’ve dealt with a few incidents in the last few months, I was told in a pub to ‘f*** off back to Ireland’, a while back.

“On Saturday, I was on a train when a guy who was returning from the People’s Vote march struck up a conversation with me. We were chatting about Brexit generally and the effect on Northern Ireland, when another man approached us and passed me a note which said ‘Get over it, you lost’.

“When I said ‘What’s this?’ he replied: ‘Your days are numbered’ with a few added slurs, and got off the train.

I’d never experienced anything like that before. You hear it often now, people are sharing stories of what happened to them in the pub or what-

DUP DIG IN ON BACKSTOP

ever. I’ve found that people aren’t shy any more about expressing their views; they’re happy to publicly spout their reasons for voting Leave and it tends to be about immigration.”

Mr Polland says it has become clear over the last months that Ireland, north or south, was never given any thought

by Brexiteers.

“I voted to remain, despite my issues with the European Union, because I grew up in Northern Ireland,” he said.

“I’ve experienced checkpoints, and seeing those checkpoints dismantled, we travel easily over the border now, and we take it for granted.

“I never wanted to go back to any conflict or any border on the island of Ireland. London is a diverse city, its strength is in its diversity, and I know the EU membership is part of that.

“When the results came out, we were all in a state of shock.

“I’ve got a friend from Bulgaria who

has been here for seven years, studied here and started his own business, contributing, and now he is jumping through hoops trying to get some kind of settled status. I’ve had to apply for an Irish passport for my son. I owe it to him to give him freedom of movement and dual nationality.

“My son is one of the lucky few that will have the best of both worlds.

“That’s the only solace, really. His future has been jeopardised by lies and now he’s got the option, with an Irish passport, to work or study abroad.

“I don’t think anybody was thinking about Northern Ireland when they voted out. That’s my biggest concern; no one gave any thought to Northern Ireland until the backstop was brought up,” he said.

The Office for National Statistics says there is an average of almost 400,000 people born in Ireland living in the UK.

Emmett Polland with his son Ruairi.

Originally from Derry, Mr Polland now lives in Wolverhampton.

IREXIT CAMPIAGN CRANKS UP AS EURO POLL NEARS

‘Better to stay in EU’ than Eurosceptic party launches campaign to back May’s deal: Dodds Michelle Devane

David Young

THE deputy leader of the DUP has said he would rather the UK stays in the EU than back the Withdrawal Agreement.

Brexiteer Nigel Dodds urged the British Gover nment to retur n to Brussels to demand changes that would make the border backstop acceptable to Parliament.

Insisting the Withdrawal Agreement would undermine the Union, Mr Dodds said the EU’s resistance to amending the deal must be challenged by the Prime Minister, Theresa May. “I think it would be actually better staying in the European Union than living under this Withdrawal Agreement, which would mean you would accept all the r ules of the European Union, pay in all the money, but have no say whatsoever,” he told LBC radio.

Mr Dodds said his party had “consistently and repeatedly” made it clear it will not support the deal until the construction of the contentious backstop protocol is changed.

Reacting after the Withdrawal Agreement was defeated for the third time in the Commons, the Nor th Belfast MP said: “We have reached this view from a principled position, as we do not believe the W ithdrawal Agreement is the best way forward for the United Kingdom.

“We have said that were the backstop to become operational, Northern Ireland would sit in a separate legal position from the rest of the United Kingdom in economic and trade terms.

“In those circumstances, there is the strong possibility that we could have a long-term outcome whereby Northern Ireland would inevitably pull away from its biggest trading market in Great Britain as there would be new internal barriers within the United Kingdom.”

The backstop – to be activated if a wider EU/UK trade deal fails to materialise before the end of the Brexit implementation period – would mean the UK would enter a temporar y customs union with the EU, to avoid the need for customs checks on the Irish border.

It would also mean Northern Ireland would adhere to EU single market rules on goods, again to rule out the necessity for border regulatory checks.

The DUP’s Nigel Dodds has raised the possibility of no Brexit.

The DUP believes binding Northern Ireland to single market rules would create a regulatory border between the region and the rest of the UK – a move, it contends, that would undermine the constitutional integrity of the Union.

The party has not been convinced

by Mrs May’s efforts to provide reassurances on a backstop. The prime minister secured a number of legal add-ons to the agreement from the EU, documents the Government insists providedsassurances about the temporary nature of the measure and about potential routes to exit it.

She has also pledged to use domestic law to beef up Stormont’s role on backstop matters and has made commitments that the rest of the UK will not diverge from the EU regulations applied in Northern Ireland.

Mr Dodds said the moves had not gone far enough. “In our recent discussions with the Government, good progress has been made on how domestic legislation would assist in ensuring the economic integrity of the UK as a whole and recognising Northern Ireland’s particular situation sharing a land border with the European Union,” he said. “However, regretfully the fact remains that sufficient progress has not been made. The arguments we have advanced are well understood across Parliament and there is strong recognition in the House of Commons that Northern Ireland cannot be subjected to new and onerous trade barriers within the United Kingdom as the price of leaving the European Union.”

AN Irish Eurosceptic political group has launched a nationwide billboard campaign calling for the country to leave the EU. The Irexit Freedom Party erected posters across the country making the case against EU membership.

One of the posters includes an image of Michael Collins and EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker with the slogan: “EU membership means paying old men we didn’t elect to make EU laws we don’t need.”

The Brexit-inspired group has applied for official political party registration and intends to run candidates in the European elections.

Party founder Hermann Kelly and chairwoman Professor Dolores Cahill of University College Dublin have announced their intention to run in the election if the group is registered. The campaign was funded by donations from members of the group.

“We believe the best people to look after Irish affairs are the Irish people themselves,” the party’s Communications director James Darby said. “We will be making the case to be a normal, self-governing and independent state.

“Something that those who came before us; sacrificed to create for the good of their children’s future.”

The group maintains it is the only party that believes in Irish freedom and national sovereignty.

Mr Darby said it was time to reject the “politically correct Europhile establishment”. “The days of subservience to foreign authority should be over,” Mr Darby said.

One of the billboard advertisements for The Irexit Freedom Party which intends to run candidates in the forthcoming European elections.

UNIONIST URGES DUBLIN TO CONSIDER RADICAL MOVE

Ireland should ‘join the Commonwealth’ Aoife Moore

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson received a round of applause when he told the Fine Gael party conference he would like to see Ireland join the Commonwealth.

“This won’t get agreement with everyone here,” he said. “I do hope we can come to a day when the Republic of Ireland will join with many other nations in the Commonwealth of nations and recognising, whatever our

history, and whatever differences there have been in the past, that we’ve overcome a lot of diversity.

“The Commonwealth is a place where Ireland’s voice should be heard and I would like to see that happen.”

The Republic of Ireland was a member of the Commonwealth until April 1949 when The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, came into force, severing ties with the British Crown.

The idea has been prominently supported by Fine Gael Senator Frank

Feighan, who argues membership would promote Ireland’s values on a global stage and strengthen economic relations internationally.

Mr Donaldson spoke at length about the DUP’s wish to be good neighbours to the Republic of Ireland, despite tense Brexit negotiations.

“The UK has taken a decision, that decision has to be respected but it doesn’t mean we can’t continue to build those north-south and internal relationships,” he said.

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April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

AUSTRALIA’S IRISH NEW S PAP E R

ireland :: brexit IRISH SHIPPING INDUSTRY BOOMING AMID BREXIT FEARS

Dublin, Rosslare already benefitting from Brexit Aoife Moore THE Irish shipping industry reports a marked increase in business as companies bypass British ports because of amid Brexit fears, the head of Dublin Port has said.

Irish ports have had to adapt quickly and increase capacity for direct sailings to continental EU ports as manufacturers increasingly think of Irish ports like Dublin and Rosslare as alternatives to the so-called landbridge, the UK transit route linking Ireland and mainland Europe.

An estimated 150,000 Irish trucks and three million tonnes of goods travel through the UK for export to the Europen Union each year.

Currently, two-and-a-half times more goods move on direct routes from Dublin than via the UK landbridge, and that number is expected to increase.

“We’re starting to see alternatives developing, options over the landbridge as people grow concerned about the issue,” said Eammon O’Reilly, CEO of Dublin Port. “We’re starting to see more fast-moving consumer goods that in the past would’ve been guaranteed access to the Irish market through the UK. These goods are coming directly to Dublin from continental Europe.

Investment hit likely for NI, report says NORTHERN Ireland would be less attractive for foreign direct investment (FDI) if it left the EU single market, a report has found.

The report, published by the Department of the Economy in Northern Ireland, says the region would experience a reduction of FDI-related job creation in any of the currently considered Brexit outcomes. However, it would become more attractive to FDI and generate new jobs if it remained in the single market for goods and services, and the UK left. The 47-page report also found that lowering the corporate tax rate to 12.5 per cent in Northern Ireland would compensate for the negative effects of Brexit.

Dissidents ‘hoping’ for a hard border A TERRORISM expert has warned

that dissident Republican groups in Northern Ireland are hoping for a hard border and would benefit from a return to military rule.

Former Police Superintendent Ken Pennington said preparatory elements for an attack are already in place, and that border protests following Brexit would be a perfect time for these to happen.

“The people who are most quiet about Brexit are the dissident Republican groups,” Mr Pennington told the Scottish Police Federation conference.

“It is my opinion they are going to sit back and be quite happy to see it happen and they are hoping for a hard border, because it is a narrative they will use. They will show Brexit to be a British imposition on the people of Ireland.

Our concern is the opportunity this presents to the terrorist groups. A lot of the precursor activities for an attack are already in place.”

Large border protests following Brexit would be the “perfect time for them to mount attacks”, he said.

“Those companies who don’t need to use the UK are beginning to avail of those options and make sure they have established commercial relationships to be able to move goods, no matter what happens with Brexit.

“The shipping industry can adapt very quickly – the one thing Brexit is not going to do; it’s not going to increase the number of goods flowing in and out of Britain. So if there are ships going in and out of Britain that don’t have enough business, they can easily run in and out of Dublin.

“The shipping industry can redeploy ships at very short notice to make up any shortfall, and respond to increase in demand.

“The growth in Dublin port has been phenomenal. Over the last six years alone we’ve seen 36 per cent growth, and we anticipate that demand for direct services between Dublin Port and continental Europe will increase further after Brexit.”

Three freight ferries run b y a Luxembourg shipping company CLdN now service Dublin. “We have taken a long-term view on Dublin Port and invested accordingly,” a spokesman said. ”The port says the addition of the super ferry is a vote of confidence in Irish ports amid the Brexit chaos.”

Dublin port chief executive Eamonn O’Reilly aboard the MV Laureline in Dublin Port. Shipping companies are investing in direct trading routes between Ireland and continental Europe. Picture: Brian Lawless

BREXIT HAS PUT IRISH UNITY DEBATE ON THE HORIZON, MARY MCALEESE SAYS

‘Shared future ... ahead of us’ Cate McCurry

FORMER Irish president Mar y McAleese says the debate on Irish unity is “on the horizon” because of Brexit.

Speaking at Dublin City University’s Brexit Institute Conference, Mrs McAleese said that the public has a duty to ensure the “groundwork is laid” before any Irish unity referendum.

Mrs McAleese, who is a professor of children, law and religion at the University of Glasgow, said the debate is part of the Good Friday Agreement.

“It’s out there. The when of it we do not know but nonetheless, it’s on the horizon, ahead of us,” she said.

The 1998 Belfast Agreement states that the Secretar y of State for Nor thern Ireland may call such a referendum if at any time it appears likely that the majority of voters in Northern Ireland would wish to leave the United Kingdom and enter into a united Ireland.

Prof McAleese claimed that Irish

unity has focused on crude numbers of Catholics and nationalists “over and against” Protestants and unionists.

“And it has focused on the coming demographic changes which will in a relatively short time, give Northern Catholics a voting majority,” she said.

“We have instead now this opportunity to develop a wholly fresh focus on the future, making it a place of transcendence, where multiple identities can be respected, be accommodated, can grow to become one community, gathered around the principles of the Good Friday Agreement and the European Union.

“Clear sighted people can now see that we are navigating, we’ve been nudged off the old trajectory, what I might call the ‘wrap the green flag around me’ trajectory, into a much much healthier space where our focus is on let’s talk about what a shared future might look like, let’s hear the fears, let’s hear the imagination and creativity we can bring, and what decency we can bring to resolving those fears and those issues.”

Mary McAleese says a frank and open discussion on the possibility of the end of partition needs to start right away.

She added that the public has to learn from the “Brexit debacle”.

“Someday they will be asked to decide that, and those of us, and I am one of them, who believe that the truest and best potential of this entire

island and all its people will only be realised when Northern Ireland and Ireland merge, and emerge as a modern, European democracy, inclusive of all, respectful of all,” she said.

“Long before any future referendum goes live, we need to do what Brexit has abjectly failed to do.

“That is to delve deeply, objectively, consciously, in a considered way, into all the issues, whatever they are, the 5,000, the 10,000 issues, that would be raised by the ending of partition and the creation of a new reconciled Ireland.”

She added that these range from fears, identity, to governance and representation, and from flags and emblems and anthems.

“From economics to esoterics, we need an army of scholars and lawyers and of intellectuals, and of people of good will, and we need a reservoir of credible good will to approach these issues in a respectful way, before they overwhelm us, as those very issues have over whelmed and stymied Brexit,” she added.

MORE THAN 230,000 APPLICATIONS FOR IRISH PASSPORTS IN THREE MONTHS

Passport demand up 30 per cent on 2018 Rebecca Black

THERE have been almost a quarter of a million applications for Irish passports in less than three months.

Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said that more than 230,000 applications have been received to date this year.

The figures show a 30 per cent increase on the same period last year, Mr Coveney said.

It comes after 2018 proved to be a record year with the highest number

(860,000) of Irish passports issued.

Foreign Affairs said that more than 70 per cent of the applications in 2018 were from people living on the island of Ireland.

The figures come as political deliberations continue on the date the United Kingdom is due to leave the European Union.

Last month, the passport division of the Irish embassy in London warned that it is “stretched and working under pressure”, and that staffing levels “are not suf ficient” to meet the rising

number of applications. The Irish comedian Chris O’Dowd predicted in February that many Britons will be looking for Irish passports after Brexit.

However, the Irish Depar tment of Foreign Affairs put the spike in applications down to an increase in travelling and a tendency towards early renewal. located to the passport service.

“Given the demand … significant extra resources have been given to the passport service including hundreds of extra staff for processing and customer service,” Mr Coveney added.

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April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

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

The Misunderstood Heron rolls into Lonely Planet guide A GALWAY food truck serving fresh fish and Irish lamb dishes has been named among the best purveyors of street food in the world.

The Misunderstood Heron at Leenaun, Co Galway is the first and only Irish entry in Lonely Planet’s new book Around the World In 80 Food Trucks, the Times reports. The book lists food trucks around the world that serve up everything from sea bass ceviche and Lebanese msakhan to Indian-inspired paneer poutine and old-fashioned American peach cake.

The Misunderstood Heron is run by the husband-and-wife duo Kim Young and Reinaldo Seco. Mr Seco, who is from Chile, travelled to Ireland to work as a kayak instructor. He then met Ms Young and the pair set off on a world trip.

They opened the Misunderstood Heron in 2017.

The growing number of festivals and a trend for pop-up food markets has helped to popularise nomadic kitchens.

BELFAST

Woman assaulted bar staff soon after release from jail A WOMAN assaulted staff at two bars in Belfast city centre within hours of being released from jail, a court heard.

The court heard that Ciara Craig (37) grabbed one woman by the hair after being told she was no longer welcome in her pub, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

Craig, from Limavady, admitted two counts of common assault and a further charge of disorderly behaviour.

Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard she had been asked to leave one pub because she was drunk. A prosecution lawyer said Craig responded by grabbing the woman by the hair and trying to push her head against a door.

Police were then alerted to disturbances at the nearby Robinson’s Bar. Craig was shouting and swearing while being restrained by door staff, one of whom reported being assaulted by her.

With guilty pleas entered, her application for bail was opposed because of concerns about potential re-offending. Defence solicitor Ciaran Moynagh said his client was remorseful.

Mr Moynagh disclosed that Craig had only been released from custody after serving a previous five-month sentence.

“She went straight to get a bus home, but there was quite a delay and she ended up in the bar,” he told the court. “She lost her bag and that’s where the agitation came from.”

Refusing bail District Judge Bonita Boyd held there was a risk of further

offences. Craig will be sentenced next month.

LIMERICK

Order to remove 4,000 tyres from lands A LIMERICK man has been given one month to remove 1,500 used tyres stored illegally on his land.

The Limerick Leader reports Limerick City and County Council has initiated legal proceedings against Thomas Galvin (66) over his failure to comply with a notice requiring him to remove the tyres and other waste materials.

Previously, Limerick District Court was told the notice was served in March 2018 after an inspection of the lands by local authority officials.

In September, Mr Galvin told the court the tyres related to a business he had which went bust and that he had intended using them to build walls on the lands.

The 66-year-old told the court he is on disability allowance and cannot afford to have the tyres removed given the costs involved.

His solicitor, Tom Kiely, confirmed that his client has engaged a licensed waste contractor and is trying to comply with the terms of the notice.

However, only 750 tyres have been removed since last September and more than 4,000 remain on the land.

Mr Kiely said his client is doing all he can and he suggested Irish Cement’s plans to begin burning alternative fuels locally could provide a solution.

Solicitor Will Leahy, representing the local authority, said that such a small amount of tyres have been removed that you “wouldn’t notice it”.

He said a very large-scale operation is required and that Mr Galvin needs “to put more urgency into it” otherwise it could be a “three- or four-year process”.

Mr Kiely said his client accepts the tyres have to go but that he doesn’t have the means to do so.

Judge O’Leary said she wants a further 1,500 tyres removed within a month.

“It’s a pretty horrendous situation,” she commented adding that she was not willing to allow the matter to drag on forever.

TYRONE

‘No place for attacks on Irish signage’ A MID ULSTER councillor has said there must be zero tolerance of attacks on bilingual road signs in the area.

Sinn Féin councillor Sean Clarke was speaking after a spate of attacks on signage in of south Derry.

The Tyrone Times reports that the incidents are the latest in a series of similar attacks on the often controversial dual language signs, costing ratepayers thousands of pounds to replace.

A local DUP representative has

WHALE OF A TIME: Participants in the Dublin St Patrick’s Day Parade. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire accused Sinn Féin of being unconcerned about attacks on other signs not featuring the Irish language.

Councillor Clarke said he has been inundated by calls from local residents concerning the blatant damage to road signs.

A recent meeting of the council’s environment committee heard that approximately £13,000 was spent on dual language signage that included the removal of any old signage. Unionist members of the council have strongly opposed the erection of bilingual signs on the basis of cost.

KERRY

Ministers disagree about drinks permits A SHARP difference of opinion has emerged between Tourism and Sports Minister, Kerry man Brendan Griffin, and his senior Minister at the Department of Transport, Shane Ross.

Mr Griffin had asked officials at the Department to examine a system that is used in New Zealand that allows convicted drink drivers an exemption from their driving bans to allow them drive to and from work.

If a driver can prove that a ban is causing them “extreme hardship” then they can be granted an exemption by the courts that allows them to drive on certain routes at specific times. Minister Griffin said that he had “asked officials to come back to him on it” adding that he was open to considering and looking at all proposals.

Independent Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae made a similar call saying that the introduction of this New Zealand-style limited permit system should at least be considered. “All I’m simply saying is explore the idea, it has worked in other countries.”

However, Transport Minister Shane Ross has shot down the suggestion, calling the idea a “non-runner”.

He said that the government had introduced “lifesaving legislation” on drink driving. “We will not be diluting it,” Mr Ross said.

MEATH

Meath success at Crufts A YOUNG Gibbstown dog trainer is celebrating a podium finish at Crufts on what was his first visit to the prestigious dog show.

Taidgh Mc Fadden won 2nd place in yearling class with his golden retriever Abinvale Sauvage For Listartan, also known as Alfie.

Alfie was judged on a number of different characteristics including his movement and his build, the Meath

Chronicle reports.

Taidgh said he was surprised to come second. “I was happy enough to even qualify for Crufts, so I definitely wasn’t expecting to come second”.

As a result of coming second Alfie will now qualify automatically for Crufts in 2020 where he will compete in the postgraduate category.

Alfie and Taidgh weren’t the only Meath representatives competing at Crufts. Taidgh’s uncle, Michael Heffernan, and his mother Patricia also took part with their dogs Enzo and Naoise.

GALWAY

Voting day could change on Galway’s islands GALWAY’S offshore residents could vote on the same day as the rest of the country in May’s local and European elections if the relevant bill goes though the Dáil quickly.

Galway FM newsroom reports that Galway West TD Eamonn Ó Cuiv (Fianna Fáil) will bring a memorandum to Dáil Éireann in relation to the Electoral Amendment Voting on Islands Bill This bill was to have gone before the government March 29.

The main aim of the bill is to allow islanders to vote on the same day as mainland residents. At the moment, residents of the country’s islands must vote a day or two earlier than the rest of the country.

Deputy Ó Cúiv says the bill will give islanders the same basic rights as everyone else.

CORK

Whiskey to be produced in new Cape Clear distillery THE first distillery to be constructed in modern times on Cape Clear Island (Oileán Chléire) is nearing completion.

The Irish Examiner reports that the distillery is being financed and built by islanders on Cape Clear in an effort to boost the local economy — but are also inviting shareholders to come onboard.

The distillery is being developed on a step-by-step basis, a spokesman for the project, Séamus Ó Drisceoil, said.

“We hope to keep development costs to a minimum by using local skills, investment, re-purposing buildings and materials where possible and finding every possible way to reduce cost and create value,” Mr Ó Drisceoil said.

It’s not the first time there’s been

a distillery on the island. Historical records show that two boatloads of Cromwellian soldiers who landed on it in the mid 1600s ended up getting drunk on for days on locallyproduced poitín.

LOUTH

Coast Guard unveils stamp to honour R116 AN Post has launched two new stamps acknowledging the work of the Irish Coast Guard’s search and rescue operations to mark the second anniversary of the R116 Sikorsky helicopter rescue tragedy.

The Dundalk Argus reports that the stamps, by Vermillion Design, are based on an original painting by the late Coast Guard volunteer Caitríona Lucas. She lost her life when the boat she was in capsized while searching for a missing man on 12 September 2016.

The stamps are also in honour of the Coast Guard’s fallen comrades, those lost in the R116 tragedy, including Dundalk man Captain Mark Duffy, who perished with his crew in the crash off the west coast in 2017.

Greenore native, James Larkin who is a coastal unit sector manager with the Irish Coast Guard, was among those unveiling the new stamps CARLOW

St Pat’s ‘gravy train’ slammed A LOCAL election candidate has demanded that it’s “time to stop the gravy train” and end expensive St Patrick’s Day junkets for elected councillors.

Adrienne Wallace, the People Before Profit local and European election candidate for Carlow, has called for an end to the expensive trips that elected councillors and council officials go on. “Every year, well-paid officials, TDs and councillors are flown over to America at the expense of ordinary people. And every year we get the same faded excuse that they are being sent over to promote Carlow as a place to do business – but what benefits has this town ever really seen as a result of these expensive trips,” Ms Wallace asked.

“It’s the 21st century; if officials are genuinely seeking investment or trying to promote Carlow, this can be done online with paid ads or via Skype meetings. It’s time to end the gravy train,” she added.

“I have serious issues with us being expected to pay for someone else’s holiday, especially when these funds could be put to a lot of good use locally,” she concluded.

April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

Irish

IRISH AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY CELEBRATES ST PATRICK’S DAY 2019

SYDNEY: LANSDOWNE CLUB

SYDNEY: LANSDOWNE CLUB

Minister Heather Humphreys and chairman of the Lansdowne Club, Phil O’Sullivan.

SYDNEY: LANSDOWNE CLUB Claire McCarthy and Niall Power.

time out

15

Nadean Richards, Roseanne Mannion and Kady O’Connell at the Sydney St Patrick’s Day Lunch.

TOURISM IRELAND ST PATRICK’S DAY LUNCH Tourism Ireland’s team in Sydney (from left) Sarah Harrison, Erika Stewart, Aoife Finnegan, Danika Sugrue and Sofia Hansson.

SYDNEY: IRISH AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE John McQuaid and Marie Holmes with Minister Heather Humphreys at the Sydney St Patrick’s Corporate Breakfast.

BRISBANE: IRISH AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE Melbourne Rose Suzie Jackson with (right) Emerald Travel’s Seamus and Christina Moloughney and guests.

Jeff Doyle and the Altus team arriving at the IACC St Patrick’s Corporate Lunch in Melbourne.

MELBOURNE: IACC ST PATRICK’S DAY LUNCH

IACC President Carl Walsh and leader of the Opposition Michael O’Brien MP (right) welcome visiting Minister Damien English to the Melbourne St Patrick’s Lunch.

Chairwoman of the Emerald Leadership Program, Deirdre O’Donoghue, with Ryan McClengahan and Fidelma Breen from the the IACC South Australian leadership team.

MC Patrick Condren, Queensland Minister Kate Jones, Bob O’Keeffe from BCEC and the IACC’s David Greene.

PERTH: IACC ST PATRICK’S DAY LUNCH Trevor and Michelle McGrath with Wallabies legend Stephen Moore at the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce event.

16

review

April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

Future perfect, tense

IF you slept through the final two decades of the twentieth century, you would have missed much Irish history. You could frame the period in question between the two papal visits to Ireland: John Paul II in 1979, when we showed the world what enthusiastic Catholics we were, and the more low-key visit of Francis in 2018. The years between those two postmarks gave us the Haughey era, the condom train from Belfast, the X case, a referendum on abortion, Bishop Casey, Italia ’90, the gas pipeline through Mayo, the motorway at Tara and the fortunes to be made by transporting cattle over and back across fields in South Armagh.

By the new century, we had copped on to quicker ways of making money until the whole thing collapsed under Bertie’s laidback stewardship. Did you know that the Greens were part of the government that dug out the banks in that catastrophe? I select that particular

element of modern Ireland because, like all of the other events mentioned above, it forms the background of this story: one of the central characters is Damien Doyle, a speechwriter for the said Greens who is able to find reasons for the bank rescue but was unable to tell his granny that he is gay.

Granny Doyle is the hinge character in the story, the one around whom all the action starts or ends.

Inspired by the success of the JP II visit, she feels it is time that an Irishman became pope. A sprinkling of holy water on the bed linen of her daughter-in-law is her confident scheme for ensuring such future success. There is indeed some success because triplets are born, but this is accompanied by tragedy when the mother dies in childbirth; the father descends into gambling and drink and dies soon after. As a result, granny has to raise the triplets, two boys and a girl. There is an older daughter also, but she and the female triplet are ignored, because the rule in this pope business is that the role is confined to males.

So far, the story seems like a good laugh, a satire on Ireland and its belief that it holds a special place in the Catholic world.

But the reader soon realises that the whole papal thing is just a cover for a serious examination of a deeply dysfunctional family. It is never said in so many words, but the two-generation gap between granny and the four children turns out to be too great. By the turn of the century, the oldest girl has fled to England for an abortion and then moved to New York. Her sister is involved in feminist causes. Damien, as noted

“Did you know that the

Greens were part of the government that dug out the banks ...

”

BOOKS FUTURE POPES OF IRELAND

By Darragh Martin Harper Collins 440 pp $29.99 (€12.62 from Ireland)

CCCCC SKIN DEEP

By Liz Nugent Penguin 374 pp €12.99

CCCCC Frank O’Shea above, works for the Greens. The other boy was named John Paul; he is granny’s favourite but is, what in Dublin would be called, a langer, a waster.

The novel moves from one to the other of these four children, as their lives are affected by events in the wider Irish society at the time, but even more by the inflexible world view and rigid supervision of their grandmother. The result is an engrossing look at the world of today’s 30-year olds, in Ireland principally, but with a message for any country.

Darragh Martin is from Dublin and now lives in London. This is his first adult novel and deserves the praise it has received from critics and fellow-writers – ‘a dazzling debut’, John Boyne calls it.

AT last a book with a story that grabs you from the first page and keeps you reading. No gimmicks or smart alecry, no showing off or attempt to be different, just a thoroughly great read, the kind that

restores your faith in fiction.

The author, Liz Nugent, used to work in film and television, and it would be easy to imagine this book as a five-part series with a devoted following.

The central character is Delia O’Flaherty. She is beautiful, face and figure perfect, the kind of beauty that kicks evolution along, attracting males of the species. But as the front cover tells us, such beauty is only skin deep because underneath is an ugliness that ‘cuts to the bone.’

Part of Delia’s trouble was her adoring father. Although it is not said in so many words, it is easy to imagine that he is the kind of revenge that the aforementioned evolution uses to discourage intimacies between those with related DNA. And in an isolated island like the fictional Inishcrann off the coast of Mayo, such slip-ups can probably be expected.

Be that as it may, Delia is orphaned at the age of 10, and for the next 40 years proceeds to wreck the lives of everyone who comes into contact with her.

The couple who adopt her, the classmate she strings along, the man she eventually marries, the various people she works for when she moves to London and then the south of France, all live to regret ever meeting her. When alcohol and cocaine become a problem to her ambitions, she gives them up; she is a user, yes, but mainly a user of men.

She uses sex sparingly, its promise or possibility being a more powerful tool in the upper crust society among which she moves.

At the end, she has to use it as her

only means of paying her bills. She has changed her name to Cordelia, adopted a plummy English accent, learned to speak French fluently and had success in the fake world of art.

But her island past catches up with her and allows for an ending which is entirely satisfactory.

The author manages to underplay the malice and deceit of her central character by making her victims equally manipulative and unpleasant. Many people are hurt, but it is almost as if they got what they deserved. Cordelia is devious and narcissistic, but these qualities are almost explained as beyond her control or no more than survival mechanisms; it is as though the reader is being asked to withhold judgement and see that she is just a victim of a bad deal in life.

This is fiction of the highest quality.

“The author, Liz Nugent,

used to work in film and television, and it would be easy to imagine this book as a five-part series with a devoted following.

”

THE TOP 10 BOOK CHARTS FROM IRELAND BESTSELLERS 1

Pinch of Nom

2

The Gift of Friends

3

LEGO Minifigure Mayhem

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION Kay Featherstone & Kate Allinson

1

This is Going to Hurt

Adam Kay

Emma Hannigan

2

Notes to Self

Emilie Pine

Beth Davies & Helen Murray

4

Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend

5

Fing

6

Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo

7

Great Rocket Robbery

8

Sam Hannigan’s Rock Star Granny

9

The Hunting Party

10 The Tattooist of Auschwitz

Jeff Kinney

4

The Choice

David Walliams

5

The Hybrid Diet

Rick Riordan

7

Educated

Alan Nolan

8

The Positive Habit

Lucy Foley

9

Top 10 Dublin

Heather Morris

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

2

The Hideaway

3

Milkman

4

Nine Perfect Strangers

5 6

The Woman in the Window

7

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

8

The Burning Chambers

9

The Great Gatsby

Edith Eger Patrick Holford & Jerome Burne

6 The Cow Book

Frank Cottrell Boyce

ORIGINAL FICTION 1

3 The Boy Who Followed His Father into Auschwitz Jeremy Dronfield

John Connell Tara Westover Fiona Brennan DK Eyewitness Travel

10 100 Days to a Younger Brain

Dr Sabrina Brennan

CHILDREN’S Heather Morris

1

LEGO Minifigure Mayhem

Beth Davies & Helen Murray

Shiela O’Flanagan

2

Diary of Greg Heffley’s Best Friend

Anna Burns

3

Fing

Liane Moriarty

4

Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo

Oh My God What a Complete Aisling Sarah Breen/Emer McLysaght

5

Great Rocket Robbery

10 Thirteen

A.J. Finn

6

Sam Hannigan’s Rock Star Granny

Gail Honeyman

7

Snap

Kate Mosse

8

Ten Little Bookworms

F. Scott Fitzgerald

9

Cruella and Cadpig

Steve Cavanagh

10 Everdark

Jeff Kinney David Walliams Rick Riordan Frank Cottrell Boyce Alan Nolan Patrice Lawrence Mike Brownlow Peter Bently Abi Elphinstone

April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

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An Aussie? No I’m from Dundalk A GOOGLE search for Warrenpoint Town soccer player Marc Griffin gives his nationality as Australian.

Even the club’s official website refers to the forward as being Melbourneborn in their story about him signing from Glenavon last summer.

But the 27-year-old forward set the record straight last week.

“I’m actually not from Australia at all. I was born in Dundalk,” he said.

So how did the Aussie rumour get started? Well, it was a bit of an own goal by Griffin himself.

“It started off as a joke amongst team-mates when I signed my first professional contract with Dundalk,” he continued. “They thought it would be a good idea for me to say I was born in Australia and, being so young, I stupidly went along with it so that’s what was written on my contract. I get asked all the time about it. I even get phone calls from Australian clubs every so often asking if I want to join them for preseason training. They hang up pretty quickly when I tell them the truth.”

Hannon makes (dodgy) history BRITISH MEP Daniel Hannan has inspired a new hashtag as Twitter users reacted to claims he had got

April, 2019 I www.irishecho.com.au

scam. Collins would later flee to America and flew the Apollo 11 mission. He would be immortalised in the song ‘In the air tonight’ written by his brother Phil #HannanIrishHistory”.

Flagging a problem

his facts wrong about Irish history. #HannanIrishHistory was trending after pro-Brexit Tory Mr Hannan (left) used Ireland to make a point about the EU in a commentary.

In particular, he suggested Fianna Fáil had won every Irish election between 1932 and 2008.

When the accuracy of his article was questioned, Mr Hannan said: “Historians necessarily have different takes on the same event”, adding: “Please try to accept that yours is not the only interpretation.”

Twitter users were quick to mock the Tory MEP with their own humorous takes on Irish history.

Derek Mooney, an Irish public affairs specialist, referenced Mr Hannan’s Fianna Fail claim directly, joking: “Though @fiannafailparty had won every Irish election since 1932, it was dumped by voters after its 2010 #Eurovision entry failed to make the final, this sparked a run on the Euro and the banishment of Louis Walsh to ITV #HannanIrishHistory” .

Steve Peers, a lecturer in international law at Essex University, tweeted: “The statue of Oliver Cromwell outside Parliament commemorates the Nobel peace prize which Cromwell won for ending the Irish Civil war #HannanIrishHistory”.

Writer Dean Van Nguyen wrote: “Fionn mac Cumhaill burned his finger on the Salmon of Knowledge because of EU regulations on food labelling #HannanIrishHistory”.

Another Twitter user told a longer tale, joking: “Michael Collins faked his own death in 1922 in what was then Ireland’s largest insurance

AN ENGLISH council has apologised after flying the Welsh flag on St Patrick’s Day. Social media users expressed their puzzlement when the distinctive red dragon of Wales was spotted fluttering above Sheffield’s Town Hall on March 17 The city council then added to the confusion by issuing an initial statement that included congratulations to the Welsh rugby union team following its Grand Slam in the Six Nations. “We are very sorry that the Welsh flag was raised in error rather than the St Patrick’s flag,” a Sheffield City Council spokeswoman said. “We are also sorry for any offence caused by our earlier statement.”

Big stink over farts A BULLYING case brought by an engineer who accused his former supervisor of repeatedly breaking wind towards him has been dismissed. The Victoria state Court of Appeal upheld a Supreme Court judge’s ruling that even if engineer David Hingst’s allegations were true, flatulence did not necessarily constitute bullying.

Hear that, prospective bullies? You can deploy your sphincter sirens with serenity, your air biscuits with alacrity, your bottom burps with bravado. Fart target Mr Hingst poopooed a possible legal fee blowout, saying he would take his case to the High Court. The 56-year-old clearly doesn’t want to be the butt of the joke, seeking $1.8 million damages from his former Melbourne employer, Construction Engineering.

He alleged that his colleague Greg Short would enter his small, windowless office several times a day and break wind. Mr Hingst “alleged that Mr Short would regularly break wind on him or at him, thinking this to be funny”, the two appeal court judges wrote in their ruling.

The law is clearly an ass.

Quiz

Crossword

1. In which county is Newgrange, one of the oldest burial sites in Europe?

Clues across

Clues down

1. Right to have helped when

1. Dire data spread out (8)

2. What were the nationalities of Harland and Wolff?

invaded (6) 4. Alas nuts make dried fruit (8)

3. Gene in confusion makes motor (6)

9. A golden, mixed up county (7)

5. International organization makes

4. What is the county town of Fermanagh?

10. I’m no longer popular - there’s no

5. John Lydon has Galway parents, but was born in London. Which punk band did he form?

11. A wader we hear is a Taoiseach (5) 13. Not a single sister is heard (4)

6. What do the towns of Louth, Carlisle, Lyons and Lughnasa all have in common?

16. Tribe is able approximately to keep

7. Who is the odd one out: former president Erskine Childers, Eurovision winner and former MEP Dana Rosemary Scallon, 1916 leader James Connolly, U2’s The Edge, the actor Micheál Mac Liammóir, former president Éamon de Valera, the actor Sam Neill, the union leader James Larkin?

17. One picture shows a heroic

8. What links Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, John McEnroe, Michael Crawford?

9. What boxing weight did Barry McGuigan fight at? 10.

10. What was Edna O’Brien’s first novel called?

first language (4) account of it (4) 18. Baby lost or mistaken for Behan story (7,3) 21. Adam is in the Middle East briefly with a French woman (6) 24. Arrive at stretch of river (5) 29 & 31 across: Illegal Graham arranged for singer songwriter (4,9) 32. Hornet bothered sailors from Six Counties perhaps (8) 34. Shift blame, getting registered in stone (6) 35. Her tenth lawn a conversion into Heaney poem (3,3,7)

“I believe that climate change denial is not just ignorant, it is malign, it is evil.”

Former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. ”I stand here, leader of my country, flawed and human, but judged by my political actions, and not by my sexual orientation, my skin tone, gender or religious beliefs.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, speaking in Washington.

“One doesn’t have to admire every aspect of the lyrics to take a deeper and a broader view about its historical significance. It’s about seeing how language and music and song has the capacity to bring people together.”

Senator Rónán Mullen advocating that The Soldier’s Song should form part of the curriculum in primary schools.

“You’re a disgrace!”

Julie Hambleton, sister of Maxine Hambleton who was killed in the Birmingham pub bombings, to former MP Chris Mullin, who campaigned tirelessly for the release of the Birmingham Six. Mullin, now an investigative journalist, refused to name the identity of the bombers at the resumed inquests into the deaths of the victims of the 1974 bombings.

“Catholicism isn’t puritanism. Catholicism allows you to get drunk and have a nice time. And if you’re from a working-class background, you’re expected to sing for your supper. Everybody does a turn. So it wasn’t that me being a performer was frowned upon. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

Actor Steve Coogan on his Irish-Catholic upbringing in Manchester.

“It seems shambolic to me. The little amount of money that we’re asking for today, for these people that were injured, and you think of the money that’s been wasted so far on Brexit and no one’s any the wiser.”

Actor Jimmy Nesbitt on the those severely injured in the Troubles being left uncompensated.

“We’ve never pedalled the image of the drunken Paddy, the stupid Paddy, like so many entertainers. The Irish don’t need to do that; we have a great story to tell; we have great legends to sing about.”

Brian Warfield of the Wolfe Tones, about criticism of their rebel music repertoire.

“I recognise now that my attempt to show support for my team-mates at the time could be negatively interpreted. While my naïve words were not meant to be a political opinion and do not represent who I am. I sincerely apologise for any offence caused.”

Irish Young Player of the Year Declan Rice, who has opted to play for England, has been forced to apologise after pro-IRA social media posts he made in 2015 have emerged. ”I love landscape. I love how articulate land can be – the ghosts and spirits within the land can speak. Seamus Heaney describes how the land actually has its own voice. It’s full of memory, full of history. Heaney had a tremendous effect on me; his way of expressing the timelessness of the landscape was something I really identified with.”

Seamus McGarvey from South Armagh, one of the world’s top cinematographers.

1

2

3

4

pact with atom or molecule (5) 6. A hoarse random cell confused for a

5

6

7

8

2. Bar in Anaskinnan (3)

3. What make was the very first Aer Lingus plane in 1936?

getting around it (7)

They said it...

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

Richard Harris film (1,3,6,5) 7. New eyes, confused, produce Irish family or police squad (7)

17

18

19

20

8. Goodbye Californian city in the middle of elemental tin (4) 12. Man meets a girl - Heather perhaps (5) 14. Propellor from Mayo arrived (3)

21

22

23

26

24 27

29

30

25

28

31

15. Consume in Tullaghomeath (3) 19. Poem found in Ballybroder (3) 20. Universal distress signal (3)

32

33

34

22. Water barrier in Ballymena maybe (3)

35

23. A gram, eh? Might make a town (7) 25. A clan reorganised for Irish family or famous musician (7 26. In like this man? (5) 27. Dash about in final event (4) 28. No mean confused Irishman (6) 30 Melody found in Dun Laoghaire (3) 33. It’s a bind, having it around one’s neck (3)

LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS: Clues across 1. Poetic. 8. Malahide. 8. Bearna. 9. Callow(s). 10. Gay. 11. Brandish. 12. Ruhr.

13. Ebony. 15. Stoker. 16. Moat. 17. Cabra. 19. Drainage. 20. Cue. 21. Career.

22. Shoveler. 23. Wood. 24. Stream. 27. Alice. 28. Neon. 29. Ode. Clues down 1. Parabola. 2. Toe. 3. Carrickmacross. 4. Meagher. 5. Lucy. 6. Hilary Mantel.

7. Edward the Bruce. 8. Beans. 14. Oklahoma. 17. CIA. 18. Brendan. 19. Desired.

21. Cowen. 25. Man. 26. Bit.

Answers: 1. Meath; 2. Harland was English, Wolff was German; 3. A De Havilland; 4. Enniskillen; 5. The Sex Pisols. 6. They are all named after the Celtic god Lug; 7. Sam Neill — he’s the only one who was born in Ireland, in Omagh; 8. They all have Patrick as their middle name; 9. Featherweight; 10. Country Girls.

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Irish

2019 SYDNEY ENTRANTS

Kelly Cronin

Gabrielle Dinn

Joanne Egan

Siobhan Filen

Kelly is 23 from Cork, Ireland and she made the big move to Sydney in January 2018. Things changed for her in the land down under from being a hairdresser at home to becoming a truck driver in Sydney, working six days a week on a construction site. Her experience so far on a construction site has made her very determined to promote women in the construction industry.

Gabrielle is 27 and a “born and bred” Canberran.

Her mother’s family are from Co Limerick and her father’s family from Co Laois. Her work in the events and tourism industry was recognised with the 2018 Markus Gibson-Huck Young Achiever Award at the Canberra Tourism Awards. She runs her own Irish dance school in Canberra, mentoring dancers both young and young-at-heart.

Joanne, 26, is from Templenoe, Co Kerry. She moved to Perth in 2016 before settling in the eastern suburbs of Sydney where she is working in the construction industry.

She has a keen interest in drama, traditional music, singing, and was involved in several competitions growing up.

Siobhan, 26, grew up in Cork and has been living in Sydney for three years. She began her career as a preschool teacher before becoming an education recruitment consultant specialising in supporting Irish-trained educators moving to Sydney. Australia has always been close to her heart as her Dad hails from Melbourne, so she is lucky enough to hold dual citizenship!

Rachel Gallagher

Ceire Kenny

Ashlinn Leatham

Roisin Loughrey

Rachel is 25 years old who has a keen interest in Irish dancing and music, and is an advocate for female leadership. Her family hails from Clare and Longford, among other counties. Rachel loves playing in Irish music sessions around Sydney, regularly competes in and performs Irish dancing, and is the assistant organiser for the annual Crookwell Irish Heritage Weekend.

Ceire is 25 and works as an environmental and ethical assessment adviser for Lendlease. Born in England, her family comes from Roscrea and Dublin. She grew up in the US and lived briefly in Europe before moving to Sydney five years ago where she finished her degree in Environmental Management and Chemistry. She is passionate about the environment and enjoys volunteering.

Ashlinn Leatham is 18 and was born and raised in Sydney, Australia by her Irish father Stephen, who migrated from Dublin, and her Australian mother Belinda. Her passions include dancing, surfing and baking. In the future she hopes to help those who struggle from mental illness through becoming a clinical psychologist.

Roisin is a 25-year-old finance professional residing in Sydney’s east, a slight change in scenery from her home county of Donegal. Roisin arrived in Australia when she was 23 and has embraced Australian life although she has yet to acquire a tan! Heavily involved in charity work, her biggest accomplishment being volunteer trip to Malawi with Habitat for Humanity.

Rebecca Mazza

Clodagh McPeake

Orla Murphy

Mikeala O’Dwyer Kelly

Rebecca is a 24-year-old speech pathologist with Irish ancestry on both sides of her family. She is passionate about striving to give everyone a voice and is continually looking for opportunities to further challenge herself. In 2013, she travelled and worked in Ireland to embrace Irish culture, meet her Irish relatives and explore the path her great grandfather took that led him to Australia.

Clodagh is a registered nurse from Co Derry.

Home has been Sydney for the past two years, after seven years in Liverpool, UK. She has ticked off exploring 30 countries, mostly as a solo traveller! Clodagh has volunteered in an orphanage in Tanzania and a hospital in Malawi.

Playing camogie all her life, she has a passion for boxing, Muay Thai, running and crossfit.

Orla grew up in Skerries, Co Dublin. Orla obtained a first class honours degree in general nursing at the University of West London and has worked as a nurse in London, Dublin and Sydney. Nursing and caring for others has always been Orla’s passion. Orla’s hobbies include the gym, yoga and festival promotional work in Sydney. Orla’s dad is from Tralee and her mother from Longford.

Mikeala is a pipelayer and moxy operator in the Sydney tunnels and has lived in Sydney for two years. Born in Tralee and raised in Barradubh, Killarney, Co Kerry she is the only female pipelayer in her tunnel. Mikeala’s hobbies include Gaelic football (she plays with an Irish team in Sydney) and is passionate about female rights and equality for women in construction.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

sports RUGBY :: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINALS

Leinster, Munster into semis

Munster players embrace after hard-fought win over Edinburgh at Murrayfield.

LEINSTER and Munster will take on Toulouse and Saracens resptively in the Euroepan Championsh Cup semi finals after quarter final wins at the weekend.

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen acknowledged that the next couple of weeks will define Leinster’s season after a hard-earned 21-18 victory over Ulster secured a Heineken Champions Cup semi-final spot. Ulster gave the defending champions a huge test in this all-Irish quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium, leading early on through Kieran Treadwell’s tr y with Luke Marshall’s 63rd-minute touchdown bringing the visitors level at 18-all.

Ross Byrne, in the absence of injured star Johnny Sexton,completed his 16-point haul for Leinster with a decisive penalty, nine minutes from the end. “We know we’re in two semi-finals now [the Guinness PRO14 and Champions Cup], but it’s about how we build the cohesion and our levels of

JOHN DELANEY

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND TOP OF THE TABLE AFTER WINNING START

FAI under fire over CEO fiasco

performance so that, when it comes to the two semi-finals, we give probably a better account of ourselves than we did today,” Cullen said.

“We’re always having to chase the game from so early. Once Ulster had the lead, they were able to play that pressure game on us. We didn’t respond particularly well to it, I didn’t think. But ultimately we got the job done. It’s pleasing on one hand, but frustrating on the other.”

Ross Byr ne and Adam Byr ne crossed the whitewash in each half for Cullen’s charges, who battled through to set up an Easter weekend semi-final against Toulouse.

Two tries from Keith Earls secured Munster a 17-13 victory at Edinburgh and a 14th Heineken Champions Cup semi-final appearance.

The winger bagged a brilliantly executed second score with nine minutes left to turn the game on its head after Edinburgh had fought back

from 7-0 down to lead for much of the game thanks to Chris Dean’s try and Jaco Van Der Walt’s kicking.

The visitors were making a record 18th appearance in the last eight and they used all their experience to kill the game and ensure there was no late scare. Edinburgh are relative novices in the latter stages of the tournament but they had won 17 of their last 19 home games in Europe, and 11 out of 12 in total at home this season, and attracted a 36,358 crowd at Murrayfield, although many were wearing the red colours of Munster.

Toulouse overcame the first-half dismissal of Zack Holmes to beat Simon Zebo’s Racing 92 22-21 in a thrilling Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final. Meanwhile Saracens will be confident against Munster having prevailed on three of their last four meetings, the most recent of those a 26-10 semi-final drubbing in Dublin two years ago.

Cate McCurry

REPORTS that the former chief executive of the FAI provided a loan to the organisation “have raised serious questions”, Ireland’s sports minister has said.

Shane Ross said Sport Ireland was engaging with the FAI over claims it received a loan of €100,000 from its former chief John Delaney.

“The recent media reports regarding a loan provided to the FAI by its CEO have raised serious questions about gover nance and financial control at the FAI,” Mr Ross said. “In the interests of due process and in the interest of national justice it is impor tant that Spor t Ireland’s engagement with the FAI will be given the necessary time to ensure all matters are considered thoroughly.”

It also emerged that Delaney has been living in houses rented by the association for much of the past decade. This perk was in addition to his annual salary of €360,000.

The cash-strapped association has been paying €3,000 a month to rent a house for Mr Delaney in Wicklow from broadcaster Gráinne Seoige since 2016, The Sunday Times revealed.

Mr Delaney has been appointed Executive Vice President – a new role created just as he stepped aside as CEO. In his new role, Mr Delaney will have responsibility for a range of international matters including those relating to FIFA and UEFA and FAI tournament bidding projects. He will work closely with the new CEO, the FAI said.

The FAI said Mr Delaney’s move to a new role was the result of a review of its senior management structure thT was commissioned in February and carried out in recent weeks.

Angry Irish fans protested against Mr Delaney by throwing tennis balls on the field during Ireland’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Georgia.

CHALLENGE CUP

Sharks make Connacht pay for errors CONNACHT boss Andy Friend was disappointed with the number of mistakes his side made, as they exited the Challenge Cup against Sale.

The Sharks were excellent in the first half, touching down twice via Byron McGuigan and Denny Solomona, before going into the interval 20-3 ahead.

Although the Irish province improved – scoring late on through Kyle Godwin – Sale had done enough to make it through to the last four where they will face either La Rochelle or Bristol.

“With it 20-3 at half-time, we knew we had a fight on our hands in the second half,” he said.

“I thought we did fight in the second half but in finals footy you can’t make that many errors and expect to win.”

Friend also defended his team selection after making a number of changes and resting some first-choice individuals.

“We’ve done that all year. We’ve picked on what we believe is form and we are trying to build a squad as well.

Yes, it’s about today but it’s also a long game there where you’ve got to give players opportunities,” Friend said.

“You’ve got to challenge players and give them their chance. Some take it, some need a bit more time, so that’s something we will assess, but we are building a squad.”

FOOTBALL

Rice gives me the pips: McClean Damian Spellman

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS: Conor Hourihane is mobbed by his team-mates after scoring the winner against Georgia last week. (Inset) Mick McCarthy.

McCarthy pleased with two wins YES, the opposition was poor but the competitive portion of Mick McCarthy’s new reign as Republic Of Ireland manager has begun with two victories.

First, there was a scrappy 1-0 win over tiny Gibraltar and then a tougher victory over Georgia by the same margin. Conor Hourihane’s first senior international goal handed the Republic of Ireland a deserved victory.

Ireland were more than value for the points as they won by the same score at the Aviva Stadium with the Georgians rarely looking like ending their wait for a win over the Irish at the 10th attempt.

Hourihane’s 39th-minute free-kick ultimately settled the game, although goalkeeper Darren Randolph had to make a good reaction save to deny Valerian Gvilia an equaliser and Jaba Kankava hit the post five minutes from time. However, anything less than victory would have been harsh on the hosts, who rose to the occasion and turned in a stirring display which could and probably should have resulted in a much more convincing scoreline.

Where they had been ponderous in their efforts to break down a determined, but limited Gibraltar side on

Saturday evening, they managed to carve their way through a potentially far more potent Georgia outfit with apparent ease. David McGoldrick had already won an early corner when Robbie Brady scuffed a seventh-minute shot wide and after Seamus Coleman had overhit a cross, Hourihane burst through to force a good save from Giorgi Loria with a well-struck drive. McGoldrick sent a dipping volley just wide and then flicked a header across goal from James McClean’s cross as the Republic took the game to Vladimir Weiss’ men.

They finally got their reward nine minutes before the break. Georgia defender Guram Kashia was booked for a cynical 33rd-minute challenge on McGoldrick as he threatened to run through on goal. Hourihane bent the resulting free-kick around the wall and inside the far post to provide what turned out to be the winning goal.

McCarthy was a happy man after seeing the Republic of Ireland complete a maximum haul of six points from their first two Euro 2020 qualifiers on his return as manager.

With Switzerland and Denmark fighting out a 3-3 draw in Basel, Ireland

sit at the top of the group, although tougher tests lie ahead.

Asked if they could stay there, McCarthy said: “Don’t know. It’s a good place to be, isn’t it, after two games?

“There was a lot that pleased me tonight – individual performances, the all-round team performance, which I thought was excellent.

“We’ve had a great week, working and training. We’ve stopped them [Georgia] from doing what they wanted to do. I thought we played some really good football.”

Asked if it reminded him of the good old days of his first spell in charge, McCarthy said: “Good, new days. It’s a good day. That’s all in the past. I never think about that, what’s happened in the past. This is a new start for me, and a new start with some new players. I thought the atmosphere was brilliant.”

Ireland’s next challenge will be more difficult. They travel to Copenhagen to face Denmark. The teams have met four times in the last two years. Three of the games ended in scoreless draws but the Irish were humiliated 5-1 in the second leg of the World Cup play-off qualifier at the Aviva Stadium.

JAMES McClean has told any other Irish player tempted to follow Declan Rice into the England squad to “sod off and play for someone else”.

Der r y-bor n McClean played under-21 football for Northern Ireland but opted to represent the Republic at senior level, where he played alongside Rice until the West Ham midfielder switched allegiance.

Asked about Rice in an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE, McClean (pictured) said: “He said he was a proud Irishman. Then he said he was a proud Englishman. If he’s both... good luck to him but I don’t buy it.

“I think you’re either one or the other. I was with Derry City when I got the call-up to play for the North, and I turned it down because it’s not my countr y, it’s never been my countr y.

I’m an Irishman.

“It’s not just Declan, it’s anyone else.

If you’re not proud to be here and we’re a stepping stone, then sod off and play for someone else. I’m an Irishman. I grew up on the island of Ireland, simple as that. We only want players here who want to play for Ireland, who feel Irish and are proud to be Irish.”

Rice, who played in three friendlies for Ireland, came on as a substitute for England in their 5-0 Euro 2020 qualifying win over the Czech Republic and made his full debut a week later.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

sports AILISH CONSIDINE FIRST IRISH WOMAN TO WIN AFLW GRAND PRIZE

Plenty to Crow about for Adelaide’s Irish star David Hennessy

ASKED to descibe the feeling of becoming the first Irish woman, and indeed the first non-Australian, to win an AFLW Premiership medal, Ailish Considine simply said: “Unbelievable”.

“It doesn’t even feel like it’s real, like it happened yesterday.”

In her first year with Adelaide Crows, Ailish and her team stormed to a 63-18 final win over Carlton at Adelaide Oval on Sunday 31 March. Ailish’s goal in the first quarter put Adelaide into a strong lead that they would not relinquish.

Five Irish women competed with AFLW clubs this year with Yvonne Bonner and Cora Staunton at Greater Western Sydney Giants, Sarah Rowe at Collingwood and Aisling McCarthy at Western Bulldogs making up the Irish contingent.

In the competition’s third year, Ailish became the first Irish import to win a Grand Final. Asked how it felt to have made such history, Ailish said: “I probably didn’t overthink it but it obviously was mentioned. I saw it on media and stuff. It was in the back of the mind and I guess I just left it there.

“It’s an amazing achievement and I hope I won’t be the last because there’s so much talent back home.

“I think definitely a few more will make the trip out and give Australian Rules a go. It’s unbelievable but hopefully I’ll be the first of many.”

Ailish had much support from home and her family made the trip to support her on the big day.

“It’s absolutely surreal, the whole weekend was just an absolute whirlwind. My family flew in on Friday night.

Ailish Considine (circled) and her Adelaide Crows team-mates celebrate their AFLW Premiership at Adelaide Oval. Pic: AFL They were here for the weekend and for the game. It was just an absolutely huge weekend and to come out with the win was just an amazing feeling and it was amazing to have my family there and celebrate with them, for them to be part of it as well. The support from home has been brilliant. My phone has just been hopping.”

Ailish marked the occasion of picking up her medal by doing a little jig for the crowd much like Tadhg Kennelly did

when he was Ireland’s first AFL Premiership winner in 2005.

“The girls were like, ‘You have to do something when you get your medal.

Make sure it’s something Irish being the first Irish woman to win one.’ I had to follow through, I guess. I didn’t do it very well but at least I did it. I held up my part of the deal.”

The game was straightforward for Adelaide who have been in unstoppable form with a one-point loss to

GAA :: NATIONAL LEAGUE FINALS

Mayo savour victory AFTER coming away from their last 10 national finals at Croke Park emptyhanded, Mayo powered to their first National Football League title since 2001 thanks to second-half goals from Matthew Ruane, Diarmuid O’Connor and Ciaran Treacy.

Mayo’s 3-11 to 2-10 win over Kerry may signal the start of great things for James Horan’s side.

It was Robbie Hennelly’s stunning 70th minute save from David Clifford that set them on the path to victory. At that stage, Kerr y were two behind when Stephen O’Brien drove along the end line and played in Clifford, who was denied by Hennelly’s quick reflexes before Colm Boyle pounced on the loose ball.

It was only when substitute Ciaran Treacy goaled in the third minute of injur y time that the long-suf fering Mayo supporters would have allowed themselves to believe they were going to win this match and finally take some silverware back to Castlebar.

Meanwwhile, Limerick’s all conquering hurlers won the National Hurling league title with a 1-24 to 0-19 win over Waterford in the decider.

Seven months on from the golden

Tommy Walsh of Kerry and Aidan O’Shea of Mayo in action.

day of success that ended their long Liam MacCar thy wait, Limerick’s hurlers have achieved another breakthrough in their first league decider in 13 years. It’s their first League crown since 1997. It was fully merited as well, another day when they stamped their

dominance on an encounter and sparkled to see off Waterford.

Aaron Gillane was the star turn with a return of 1-9, bagging 1-5 of that total from play. He has been in sublime form all spring and this was a perfect way to round off a storming start to 2019.

Meanwhile, Donegal produced an extraorinar y comeback to defeat Meath in the Division 2 football decider at Croke Park.

Declan Bonner’s side have their sights on bigger prizes this summer but lifting a national title is a welcome boost at this stage of the year.

The win was more impressive considering they handed Meath an eightpoint head start before Donegal started playing any sort of football.

A seven-point haul from their brilliant leader Michael Murphy, who thrived in an advanced role, helped Donegal battle back into contention.

Derry claimed the Division Four title with a four-point win against a dogged Leitrim side at Croke Park.

Galway’s camogie team ser ved a notice of intent for the Irish summer with a first national title since 2015 by sur viving a determined Kilkenny comeback in the Division 1 Final.

Western Bulldogs in Round 1 their only defeat of the campaign: “We approached it like it was just any other game … concentrate on your own game and try and get a good result.

“We did the same thing yesterday and that’s probably why it went so well for us. In fairness to the girls, they’re a great bunch of girls and they didn’t let the week get to them, the build up or the big game or the big crowd. They’re a privilege to play with. Our coaches

and staff really kept us level-headed for the week as well. We were fortunate enough to come out with the right result.”

AFLW clubs only renew contracts annually but Ailish knows she would love to back for the next campaign after she returns home to play Gaelic football for her club and county in the summer: “I would love to be back playing here again. I’ll have to wait and see and hopefully I’ll be back next year.”

GOLF :: SUCCESS FOR IRISH PLAYERS

Wins for McDowell, McIlroy Phil Casey

GRAEME McDowell claimed his first title since 2015 with victor y in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship in the Dominican Republic last weekend.

McDowell carded five birdies and two bogeys in a closing 69 to finish 18 under par, a shot ahead of Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and American Chris Stroud, who had held a one-shot lead with two holes to play. However, while Stroud bogeyed the par-three 17th, playing partner McDowell hit a superb tee shot to six feet and conver ted the birdie putt before both players bogeyed the 18th. The victory gives McDowell a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour and will lift the former US Open champion from 257th in the world to inside the top 150.

“It’s been a rough few years,” the 39-year-old said. “It’s been a grind. On 16 green, I said to myself, ‘You’ve got to do something that’s tournamentwinning’. The shot to 17 was tournament-winning level.”

Earlier in the month, Rory McIlroy jumped to No 4 in the world after winning the Players Championship on St Patrick’s Day at Sawgrass.

McIlroy recovered from an early double bogey to card a closing 70 and

DROUGHT BROKEN: Graeme McDowell is back on top of his game, with an 18 under par win.

finish 16 under par, one shot ahead of former Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk, who had threatened to become the oldest winner in tournament history.

“I can take a lot from this,” McIlroy said. “It’s taken me a few weeks to get to this point but I feel like I’m playing some of the best golf of my life right now and I just need to keep going with it and keep doing the same things.”

McIlroy made it as far as the round o f 1 6 i n t h e Wo r l d M a t c h p l a y Champoionship before falling to Tiger Woods in a closely watched heavyweight clash. Woods went on to lose to Danish rookie Lucas Bjerregaard.

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AUSTR ALIA’S IR ISH NEWSPAPER