Irish Echo September 2017

AN EMIGRANT’S BURDEN

NEW ASIAN AIR LINK

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‘Heaviest Weight In My Baggage Was My Mother’s Broken Heart’

Cathay Pacific Reveals Direct Hong Kong To Dublin Route

For breaking news visit www.irishecho.com.au

AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R September, 2017 | Volume 30 – Number 9

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On top of the world

Ireland’s co-captains Laura Duryea and Onóra Mulcahy with coach Brendan Kelly celebrate Ireland’s win.

Picture: Scott Barbour

Banshees win AFL’s World Cup PAGE 22

IRELAND TO DOUBLE ITS DIPLOMATIC FOOTPRINT BY 2025 UNDER NEW VARADKAR PLAN

DIPLOMATIC OFFENSIVE

IRELAND is to double the number of diplomats and enterprise and investment agents in overseas missions by 2025 as new Taoiseach Leo Varadkar looks to build new global connections beyond Europe.

On an official visit to Canada, Mr Varadkar said the aim was to attract more business from abroad, boost trade and tourism, build stronger links with the Irish diaspora and increase cultural exchange.

“This means new and augmented diplomatic missions and as well as significantly increased resources for

our investment, tourism, cultural and food agencies overseas,” the Taoiseach said.

The plan is called Ireland's Global Footprint 2025 and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has been asked to examine how increasing representation overseas will af fect diplomatic missions.

The specifics will be approved by the Government later this year.

Currently Ireland has 61 embassies, seven multilateral missions and 12 consulates through which the Department of Foreign Affairs maintains diplomatic relations with 178 states.

Additional staff and roles have already been assigned overseas to deal with the response to Brexit with the Department of Foreign Affairs stating that it has prioritised the issue.

In 2011 diplomatic missions to the Holy See, Iran and Timor-Leste were closed for what the Government cited were economic reasons. The fallout from repeated inquiries into clerical abuse was regarded as contributing to the decision to close the embassy in the Vatican. Three years ago the mission to the Holy See was re-established along with new embassies in Indonesia, Kenya, Croatia and Thailand.

Three new consulates have been

opened in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Hong Kong and Austin, Texas.

Mr Varadkar made his announcement at an Enterprise Ireland breakfast in Toronto. “Notwithstanding our strong competitiveness and vigorous economic growth, Ireland faces undoubtedly the greatest set of political and economic challenges in a generation, as a result of Brexit,” the Taoiseach said. “Now is the time to plan ahead, with ambition.”

The Taoiseach’s plans will raise hopes of incr eased diplomatic resources in Australia.

While Ireland has an embassy in Canberra, a consulate in Sydney and

an honorary consulate in Perth, there is no diplomatic representation in Queensland or Victoria. All of Ireland’s semi-state representation is based in Sydney, including Enterprise Ireland, Tourism Ireland and IDA. Canada, by comparison, has one embassy and seven honourary consulates in Australia.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

news SYDNEY-BASED IRISH POET REFLECTS ON THE RELENTLESS EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES OF EXPAT LIFE

When distance becomes your enemy Anne Casey

WHEN at 18 or 20 years of age, or in my case 24, you fly away on the adventure of a lifetime, you aren’t thinking of your future self. When I first winged my way to Australia, I had no inkling where it would lead. Or all the losses it would lead to. For me. For my future husband. For our future children. For our families.

Swooping in over Sydney Harbour for the first time more than 20 years ago, I had an overwhelming sense of belonging. It is a feeling I have never since shaken. Australia has been very good to me. I love the sunshine and the hustle of Sydney. Career opportunities came my way. Work and travel happily mingled. I have found love and made great friends here.

In those early years as a single person living in Sydney, from time to time I experienced the toll of loss due to the distance. My grandmother died. We had been close. I wasn’t told until it was too late to travel home for the funeral.

It was meant as a kindness. I was devastated.

A cousin was getting married. I never got an invite. And another cousin. And another. I became the easiest number reducer. Distance the most convenient excuse. News from home started to dig small holes in my heart.

But I was young and I loved living in Australia. It never crossed my mind to move home. Each year, travelling back to my native west Clare, I would notice the little things that had changed. Time slowly chipping away at my childhood haunts. A slipping away of faces, places and traditions. Starting to lose track of old friends. Excluded.ww When I eventually settled down it was with an Irish guy met through work in Sydney. Neither of us realised at the time what we were signing up for. There was the big one – where to get married. We chose Ireland because of family, automatically excluding a lot of our Aussie friends.

It wasn’t until we had our first child

that the little holes started to fracture.

After a difficult birth, my husband was left literally holding the baby. Alone for hours until I was safely out of recovery.

It would be another four months before a single family member on either side met our firstborn. Tiny fissures forming. Of our own making, of course.

A christening in Ireland, again eliminating our Australian friends. But this time we were wise to it. We had a baby blessing in Sydney. Inter national inclusiveness.

Another close relative dying and no hope of getting home in time. Crack.

Visits home so often accompanied by the inevitable question, “Would you ever think of coming home?” Tentative.

Half apologetic. Incensing. Guiltridden. Like so many other emigrants, the heaviest weight in my baggage was my mother’s broken hear t. Crack, crack, crack.

My mum would ask, ‘Would you ever think of coming home?’ There is a scene that replays over and over every year. Me hugging my father in the hallway. Tears as I greet him for the first time in a year. The same scene mir rored a week later as we say goodbye for another 12 months. It is like a kind of Groundhog Day torture.

But then we just carry on. What else would you do?

A second child. Midnight phone calls with my ailing Mum starting soon after his birth. Crack, crack. Escalating into nightly calls with my parents and a stream of baffled doctors. Culminating in the inconceivable news that my Mum had pancreatic cancer.

A flurry of internet searches spat out the unthinkable – it was almost certainly terminal. A small ravine opened up. It is at times like this you realise no technology can bridge the gap of 13,000 miles. There are times when you just have to be there.

So we bundled up our six-month-old and two-year-old and flew as fast as a Boeing 747 could carry us. And for a while, it became all about hospitals and treatment options. Until the options ran out. And then it was about pain management and survival. For all of us.

My husband had to retur n to Australia for work. He missed so many things over the ensuing months – first crawling, baby talk, first standing. A series of unrepeatable firsts.

All the while we knew there would also be lasts. We never knew how long Mum would have. But we were determined to squash all of the lost years into whatever time we had. And we did.

We blew out our youngest’s first birthday candle by her bedside four days before Mum breathed her last.

And for all the awfulness of those six months, there was love and joy and meaning. And most importantly, absolutely no regrets.

It has been 10 years. And there are still so many losses. Our children’s birthdays, First Communions, school concer ts and the dreaded

Grandparents’ Days marked always in the absence of family. Always the empty chair.

Travelling home to find the cracks keep on going. The oldies keep getting older. And frailer. For a while there someone seemed to die every time we went home.

My hometown has changed so much I barely recognise it. I can walk the length of the street I grew up on and not recognise a single soul.

The sense of displacement is alarming at times. But the friends I meet who know me seal the void of all the intervening years. And the joy of seeing my children run wild on the strand I ruled as a child fills the cracks in my heart to overflowing.

Somewhere along the line, I found that writing poetry helped me to make

sense of it all. It helped me to process my guilt and grief. It gave me a place to hang on to all the lost things.

Somewhere I can turn them over from time to time.

If I could go back and somehow explain it all to my 24-year-old self, would I do anything different? Probably not. I think that’s the most important thing in the end. No regrets.

To find the tally of gains from all your losses is the greatest part of yourself.

Originally from Clare, Anne Casey is a writer living in Sydney.

Her debut poetry collection Where The Lost Things Go, is published by Salmon Poetry.

This article first appeared in the Irish Times on August 26, 2017.

QANTAS CHIEF ALAN JOYCE AT TRINITY ALUMNI DINNER

JILL MEAGHER’S KILLER ATTACKED

The Sydney branch of the Trinity College Dublin Alumni relaunched in style last month with a successful dinner at Irish-owned eatery 34Bia in Redfern. The event attracted alumni whose graduation years ranged from 1947 to 2016.

Many famous graduates have meandered around Trinity’s squares, halls and libraries, among them Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, Bram Stoker, Presidents Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese and, more recently, Niall Horan, Hozier and Courtney Love. The group was honoured to welcome one of the college’s most famous recent graduates, Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas, who shared stories about his upbringing in Tallaght, his time at Trinity and his challenges and highlights in running Australia’s national airline for the past eight years. A special message was read out from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, also a Trinity alumnus. Pictured on the night are (from left) TCD Sydney Alumni Committee members Andrea Farrell, Herbert Down, Eithne McSwiney, Alan Joyce , Dylan Carroll and Hannah Fraser. For more information on the group, search for Trinity College Dublin Sydney Alumni on Facebook or Linkedin, or email committee@tcdsydneyalumni.com.au

MURDERER and rapist Adrian Bayley has been attacked inside Bar won Prison, with sources confirming that the notorious killer of Jill Meagher was stabbed by another inmate.

Bayley is understood to have been stabbed with a fork and suffered minor injuries during the altercation. His injuries were treated in the prison.

The 46-year-old has spent much of the past five years in protective custody because of concerns he would be targeted by other inmates.

He is serving life in prison for the 2012 rape and murder of the Co Louth woman and for the rapes of two other women. He will be eligible for parole in 2055, when he is 83.

Bayley is believed to have been in the Hoya unit, a protection unit for prisoners at high risk of being attacked, when he was set upon.

Bayley is understood to be particularly loathed by fellow prisoners because his crimes resulted in tougher parole conditions in Victoria. Bayley was on parole when he murdered Ms Meagher.

The crime shocked and angered people in Australia and Ireland, and

Adrian Bayley suffers fork attack in Victorian prison

Jill Meagher was murdered in Melbourne in 2012.

was the catalyst for an overhaul of parole conditions in Victoria.

Last year, Bayley had his sentence cut by three years by the Court of Appeal, which upheld his appeal against a conviction for raping a sex worker in 2000.

Bayley has rape convictions dating from 1990. He was on parole when he murdered Ms Meagher, having been jailed in 2001 for raping five women.

Coroner Ian Gray found last year that Bayley should not have been on parole in 2012 and that Ms Meagher’s murder was “preventable”.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

news Burwood to host Irish community day

RHYTHMS OF IRELAND RETURNS TO AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY’S Irish Support Agency will host an Irish Community Day on Saturday, September 23.

The event aims to bring together all the Irish groups and associations in Sydney for a free, family-focused afternoon at Burwood Park Community Centre.

“As well as showcasing all the fantastic Irish organisations, this free event promises to be fun for all the family, with a jumping castle and face painting for the little ones, a sausage sizzle and even an appearance from the Taste Ireland Cottage where you can stock up on goodies from home,” the Irish Support Agency said on its website.

Entry is free and the event runs from 1pm to 3pm.

Ireland Funds want to Run The World

A scene from Rhythms Of Ireland, a music and dance show touring Australia from the end of September.

Tenth anniversary for touring Irish spectacular David Hennessy FANS of Irish dance are in for a treat as the acclaimed dance spectacular The Rhythms of Ireland is set to hit the Australian stage.

The show, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary, will tour Australia between September and December.

The Rhythms of Ireland has already mesmerised a global audience of more than 2 million people and has been lauded for marrying Irish dance tradition and contemporary excellence.

Lead male dancer Tom Brosnan, who has toured with the shows Riverdance and Heartbeat of Home, told the Irish Echo it is the level of talent associated with this production that makes it so special.

“It’s the calibre of the dancers and musicians in the show. It’s very tradi-

tional in terms of the Irish dancin. It’s not real modern or trying to change it.

It’s just a great display of Irish dancing, Irish music, singing.

“There’s world champion dancers in there, All-Ireland musicians, everyone who has come together to produce the show as a whole is very talented and got a great eye for it.

“I’ve done a lot of shows and I would say this show has definitely had the highest calibre of dancers.”

Brosnan says the show strikes a chord with those who have been away from Ireland for many years: “The crowd love it. We always go out, do the meet and greet after and they’re always asking, ‘when are you coming back?’

They love it. I suppose it takes them back (home) a lot.

“Every show I’ve done over here, they have loved it. It’s a massive com-

munity, it’s got massive Irish heritage obviously. I think the show pulls at the heart strings.

“Every review I have read has been outstanding, I’ve never read a bad review about the show. I’ve never heard a bad word about the show.

“The 2009 tour we did was incredible. We did nine months in Australia and New Zealand and I think it was 170 shows we did that year, so that was a great tour with the show.”

Originally from Bristol with family ties in Kerry and Limerick, Brosnan has five world championships to his name and has been with the show since 2009.

It was on The Rhythms of Ireland then that he met Erin Trevena, five-time Australian national champion and now his fiancée. The couple live full-time in Sydney.

Trevena will return as one of the

female lead dancers. Brosnan and Travena will be joined by an international cast – with dancers coming from Ireland, UK and the US and who have experience of shows like Lord of the Dance – for two weeks of rehearsals before the tour.

Of the mammoth tour he has ahead of him and the team, Brosnan says: “It’s a lot of travelling. It’s pretty intense but it’s great to do – travelling Australia.”

The Rhythms of Ireland is choreographed by Michael Donnellan, two-time world champion Irish dancer and former lead dancer with Riverdance and Lord of the Dance. Musical direction is by top musicians Martin O’Connell and Thomas Johnston.

The tour begins on September 28. For more information, go to www. roi10years.com

ON Saturday, September 23, 2017, The Ireland Funds’ “Young Leaders” from around the world will host an event together – The Irish Run the World, a Global 5k.

The event will span more than 20 hours and cover 85 kilometres in 17 cities around the world.

Starting in Brisbane, Australia, the Young Leaders will run 5km in their respective cities before passing the virtual baton to Sydney and then Melbourne. The Global 5k will conclude when the last runner crosses the finishing line in San Francisco.

For more details, visit the website, irelandfunds.org/g5k/volore, omnit ipsam hita qui venis

Another gong for Irish crime writer BELFAST-born, Melbourne-based Adrian McKinty has won the Ned Kelly Award for best crime novel for the second time.

His novel Police at the Station and They Don’t Look Friendly is the sixth in his Sean Duffy series set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

The author told The Australian he was pleased to win a second Neddie, as the awards are known.

He won his first in 2014 for In the Morning I’ll Be Gone.

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

GALWAY COUNCILLOR WEIGHS IN ON COLONIAL STATUE ROW

History wars reach Galway

The Burke and Wills statue in Melbourne as it looked before its temporary removal in April.

A GALWAY councillor has criticised pr oposals by Aboriginal rights campaigners to amend a plaque to an Irish explorer in Melbourne.

Michael Crowe, of Fianna Fáil, called on Australian politicians to “show some bravery” and stand up to groups that want to rewrite history.

The plaque is attached to a statue of Robert O’Hara Burke, a Galway man, and his English companion William John Wills, and describes them as the first people to traverse Australia from south to north. The structure has been temporarily removed to allow for construction works.

The inscription has been challenged

by Rohan Lepper t, a Green Par ty member of Melbourne City Council.

Mr Leppert, who chairs the city council’s arts and heritage portfolio, told The Australian newspaper he would ask the council to consider amending or adding a plaque to the statue of the duo, who led an ill-fated

expedition crossing Australia from south to north.

The statue, by sculptor Charles Summers, has stood in Melbourne’s CBD since 1865 and was recently put in storage by the City of Melbourne while the state government builds part of the Melbourne Metro train tunnel under its most recent location on the corner of Swanston and Collins streets.

The plaque on the statue, before it was removed early last year, said Burke and Wills were “the first to travel the continent from south to north”, but indigenous Australians are known to have explored the country’s interior for thousand of years before the pair set off on their journey in 1860.

The federal government’s official website describes the explorers as “the first colonists” to travel from north to south and calls their expedition from Melbourne to the Top End a “failure” that saw “many men needlessly losing their lives”.

Burke and Wills died on the return leg of the journey, near Cooper Creek in July 1861.

Mr Leppert would not comment on whether other statues should be amended, but he supported moves to change the plaque on Captain Cook’s statue in Sydney and pointed to the added plaque on the John Batman memorial in Melbourne as a successful way to address reconciliation.

“I think it’s good to have these plaques on memorials we’re perhaps not so proud of now, so we have a clearer understanding of history in the public realm,” he said.

Robert O’Hara Burke was born at St Clerans, Co Galway, Ireland, the second of the three sons of James Hardiman Burke and his wife Anne, née O’Hara. The Burkes wer e Protestant gentr y and landowners.

Burke served in the Austrian army and and the Irish Mounted Constabulary until he migrated to Australia in 1853.

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

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news HONG KONG DIRECT FLIGHT ADDS TO ONE-STOP OPTIONS FROM AUSTRALIA

Cathay unveils Dublin route THERE will be a new one-stop option between Australia and Ireland from next year after Cathay Pacific revealed a Dublin-Hong Kong route.

Cathay Pacific will operate a new, four-times weekly service from June 2, 2018. The Dublin flight will be ser viced by an Airbus A350-900 aircraft in a three-class configuration, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

The airline announced details of the service last week, alongside two new non-stop routes from Hong Kong to Brussels and Copenhagen.

“We are thrilled to welcome Cathay Pacific to Dublin Airpor t and to Ireland,” Dublin Airport’s managing director, Vincent Harrison, said.

“Dublin Airport is competing for routes like this with other major European airports, so winning this new business is hugely positive news for Ireland, for foreign direct investment, for Irish expor ters, and for inbound tourism,” he added.

“We’re excited to offer the only direct flights between Hong Kong and Dublin,” Cathay’s chief executive, Rupert Hogg, said.

“Dublin is a fantastic destination and attracts business and leisure travellers from the world over. We listened to our customers’ demands for more options and greater flexibility and have responded by building direct air links with this great city.”

The route is a major milestone, with trade between Ireland and China now worth more than €8 billion per annum and some 100 Irish firms with operations there. Direct flights between the two countries have been discussed for years, with Hainan Airlines reportedly close to finalising scheduling on services to Beijing.

The new flights follow a complex collaborative effort involving Irelands airpor t operator DAA; Tourism Ireland; the Irish Embassy in China; the Consulate in Hong Kong and other stakeholders such as the IDA,

Cathay Pacific joins Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways in offering onestop options between Ireland and Australia.

Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia, the Irish food board.

“This new service will help foster the growing trade, tourism, education and cultural links between Ireland, Hong Kong, Asia’s world city, and the rest of China,” Ireland’s Tourism

Minister, Shane Ross, said. Dublin Chamber of Commerce’s CEO, Mary Rose Burke, said the route “opens up a whole new world of opportunities for Irish businesses” and a gateway into “the increasingly lucrative Chinese market.”

An estimated 4,000 Irish people live in Hong Kong, the Irish Embassy in China says.

The route is also expected to boost inbound tourism from China, one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.

“Today’s announcement is good news for Irish tourism as we plan for 2018 and beyond, and continue the rollout of our market diversification strategy in light of the UK’s decision to exit the EU,” Tourism Ireland’s chief executive Niall Gibbons said.

Cathay Pacific’s website says return fares from Sydney to Dublin in June 2018 start from $2115 (at September 3, 2017), with a door-to-door travel time of approximately 25 hours and 35 minutes.

CLOUDS OBSCURE SOLAR ECLIPSE FOR STARGAZERS

Rugby legend Willie Duggan dies at 67 FORMER Ireland international Willie

Duggan has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 67.

Duggan was widely regarded as one of Ireland’s best players, making 41 appearances between 1975 and 1984 and toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions in 1977.

Irish Rugby wrote on Twitter: “Sad news that Ireland legend Willie Duggan has passed away.

Our thoughts & prayers are with his family & friends. May he rest in peace.”

Carrey lawyers legal ‘win’ in White case JIM Carrey’s legal team has won a bid to get his former girlfriend’s medical records so they can be used in the wrongful death lawsuit against him.

The Hollywood star is being sued after Irish make-up artist Cathriona White, 30, took a fatal overdose of prescription drugs.

Lawyers for her husband Mark Burton and mother Brigid Sweetmen claim the actor, 55, used his “wealth, influence and celebrity status” to provide the medication.

But Raymond Boucher, for Carrey, argued Ms White had recently had breast augmentation and had been prescribed medication that could have been responsible for her death. The family’s lawyers tried to prevent the disclosure of her medical history on privacy grounds but Judge Deirdre Hill ruled at Los Angeles Superior Court that it should be disclosed.

Mr Carrey, who denies all the allegations, will face a 20-day jury trial over the claims under the Drug Dealer Liability Act from April 26.

Tributes for hurling great, Tony Keady

Hopeful stargazers gathered at The Curragh in Kildare in the hope of seeing the solar eclipse on August 21. Cloud cover obscured their view.

Press Association photographer Niall Carson captured this beautiful image of an Irish summer twilight sky.

TOURISM FIGURES POINT TO BREXIT CHALLENGES BUT AUSSIE MARKET SHINES

Weak sterling deters British tourists from Ireland Siobhan Fenton THE number of British tourists visiting the Republic of Ireland has fallen as a weaker sterling has meant more expensive holiday costs for British visitors, new figures suggest.

Data published by the Irish Government indicates that between January and July this year, the number of British tourists visiting the country dropped to 2 million, down from 2.2 million in the same period last year. This amounts to a 6.2 per cent decrease.

It is believed that this may be in part due to a weakening of the pound compared to the euro.

This has resulted in a weaker exchange rate for travellers from the UK, making Ireland more expensive to

visit. In June 2016, before the referendum leading to Brexit, or Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, one euro was valued at £0.76. Since then, the value of the pound sterling has fallen because of market uncertainty about Brexit.

The latest exchange rates show that sterling stands at £1.075 against the euro. The figures represented an eightyear low for the pound.

Overall, the number of tourists visiting Ireland has increased by 3.1 per cent due to higher numbers of visitors from North America and Australia.

The Central Statistics Office figures point to a steady increase in visitors from Australia, New Zealand and “other Oceania”. In 2010, 135,300 tourists visited Ireland from this region.

In 2016, the figure was 204,500.

Commenting on the figures, Tourism Ireland’s chief executive Niall Gibbons said: “As anticipated, the currency challenge for Irish tourism is very real and the drop in British visitor numbers [down by 6.2 per cent] for the January to July period reflects that.

“The decline in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors; and economic uncertainty is undoubtedly making British travellers more cautious about their discretionary spending. This is impacting on travel to Ireland. Tourism Ireland is placing a greater focus on our ‘culturally curious’ audience, who are less impacted by currency fluctuations. We are also undertaking an expanded partnership

programme with airlines, ferry operators and tour operators, communicating a strong price-led message.

“While North America and our longhaul markets continue to perform well, the double-digit growth we’ve seen in the earlier months of 2017 has now slowed.

“Arrivals from North America are up by 17.4 per cent for January to July; and visitors from Australia and developing markets grew by 17.5 per cent for January to July,” he said.

The chief executive of the Irish Hotels Federation, Niall Gibbons, said he was concerned by the fall-off in the number of British visitors. “Our industry faces significant risks associated with Brexit. Regional tourism is likely to be hit hardest,” Mr Gibbons said.

PRESIDENT Michael D Higgins has led tributes to hurling great Tony Keady who has died aged 53.

The two-time All-Ireland winner, originally from Killimordaly, Co Galway, was regarded as one of the finest hurlers of his generation.

President Higgins and his wife Sabina offered condolences to Mr Keady’s wife Margaret and their four children, Shannon, Anthony, Jake and Harry and friends and colleagues.

“It is with deep sadness I have learned of the death of legendary Galway hurler, Tony Keady,” Mr Higgins said.

“He will be missed by all his colleagues in Killimordaly GAA Club, and by the hurling and GAA community at large.”

Irish boy, 5, hit by Barcelona terrorist

A FIVE-YEAR-OLD Irish boy suffered a broken leg when his family was caught up in the terrorist attack in Barcelona last month. The boy suffered a broken femur. His father was also injured. The boy’s parents are understood to be from Cebu in the Philippines and are naturalised Irish citizens, with dual citizenship.

The children were born in Ireland.

Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs is assisting the family. Its officials have opened a hotline in Dublin for anyone concerned about relatives in Spain (01-408 2000).

The Irish Embassy in Madrid can be contacted on +34 9143 64093.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

news CONOR MCGREGOR’S FANS PROUD OF THEIR ‘EXCEPTIONAL’ DEFEATED HERO

Defeat fails to diminish Notorious’ true believers David Young CONOR McGregor’s legion of fans in Ireland were bleary eyed but full of pride as they reflected on his defeat to Floyd Mayweather.

While thousands made the trip to Las Vegas to witness the historic encounter, those at home either stayed up late or rose extra early to watch the “Notorious” take on the undefeated “Money” Mayweather.

Pubs in Ireland were closed by the time the fighters entered the ring, limiting the opportunities for people to congregate and watch the fight in big numbers. About 100 people watched in Crumlin Boxing Club, where a 10-yearold McGregor first pulled on the gloves.

His former coach at the Crumlin club Phil Sutcliffe said his performance was exceptional.

“It was a fantastic effort from Conor.

He showed all the skills that he learned as a child,” he said.

“He did better than a lot of boxing pundits thought he would do. He didn’t make a show of himself.

“He caught Mayweather a lot more times than a lot of other fighters that

Mayweather has been in [the ring] with.

“We are very proud of how he held himself together. He was exceptional.”

A Dublin cinema not far from where McGregor was raised put on special screenings. Hundreds arrived at the Vue cinema at the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in the early hours to take their seats in front of one of four screens broadcasting the main event.

With soft drinks and popcorn taking the place of beer, the scenes were not as raucous as those commonplace in bars during other sporting events.

Amateur mixed martial arts fighter David Kelly, who trains at the same Dublin gym as McGregor, took plenty of positives from his hero’s defeat.

“We done good, we done a good job,” the 26-year-old from Tallaght said.

“This was his first time in a boxing ring, he’s never boxed before. We are all happy. I think there was a lot of people saying we can’t do this, that ‘he won’t lay a glove on him’. We surely changed their minds after that fight.

Conor is a genuine man, he holds our country with pride.

“Anyone who is not happy with that fight, they don’t know about fighting.”

Tallaght UFC fan David Kelly watched the McGregor fight live at Vue Cinema in the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre.

(Inset) the vanquished McGregor after the fight was stopped.

TWO HOMELESS DEATHS ON DUBLIN STREETS

Returned emigrant dies sleeping rough Ed Carty

TWO homeless people – a mother who had been put up in a hotel and a man who had recently retur ned from Australia – have died in Dublin in recent days, leading to calls for extra assistance from authorities.

The woman had been housed by Dublin City Council in emergency accommodation in a hotel in Leixlip, Co Kildare. She was 26, a mother-oftwo and had recently accepted a permanent house to live in.

The dead man, Jack Watson, was Irish and aged in his 50s.

It is understood he had returned from Australia in 2015 and was unable to find permanent housing. He regularly used the homeless freephone number to find a bed at night.

He had been sleeping on a ledge at

‘Jack’ Watson returned from Australia in 2015. Picture: Geza Oravecz/ Beautiful Day in Dublin.

the front of the Superdr y store on Suffolk Street, a spot frequently used by rough sleepers.

Gardai said he was discovered unconscious at 4am and was treated at the scene before being taken by ambulance to St James’s Hospital, where he

was pronounced dead. Mr Watson was photographed by Geza Oravecz as part of the Beautiful Day in Dublin initiative.

The voluntar y project involved Barry Caesar, the owner of Westend Barbers, inviting rough sleepers to spend a day being fed, cleaned up, bought new clothes and on occasion put up in a hotel for the night.

They met Mr Watson several months ago and he had been in the barber shop in the last week for a haircut and was well dressed.

“He seemed in grand form. He didn’t seem down,” Mr Caesar said.

“He was the wrong guy to be on the streets. He just did not seem the type that should be living in a sleeping bag.

“It’s like he was someone’s da, someone’s husband, or like he lived down the street. It just did not fit.”

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PEDAL POWER PICKS UP PACE

Hike in bike commuters Deborah McAleese

AN increasing number of commuters in Ireland are cycling to work. The latest Census data also shows that commuters are spending almost 30 minutes travelling to work each day.

The average commuter travels 28.2 minutes, an increase of two minutes each day since the last Census figures were published in 2011.

The number of people travelling to work, school or college rose by 9.3 per cent to 2,962,550 from 2011 to 2016, the Census data shows.

One in 10 commuters, or about 200,000 people, spent an hour or more commuting to work, an increase of almost 50,000 people (31 per cent) on 2011.

The number of workers commuting has risen by 11 per cent (1,875,773).

Most of them travel by car.

However, there has been a significant rise in cycling, with 56,837 commuters taking their bicycles to work in April 2016 – an increase of 43 per cent on the same month in 2011.

Three-quarters of the cyclists were men and two-thirds of all cyclists were

in Dublin city and suburbs, with 38,870 people cycling to work.

In contrast, just 2,330 people cycle to work in Cork city and suburbs; 1,874 in Galway; 968 in Limerick and 395 in Waterford, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed.

There has also been a rsie in the use of public transport with 111,436 commuters using a bus to get to work and 63,133 travelling by train.

About 9 per cent (174,569) of commuters used public transport in April 2016, compared with 8.5 per cent in 2011. In Dublin city and suburbs, 22 per cent of commuters use public transport compared with 8 per cent in Cork. Commuters in counties bordering Dublin have the longest average commuting time, with those in Meath and Wicklow travelling for almost 35 minutes.

In Wicklow, Meath, Laois, Kildare and Westmeath one in five parents of children aged 0 to four had a commute of more than an hour.

Meanwhile, the number of early leavers – people who leave home before 7am – rose by more than 30 per cent, to 365,000, since April 2011.

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ireland FORMER OLYMPIC BOSS REPRIMANDED FOR SNUBBING RIO TICKETING INQUIRY

No-show Hickey blames Rio Deborah McAleese

THE man at the centre of the Rio Olympic ticketing scandal has been criticised for failing to appear before a powerful oversight committee.

Sports minister Shane Ross said it was inconsistent that Ireland’s former Olympic boss Pat Hickey had answered the media’s questions but had failed to discuss his involvement in alleged illegal ticket sales with the Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport.

Mr Hickey declined to attend the special hearing on the grounds that it could interfere with his right to a fair trial in Brazil. That claim has been rejected by the Brazillian prosecutor overseeing Mr Hickey’s case.

Prosecutor Marcos Kac rejected Mr Hickey’s claims that he could not co-operate with an Oireachtas committee inquiry into the 2016 Rio Olympic games ticketing controversy, or the recently published report by a retired High Court judge, Mr Justice Carroll Moran, into the matter because this could prejudice his Brazilian case.

“I’m sure Irish law has the right to silence? But he is not using that right.

He’s saying he can’t talk because of Brazil. This doesn’t exist ,” he told the Irish Times.

Mr Ross said an inquir y by Mr Moran had exposed Mr Hickey’s “shameful standards of corporate gover nance”. He added that Mr Hickey had put commerce before competitors in his role as president of the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI).

Mr Ross said the OCI and Mr Hickey had shown an “utter disregard for the interests of athletes, their family and friends, and Irish spectators”.

The inquir y into the Rio 2016 Olympic Games ticket touting controversy was initiated after Mr Hickey was arrested and held in prison in Brazil on accusations of ticket touting, r unning a car tel and illicit marketing.

Mr Moran’s report strongly criticised the relationship between Mr Hickey and a sports hospitality firm, THG. A senior executive of THG was arrested in Rio last year carr ying

Former Irish Olympic chief Pat Hickey has been criticised for not fronting an official inquiry.

tickets that came from the OCI and Pro10. Pro10 was the authorised reseller or distributor of tickets for the OCI after THG’s bid was rejected by the Rio organising committee.

Mr Hickey, who is in Ireland pending his trial in Brazil, has said the Moran inquiry contained a number of

significant inaccuracies. Mr Ross said it would have been useful for Mr Hickey to have explained his claims to the committee.

“I respect the right of anybody not to self incriminate, but I find it somewhat inconsistent to be able to go and answer questions to the media and not be able to come here. He did say there were inaccuracies in the report, which I don’t accept. I think it would be useful if he would come here and explain his point of view,” the minister said.

Mr Ross added that at the time of the ticketing scandal the “flagship of Irish Spor t was ver y much in the hands of one man [Mr Hickey]. A personal fiefdom was run here.”

The new OCI president, Sarah Keane, said her predecessor had not give her any indication about the long-term agreement with THG, running to 2026, and she cautioned about Mr Hickey’s claim that he will get back into Olympic governance.

“The current Olympic Council of Ireland board would have significant difficulty with the former president being involved again,” Ms Keane said.

BELFAST PRIDE PARADE ATTRACTS THOUSANDS

The Belfast Pride parade attracted more than 8,000 people including Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. Picture: Peter Morrison

Marriage equality inevitable in north, says Varadkar Deborah McAleese IT IS only a matter of time before samesex marriage is introduced in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, told a gay Pride event in Belfast.

Mr Varadkar (pictured right), who is gay, attended the Belfast Pride breakfast to show his solidarity and support for individual freedom and equality.

Northern Ireland is the only part of the British Isles in which same-sex marriage remains outlawed after the Republic voted to change the law in a watershed 2015 referendum.

“It is, of course, a decision for the Northern Ireland Assembly,” Mr Varadkar said, “but I am confident that, like other western European countries, they will make that decision in due course.”

Uniformed officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland and An Garda Síochána took part in Belfast’s gay Pride parade for the first time.

About 40 uniformed officers from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and other UK police forces were among 8,000 people who marched from Custom House Square in the city centre, watched by an estimated 15,000 supporters.

It was the biggest parade to take place in the region this year.

The PSNI has come under some criticism for allowing officers to join the parade, with accusations their participation will undermine the organisation’s stated neutrality in the region.

However, the PSNI has insisted that participation in the event “is about inclusion and representation”.

The region’s continued ban on same-sex marriage is one of the issues preventing the restoration of a powersharing government in Belfast.

Sinn Féin has said it will only agree to re-enter a coalition administration if the Democratic Unionist Party stops blocking a law change.

The DUP has used a controversial Stormont voting mechanism – the petition of concern – to prevent a law change, despite a majority of MLAs supporting the move at the last vote.

The DUP rejects any suggestion it is homophobic, insisting it is protecting the traditional definition of marriage, and has called for tolerance of what are increasingly minority views.

However, the party does not have enough members in the new Assembly to veto an equal marriage vote.

VACCINATIONS

Cervical cancer vaccine uptake plummets Ed Carty,

PLUMMETING rates of vaccination against a virus that can cause cervical cancer are alarming Irish doctors, who fear more young woman will be exposed to the disease. Take-up of the vaccine fell by half last year,largely because of scares about side-effects from the vaccine.

However, the Health Ser vice Executive (HSE) said the collapse in rates of vaccination with the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine Gardasil had stabilised this year, and it cautioned parents about heeding conflicting and misleading information about the drug.

Since 2010 more than 230,000 girls have been vaccinated, with about 1,000 reporting adverse reactions. The HSE is sending 40,000 information packs to secondar y schools before medical teams visit to administer the vaccine this month to first-year girls.

A consultant paediatrician and chair woman of the National Immunisation Advisor y Committee, Professor Karina Butler, said millions of women have been safely vaccinated around the world.

“Not one of these people anywhere in the world has been medically proven to have had a long-term side effect from getting the vaccine,” she said.

“This is a vaccine that can save lives. It works.”

Ireland has one of the highest cervical cancer rates in Europe. More than 90 women die of the disease a year; more than 280 females need surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.

Gardasil, which was developed by Australian scientists, protects against two high-risk types of HPV, one of the most common sexually transmitted infections. It prevents HPV 16 and 18 that cause 90 per cent of genital warts.

A parents’ group opposed to the vaccine, Regret, claims the HSE’s information is incomplete, downplays the safety issues and exaggerates the vaccine’s effectiveness.

The HSE said HPV vaccines are more than 99 per cent protective against infection with cancer-causing HPV virus types and are most effective in the 12- to 13-year age group.

Health experts are urging paretns who are concerned about their daughters’ vaccination to only use the hpv.ie website for information about the vaccine. It is accredited by the World Health Organisation.

“We know that there are many conflicting and misleading sources of information out there,” the HSE’s director of well-being, Stephanie O’Keeffe, said.

The Health Products Regulator y Authority says there were 245 reported mild adverse reactions to Gardasil in the two years to April 2017. Most commonly, people fainted when injected or showed gastrointestinal symptoms, headache and dizziness.

Ms O’Keefe said that while the HSE understood parents’ concerns, “this vaccine is safe and effective. It offers their daughters a life without cervical cancer”.

The distribution of HSE packs will be accompanied by infor mation campaigns.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

news SEAN O’CALLAGHAN DROWNS IN JAMAICA

Former IRA killer became informant David Young

IRA informer turned author Sean O’Callaghan has died aged 63.

It is understood the convicted republican killer died while swimming in a pool in Jamaica. The Co Kerry native was in the Caribbean visiting his daughter.

O’Callaghan lived in fear that his former IRA colleagues or dissident republicans would assassinate him.

This is why, he said, he kept looking in “front of me as well as behind me. They want me dead. That’s their job. I plan to keep going. That’s my job. We all know the rules.”

O’Callaghan detailed the inner workings of the IRA in his best-selling book, The Informer, in 1999. Among his revelations was the claim he thwarted a plot to murder the Prince of Wales and Princess Diana at a Duran Duran concert in 1983.

O’Callaghan was jailed in the 1990s after walking into a police station in England and admitting two IRA murders. He was released in 1997.

He lived under the threat of reprisal by former IRA associates ever since he went public about his life as an informer. Senior republicans dismiss O’Callaghan as a Walter Mitty character whose claims were embellished or outright untrue.

O’Callaghan joined the IRA in the mid-1970s. By the end of the decade,

he had turned informer and started providing information to the Gardaí.

In 1985 he was elected as a Sinn Féin councillor for Tralee urban district council. It is alleged that, in the same year, O’Callaghan shot dead another IRA informer, John Corcoran.

O’Callaghan (above) has always insisted that he tried to tip off his Garda handlers that Corcoran had been unmasked as a spy within the IRA. His critics raised questions continually as to why the Garda never charged O’Callaghan with Corcoran’s murder.

He was close friends with historian and author Ruth Dudley Edwards, who said: “It’s beginning to hit the news that Sean O’Callaghan, the IRA killer who became an unpaid spy for the Gardai, has died,” she said.

“He drowned while swimming in a pool in Jamaica, where he was visiting his daughter.

“He was a man of exceptional ability and courage, and he spent most of his life finding ways of atoning for the crimes he had committed before at 20 he realised he was fighting in a squalid sectarian war rather than a resistance movement.

“He and I were very close friends for more than 20 years.

“Like all his friends, I loved him very much and owe him a great deal for his insights, his wise advice, the depth of his knowledge of politics, history and the human condition,” Ms DudleyEdwards said.

O’Callaghan suppor ted relatives bereaved in the 1998 Real IRA Omagh bomb in taking a landmark civil case that resulted in four republicans being held liable for the outrage.

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the bomb, passed on his condolences.

“My experience of Sean O’Callaghan was always a positive experience,” he said. “He did a great deal to help the Omagh families get some form of justice.”

Earlier this year, O’Callaghan gave evidence, from a secret location, to a Belfast inquest examining the sectarian murder of 10 Protestant workmen near the South Armagh village of Kingsmill in 1976.

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VISA-BILITY Your visa questions answered

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

Hi John, I have been in Melbourne since April 2016, sponsored on a four-year temporary 457 visa as a technical sales rep. I’m hoping to apply for a permanent residence visa. In 2016 I was told I could do this after two years with my employer, but I’m hearing that all the immigration changes this year mean I can’t apply. Is this true? Brianna Mc IN April and July the government introduced many changes to immigration laws. Even bigger changes are slated for March 2018. Two new occupations lists were introduced with different rules depending on the occupation. As a result many people’s visa options will change or have changed. Options vary dramatically depending on a person’s occupation, age, qualifications and time on visas in Australia. These changes can be tricky to navigate, but let’s look at this example. In the occupations lists changes, technical sales rep was moved to the skilled temporary shortage occupation list, or STSOL. Effectively, people with this occupation need an employer nomination to get to permanent residence – you can’t apply independently.

Currently, a 457 visa holder is eligible for an Employer Nomination Scheme Temporary Residence Transition Stream (ENS TRTS) permanent visa, after two years with an employer on a 457 visa.

“The biggest change coming in March 2018 relates to the cost of the ENS.

”

In Brianna’s case this would have been April 2018. However, in March 2018 the immigration rules will change: The two-year work rule will change to three years. More importantly, occupations on the STSOL will become ineligible for the Employer Nomination Scheme Permanent Residency visa.

Only people with an occupation on the hot list Medium- and Long-Term Strategic Skills List (MLTSSL) will be eligible.

What to do? Anyone with an occupation on the STSOL list can look at lodging an Employer Nomination

Scheme Direct Entry (ENS DE) 186 visa before March 2018. The differences here are that you don’t need to have worked for any length of time for your employer. You do need to be able to get a Migration Skills Assessment in your occupation; and have at least three years’ full-time work experience in the occupation. The work experience does not have to be in Australia.

Requirements for a Migration Skills Assessment vary depending on the occupation. For technical sales reps, a degree-level qualification and one to three years’ experience is needed, depending on your degree. See www. vetassess.com.au. Note this occupation can’t be assessed without a degree qualification. Allow 10 weeks for skills assessment processing.

With a migration skills assessment and three years’ experience, you’ll be ready to lodge an ENS DE visa as soon as your employer is ready to do the nomination. But beware there are new ‘caveats to be met on this and some 25 other occupations.

See www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/ Work/Skills-assessment-and-assessingauthorities/skilled-occupations-lists/ caveats-on-occupations Employers have to meet training benchmarks. Employers should check requirements first and consider consulting a migration agent for advice on eligibility. Find a registered migration agent at www.mia.org.au/find-an-agent If you have an occupation on the MLTSSL, the ENS TRTS option will still be available after March 2018, but remember the 457 work period will change to three years. Here again an ENS DE is a good alternative. See www.border.gov.au/Trav/Work/Work/ Skills-assessment-and-assessing-authorities/skilled-occupations-lists The biggest change coming in March 2018 relates to the costs of the ENS. The government is planning to impose a new levy on employers: $3,000 to nominate an employee for permanent residence. The levy rises to $5,000 if the business turnover is more than $10 million. So, don’t delay; get individual advice now on your options.

This Migration Column is intended to provide general information on migration issues and does not constitute legal or migration advice. While all care is taken, no responsibility is accepted by the Irish Echo or John McQuaid for the accuracy of material in the column. People seeking advice on migration law should seek advice from a registered migration agent.

Send your immigration questions to John at

visability@irishecho.com.au

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

brexit - ireland ANGLO-IRISH RELATIONS WILL BE REDEFINED BY BRITAIN’S EU DEPARTURE, MEP SAYS

‘Bigger than partition’ Ed Carty

BREXIT will more radically change Ireland’s relationship with the UK than the 1916 Easter Rising and partition, an MEP has said.

Mairead McGuinness, vice-president of the European Parliament, warned of the threat of deep divisions across the Irish Sea as she launched a broadside over Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals for the split from Europe.

The MEP with Ireland’s ruling Fine Gael party said ideas on customs, trade and the Irish border “are more than the UK wanting to have its cake and eat it. It’s an attempt to have its cake and eat ours”.

Ms McGuinness made her remarks at the annual Beal na mBlath commemoration in west Cork on the 95th anniversary of the killing of Irish rebel leader Michael Collins.

The MEP criticised calls for Britain’s split with Europe to be used as a means for reuniting Ireland.

“There are those who would use Brexit as a weapon to reunite our

country. That is misguided. The path to reunification is already set out in the Good Friday Agreement,” Ms McGuinness said. “If the shape of Brexit is a hard one then the separation will be more definitive and absolute than anything envisaged by those involved in the foundation of the state, including Michael Collins.”

She warned about the impact of calls for the UK to leave the European customs union adding that each time “another brick gets placed back in the border wall”.

Ms McGuinness also called for a national debate to take place in Ireland on the future of Europe. “Brexit, as profound as it is, must not be allowed sap all energies and efforts. We need to start looking beyond Brexit to what type of Europe we want in future.”

Ms McGuinness urged all elements of society to get involved in a debate on the shape of Europe in the future.

And she raised concerns about the breakdown in powersharing in Northern Ireland.

“Brexit has reopened hardly healed wounds of division and deepened the

Vice President of the European Parliament, Mairéad McGuinness.

polarisation of politics in Northern Ireland. The decision of the British Government to accept the support of the DUP to remain in power has added sharply to that polarisation,” she said.

Meanwhile, the British Prime Minister has moved to assure nationalists living in Northern Ireland that their rights would be protected in a post-Brexit UK. In an unusual step, Theresa May wrote an article in the broadly nationalist Irish News.

“No one voted to end the special ties

between the UK and Ireland, or to undermine the unique arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland which have underpinned the peace process,” she wrote.

“I want to show how our proposals will meet the concerns of people who are worried that their ability to travel freely across Northern Ireland and Ireland would be affected.

“They want to know whether the unique citizenship rights guaranteed by the Belfast Agreement – and the right to identify as British, Irish or both – would be undermined.”

“I hope people in Northern Ireland and Ireland will see the UK Government is determined to protect the unique arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland,” she wrote. “Protecting your citizenship rights, and protecting the Belfast Agreement, are at the heart of our approach.

“Northern Ireland remains an integral part of the United Kingdom, but it is also the permanent birthright of the people of Northern Ireland to hold both British and Irish citizenship.”

CUSHIONING THE BLOW OF BREXIT BORDER

Sport horse industry facing many hurdles IRELAND’S €700 million sport horse industry must “future-proof” itself against the impact of Brexit, a leading academic has warned.

Professor Alan Fahey said the export-reliant industry would be left significantly exposed if tariffs were applied to the sale of horses to the UK market.

The University College Dublin (UCD) academic joined a range of other experts at the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) on the eve of the Dublin Horse Show to discuss the consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the EU. Different from the thoroughbred racing stock industry, sport horses are bred for events such as show jumping, dressage and eventing.

The UK is the Irish industry’s largest export market.

Shellfish farmers get sinking feeling SHELLFISH farmers selling tonnes of oysters in Europe have said postBrexit customs and border ideas are “utterly deluded” and could wipe out their businesses.

Darren Cunningham, who runs Killowen Shellfish on the shores of Carlingford Lough in Co Down, launched a withering attack the Government’s ambitious open borders proposals.

Killowen Shellfish sells 30 to 40 tonnes of oysters every year to France and Holland and Mr Cunningham remains totally unconvinced of a solution.

“I think they are completely and utterly deluded, but it won’t be the British Government or the press making the decisions. I can’t see any positive outcome of Brexit for the UK in general and it’s especially going to hurt us here [in Northern Ireland].”

Farage raises ‘free movement’ fears

ALL THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW: A man walks past and art installation called Soften the Border by artist Rita Duffy on the border between Belcoo in Northern Ireland and Blacklion in the Republic of Ireland. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Common travel area progress pleases negotiators Michael McHugh and Harriet Line BRITISH and European Union negotiators have reported some progress on the issue of freedom of movement between Britain and Ireland in the latest round of talks. However, problems remain on other issues.

Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said genuine progress had been made on issues like maintaining freedom of movement for citizens of the two countries between the UK and Ireland, but he said no decisive breakthrough had been made.

The UK’s only land frontier with an EU state after Brexit will run between Northern Ireland and the Republic and citizens of both countries fear they could be particularly disadvantaged.

Irish citizens living in Great Britain have also raised concerns.

A good discussion was held on retaining the open border between the

Republic and Northern Ireland, British Brexit Secretary David Davis said.

“We have made genuine progress on the question of the Common Travel Area (CTA), on the basis of guarantees from the United Kingdom,” Mr Barnier said.

The CTA is a decades-old deal between Britain and Ireland ensuring freedom of movement of people from both countries.

In Brussels, Mr Davis said they had a good discussion on maintaining the CTA and on safeguarding the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended violence in Northern Ireland.

“We think there is a high degree of convergence on these key issues, and we agreed to work up shared principles on the Common Travel Area,” he said.

British Chancellor Philip Hammond was in Ireland last week to meet the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney.

Mr Coveney said he had urged the Chancellor to “listen to those who stand to be most negatively impacted

by Brexit across these islands”.

“The Government is determined to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and to maintain to the greatest extent possible the status quo.

“I have reminded the Chancellor of the Irish Government’s conviction that the UK remaining in the Customs Union and the Single Market is the best way in which this can be achieved.”

He reiterated the Government’s objective that there should be no new impediments to the all-island economy which has been able to develop over the last two decades as part of the peace process.

In an article for The Irish Times, published on Thursday, Mr Hammond said the British and Irish economies were “already closely entwined” and that the Government is “clear in our

determination to avoid any physical border infrastructure on either side of the Border”.

Earlier, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he remains very confident there will be no need for passport controls on the Irish border after Brexit.

Mr Varadkar was responding to concerns raised by former Irish president Mary McAleese, who questioned how the EU and UK could differentiate between Irish citizens, who are set to be allowed to travel freely across the border, and other European nationals.

“In life and politics nothing is certain, but I am very confident that there won’t be passport controls between Northern Ireland and Ireland,” he said.

“We want to stay in the Common Travel Area, which allows people to travel freely between north and south and Britain and Ireland. The British government wants that too and so do our European partners.”

IT is “of concern” that EU citizens will be able to move freely across the Irish border into the UK without any immigration checks after Brexit, the former Ukip leader and Brexit champion, Nigel Farage, has said.

The Government’s position paper on the Irish border says the UK will preserve the Common Travel Area (CTA) between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after Brexit, allowing people to enter Britain free from routine border controls.

“Once again the UK Government is bowing to EU demands, Mr Farage told the Press Association.

“The operation of the land border between the north and south should be none of their business.

“That the Government would willingly allow EU nationals to freely move into UK territory is of concern.”

Stiff competition for EU agencies THE Irish Government has made formal bids to host both the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA), currently based in London’s Canary Wharf.

However, Dublin will face stiff competition from 18 rivals for the EBA and seven other cities to host the EMA, according to details of the competition released by the European Commission.

The cities are competing to attract the two European agencies’ 1,100 highly skilled employees, their families and the business that comes with them.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

news AUTHORITIES CRITICISED FOR THEIR RESPONSE TO FLOODS IN IRELAND

North-west devastation after massive rainfall Deborah McAleese and David Young SERIOUS questions have arisen about the response of authorities to the severe floods that have devastated the north-west of Ireland and Northern Ireland in recent weeks.

Roads and bridges collapsed, cars were washed away and homes and businesses destroyed in the violent storm. Several people had a lucky escape when a main road in the village of Drumahoe, outside Derry, collapsed.

A number of people and workmen were walking on the road when a section crumbled into flood water. The worst affected areas of counties Derry, Tyrone and Donegal.

In Burnfoot, about 20 families in the Pairc an Grianan and Lios na Greine estates were left homeless after their properties were severely damaged by flood water and raw sewage.

Local resident James Sweeney described a scene of “complete devastation”.

Fianna Fail TD Eugene Murphy said the Irish Government needs to come up with a new approach to deal with extreme weather conditions.

More dads should take paternity leave MORE fathers should be taking up their paternity leave entitlement to bond with their children, the chairman of the Oireachtas Children’s Committee has said.

Fine Gael TD Alan Farrell, a fatherof-two, said he would have liked to have been in a job that would have enabled him to take time off after the births of his children.

The government legislated last year to allow fathers to take two weeks paid paternal leave.

Until then, Ireland had been behind most European countries in its exclusion of paternity leave from employment law.

Public hospitals wait time ‘scandalous’ THE number of patients waiting for treatment in public hospitals is continuing to rise, leading to warnings there is no longer capacity to deal with day-to-day health issues.

Almost 687,000 patients are waiting to be seen for routine, nonacute procedures and diagnostics.

Figures from the National Treatment Purchase Fund for July show an increase of nearly 9,500 on the previous month.

The bulk of patients are waiting to be seen by a consultant for the first time at an outpatient clinic.

Fianna Fail health spokesman Billy Kelleher TD said it was a “scandalous” situation.

Cautious consumers seeking out bargains IRISH consumers are hunting for sale bargains as they become increasingly cautious about their personal finances, the KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index report says. There has been a “modest” drop in the number of people reporting stronger household finances in the past year. The index also found that average household income may have fallen behind the pace of recovery in the Irish economy as a whole.

“There needs to be a more coordinated strategy in place involving the local authorities and the civil defence to manage these situations when they arise,” said Mr Murphy. “Unless action is taken, we will continue to see collapsed roads, submerged fields and abandoned homes as a result of these extreme weather events”.

In Northern Ireland the SDLP leader Colum Eastwood raised concern over the lack of preparation to deal with severe weather.

“Families and businesses struggling to cope and big questions for statutory agencies. Where was the preparation?”

Mr Eastwood tweeted.

More than 100 people had to be rescued from vehicles caught in flash floods when 63 per cent of August’s average rainfall fell within nine hours West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer said the floods have had a disproportionate impact in rural communities.

“I spoke to a farmer this morning who lost 76 sheep.

“Another farmer I spoke to, who is in his 70s, said that this was the worst rain he’d ever experienced in all his years of farming,” Mr McAleer said.

A collapsed road in the village of Claudy, Co Derry, after heavy rain left a trail of destruction across the north west of the island. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

REDUNDANCIES, GENDER PAY GAP QUESTIONS AT NATIONAL BROADCASTER

Tubridy is RTÉ’s top earner Deborah McAleese

SEVEN of RTÉ’s top 10 earners are men, figures published by the broadcaster show.

The figures for 2015 also show that the three highest paid stars are men.

RTÉ is conducting a review of pay and gender equality across the organisation.

Late Late Show and Radio One host Ryan Tubridy was the highest paid presenter in 2015, earning €495,000.

This was the same amount he was paid in 2014. Ray D’Arcy was the second highest paid presenter for 2015, with fees of €400,000. Third on the list is Joe Duffy who earned €389,988 in 2015, down from €416,893 in 2014.

Miriam O’Callaghan was fourth on the list and the highest-paid woman, earning €299,000 in 2015. This was up from €280,445 in 2014. Fifth is Marian Finucane who was paid €295,000 in 2015, the same amount as in 2014.

RTÉ publishes the salaries of the station’s top-10 earners ever y two years but the figures given are for amounts paid to broadcasters two years earlier.

The station has come under pres-

sure to annually publish the salaries of all its top broadcasters who earn more than €100,000 a year.

It has also faced criticism over the apparent gender pay gap.

Staff called on the broadcaster to publish a gender breakdown of pay grades and remuneration data across the corporation.

R TÉ said that the fees for 2015 present a 34 per cent reduction compared to fees earned in 2008.

Director General Dee Forbes said the figures show the station is maintaining its commitment to reducing earnings while continuing to value its presenters’ contribution.

Ms Forbes also said the issue of gender pay is “an important one”.

“It is crucial to understand, in terms of the figures released, that many factors influence presenter fees,” she said: “There are significant variations in programme commitments, broadcast hours and audience numbers.”

Also on RTÉ’s top 10 highest paid list for 2015 is Radio One presenter Sean O’Rourke, who was paid €290,113 in 2015. He is number six on the list.

Claire Byrne is number seven, earning €201,500 in 2015.

Ryan Tubridy earned €200,000 more than the best-paid woman presenter at RTÉ, Miriam O’Callaghan.

Number eight is 2fm DJ Nicky Byrne who earned €200,583.

Bryan Dobson is ninth on the list earning €195,913 in 2015. His SixOne newsreader colleague Sharon Ní Bheóláin is not on the list. Number 10 is sports presenter Darragh Maloney.

He was paid €188,803 in 2015.

Meanwhile, RTÉ has announced it is looking to cut 250 members of staff through voluntary redundancy.

Ms Forbes told employees that “painful choices” lie ahead to make the br oadcaster smaller and mor e efficient.

RTÉ has said voluntar y exit and early retirement schemes will open next week when staf f will receive details of the packages available.

It is thought about 250 people will leave the organisation.

Ms Forbes admitted there will be “painful choices”, as well as “an exciting future”.

“Our financial situation requires us to reduce costs and employee numbers. We need to become a smaller, more efficient organisation. That will mean that we will lose some colleagues,” she said.

“It will also affect the scope of what we are able to do. Critically, we must ensure that we are investing in the programmes, reporting and content valued by our audiences,” Ms Forbes added.

RTÉ employed 1,984 people in 2016 its annual report shows. A total of 278 of this number were part-time or casual staff. The scheme is part of a broader restructuring of RTÉ first announced in March.

SACKED SUNDAY TIMES WRITER APOLOGISES FOR ARTICLE

Veteran columnist Myers forced out over ‘racist’ piece

David Young

A SUNDAY Times columnist who was sacked after he suggested that BBC presenters Vanessa Feltz and Claudia Winkleman are well paid because they are Jewish has apologised for his remarks.

Kevin Myers said he believed his career as a columnist was over as a result of his controversial piece, condemned as blatant racism, which appeared online and in the Irish print edition recently.

The article was taken down from the paper’s website following a furious response on social media and a formal

complaint by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism to press regulator Ipso.

Aside from the Jewish remarks, Myers also drew criticism and accusations of misogyny for other points in his column arguing that men justified higher salaries than women.

The paper apologised both for the column and the “error of judgement” that led to publication. Mr Myers has now followed suit, and said sorry.

“I really mean this because I am not rescuing anything. It is over for me professionally as far as I can see. I am very, very sorry that I should have so offended them.

“I do utter an apology, not for any

reason other than out of genuine contrition for the hurt I had caused them.”

Feltz said the column was “horrifying racism” – “every vile stereotype about what Jewish people have ever been deemed to be by racists”.

The presenter also questioned how something “so blatantly racist” was allowed to appear in the newspaper.

“When someone alerted me to it ...

I couldn’t believe such a thing had been printed. It is absolutely gratuitous, not cleverly done, it’s blatant racism. When you see it like that it’s very horrifying,” she said.

The column, with the headline: “Sorry, ladies – equal pay has to be

earned”, focused on the fallout from the BBC pay controversy and the revelation that two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 are male.

Commenting that two of the bestpaid female presenters, Winkleman and Feltz, were Jewish, Mr Myers wrote: “Good for them. Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lostwith-all-hands stupidity.”

Myers said he took full responsibility for the column and did not want to see blame shifted to Sunday Times staff responsible for checking it.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

northern ireland OMAGH BOMBING VICTIMS’ FAMILIES TO SUE PSNI CHIEF CONSTABLE

Omagh bereaved lose patience with police David Young RELATIVES of Omagh bomb victims are to sue Northern Ireland’s police chief for investigative failings they believe let the killers escape justice.

Coinciding with the 19th anniversary of the Real IRA outrage that claimed the lives of 29 people, bereaved families have issued a writ against Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) chief constable George Hamilton seeking damages and a declaration their human rights have been breached.

It is the latest legal twist in their twodecade quest for justice and answers.

The families are pursuing judicial review proceedings against the Government’s decision not to hold a public inquiry into claims the attack could have been prevented if it had not been for a series of intelligence failings.

The writ against Mr Hamilton focuses on what happened after the bomb detonated on August 15, 1998 and why, 19 years on, no one has been successfully convicted in a criminal court.

The relatives have already successfully sued four republicans in a landmark civil trial that found they were responsible for the bombing.

Humanist wedding case wins support A HUMAN rights group has

intervened in a court battle over whether humanist marriages should be legally recognised in Northern Ireland.

Liberty has lodged a submission to the Court of Appeal in Belfast pending the resumption of a highprofile hearing involving model Laura Lacole and Leeds and Republic of Ireland footballer Eunan O’Kane.

The couple originally won a landmark case to have their humanist wedding in June recognised in law.

However, Northern Ireland’s Attorney General John Larkin challenged the outcome of the High Court decision before the Court of Appeal.

Days before the ceremony, the appeal court judges adjourned the case but granted the couple interim permission to have a legally binding humanist ceremony. The wider issue of the status of future humanist weddings will be argued when the case resumes this month.

Humanist marriages are already legally recognised in the Republic of Ireland and Scotland, but not in England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

‘Sectarianism’ play wins top award A PLAY exploring the extremes of sectarianism has won one of Britain’s most distinguished literary awards.

David Ireland’s tragicomedy Cyprus Avenue, set in Northern Ireland, has picked up the James Tait Black Prize for Drama, which celebrates innovation in playwriting and is awarded annually by the University of Edinburgh.

“Cyprus Avenue is a shocking and darkly humorous play that shakes audiences to their core,” the chairman of the judging panel, Greg Walker, said.

The play centres on Eric Miller, a Belfast loyalist who is convinced his newborn grandchild is Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams.

The drama prize, launched in 2012, is judged by emerging artists and established theatre experts, rather than critics.

The latest court action has been issued against Mr Hamilton because he has legal responsibility for the actions of both his service and its predecessor, the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC).

Michael Gallagher, whose 21-year-old son Aiden died in the bomb, said the families needed answers.

“Here we are 19 years on and the criminals responsible for this are still walking the streets. There has been absolutely no punitive measures taken against any of them,” he said.

“We can’t walk away and say ‘it’s just one of those things’. In our case it wasn’t just Aiden that died. All of us died that day. Our lives have never been the same.”

Stanley McComb, whose wife Ann was killed, explained his motivation.

“Why should people get away with something like that?

“If I broke the law, or anyone decent breaks the law, they are punished for it, and these people came in and murdered my wife in this town. There’s no way I am giving up.”

In response to the writ, a PSNI spokeswoman said: “Once received, we will take time to consider the contents and respond in due course.”

The carnage caused by the 1998 Real IRA bombing in Omagh, in which 29 people died and (inset) Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died at Omagh, with the writ against the Northern Ireland police.

TAOISEACH SAYS HE ‘WILL DROP EVERYTHING’ TO HELP RESTORE POWERSHARING

Stormont stand-off continues Deborah McAleese and David Young

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said he and his British counterpart Theresa May are prepared to get directly involved in the Stormont talks,.

Mr Varadkar said the restoration of a powersharing gover nment in Northern Ireland was necessary to try and achieve the best outcome for the island of Ireland after the UK leaves the European Union.

He said he is “willing to drop everything” to help end the political deadlock but only if he believes it will make a difference.

DUP leader Arlene Foster warned however that, unless Sinn Féin shows a willingness to compromise, devolution will not be restored.

Following a meeting with the Taoiseach Mrs Foster said a “spirit of compromise” and a “willingness to work for everyone in Northern Ireland” is needed, but she is yet to see that from Sinn Féin.

“Some of their commentar y has been very hardline. There’s no willingness to move from their stated posi-

tions and if they are going to continue with that then we won’t have devolution back,” Mrs Foster warned.

“I think that’s a tragedy for the people of Northern Ireland.”

Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams again insisted devolution could only be restored once the DUP backed a rights-based approach to government.

He said it was vital the Irish Government engaged with the British Government on an ongoing basis.

“This will help to create the circumstances where these institutions can be back in place,” he said.

In a statement the British Government said it “is committed to the restoration of Stormont and is working with all the parties and the Irish Government towards that shared goal”.

Mr Varadkar held separate meetings with the DUP, Sinn Féin, SDLP and Alliance parties during his first visit to Nor thern Ireland since becoming Taoiseach. The main issues under discussion were Brexit and the ongoing political crisis.

Leo Varadkar at Queens’ University Belfast on his first visit to Northern Ireland as Taoiseach.

He said the gulf between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party was “wide and deep” but insisted he did not believe the differences between the two main parties were insurmountable.

He and Theresa May had agreed to become directly involved in negotiations if they believe it will make a difference, Mr Varadkar said.

“If the main parties, Sinn Féin and the DUP, come to the point where an agreement can be sealed we are willing and able to do what we can to get the executive up and running again and have the Assembly meeting.

“If there is a point at which an intervention would make a difference we are absolutely willing to drop everything and deal with that,” he said.

Mr Varadkar also used a speech at Queen’s University in Belfast to urge the region’s politicians to resolve their differences.

He said that “every single aspect of life in Nor thern Ireland could be affected by Brexit” and that it is “the challenge of this generation”.

Mr Varadkar promised that the Government will do all it can in the Brexit negotiations to achieve the best outcomes for peace, freedom, rights and prosperity on the island of Ireland.

“At a time when Brexit threatens to drive a wedge between north and south we need to build more bridges and fewer borders. I promise I will play my part in helping to do exactly that,” the Taoiseach said.

RUGBY STARS DENY SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS

Jackson, Olding sidelined while rape case is heard Deborah McAleese

TWO Ulster and Ireland rugby stars accused of rape deny all allegations against them, a court has heard.

Paddy Jackson, 25, and Stuar t Olding, 24, were not at Belfast Magistrates’ Court when the case was brought before a judge for the first time. The charges were lodged officially with a district judge during brief legal proceedings.

Lawyers for the sportsmen told the court they were not legally required to attend the hearing, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

Olding, of Ardenlee Street, Belfast,

is charged with two counts of rape.

Jackson (above), of Oakleigh Park, Belfast, is charged with one count of rape and one of sexual assault.

The offences are alleged to have been committed against the same woman in Belfast last June. Lawyers

for Jackson and Olding told the court the pair deny all the allegations.

They also requested from the Public Prosecution Service copies of photographs and videos related to the case.

The Irish Rugby Football Union and Ulster Rugby have said Jackson and Olding will not play again until the court process concludes.

Given the length of time proceedings take in Northern Ireland, it is likely both will miss all the coming season at the least. The men were arrested and questioned last summer, then released pending a report to prosecutors in Northern Ireland.

Last month, the Public Prosecution

Ser vice decided they had a case to answer and summons were served.

Charges against two other men connected with the case were also lodged with the court in their absence.

Blane McIlroy, 25, and Rory Harrison, 25, also opted not to attend the hearing.

McIlroy is charged with one count of exposure, and Harrison is charged with perverting the course of justice and withholding information.

Their legal teams told the court they deny the charges.

Fly-half Jackson has been capped for Ireland 25 times and centre Olding has played four times. They are established stars for Ulster Rugby.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EW S PAPER

ireland MAGDALENE LAUNDRIES’ SURVIVORS RENEW CALLS FOR MEMORIAL AND REDRESS

‘Diabolical’ legacy remains Ed Carty

SUR VIVORS of the ‘diabolical’ Magdalene laundries, and their relatives, have relived the horrors of rape, abuse and lost lives as they renewed calls for a memorial and full redress.

A rally was held off Sean McDermott Street in Dublin last week, the site of the last Catholic workhouse to be shut, following a damning United Nations report criticising the Government for failing to live up to commitments to the women. It is four years since former taoiseach Enda Kenny apologised to those incarcerated in the laundries and their families.

Angela Downey, who was born in Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home after her mother Mary was raped and sent to a laundry, called for the name of every woman who toiled in the institutions to be immortalised in stone.

Pressing her hand against the crumbling back wall of the workhouse run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, she said: “My mother spent 15 years in the laundries.

“The children weren’t recognised at

all. We weren’t entitled to anything.

They should do something for us now.

They should recognise the mothers and the children.”

The survivors are also seeking a special day of commemoration be set aside to remember all those affected by the laundries.

Despite Dr Mar tin McAleese reporting in 2013 on the state’s role in Magdalene Laundries, the UN said the Government had ignored its call to investigate allegations of ill treatment against the tens of thousands of women in the Catholic workhouses, or to prosecute perpetrators of abuse and ensure that victims are compensated.

While noting that €25.5 million has been paid to 677 women who spent time in the laundries the UN said the Government should ensure that any woman who was put in a Magdalene workhouse has the right to sue, even if they had been granted redress.

Mary Merritt was raped by a priest after fleeing from the Highpark reformator y and laundr y in Drumcondra, Dublin in 1955 and

Angela Downey, whose mother spent 15 years in a laundry after she fell pregnant to her rapist.

seeking food and refuge in the Archbishop’s Palace. “How we survived I do not know.

“I’m 86 now. I’m still fighting and I will keep fighting them. I will represent the women as long as there is breath in my body.”

Mrs Merritt fled to Bayswater in

London in 1964 and has been married to William, a former Royal Marine, for 52 years. The daughter she gave birth to in Navan Road Mother and Baby Home is “happy and married” in Dublin. Mrs Merritt has given her account to the UN. Her life in Catholic institutions began when she was two and she was put into an industrial school in Clifden, Co Galway. She was moved to Ballinasloe and after a confrontation in which she hit a nun with a hockey stick she was sent to Dublin.

“It was diabolical. I was 17. My name was Attracta. We got little or no food,” she said. “We were praying all the time. We never knew when it was our birthdays. If you did anything wrong you were put down in the hole.”

The rally was organised by Dublin Honours Magdalenes and supported

by Justice for Magdalenes and the National Women’s Council of Ireland.

“We demand the state gives redress in full. The women are getting older.

They need to see justice in their lifetime,” a spokeswoman for one of the survivors’ groups said.

IRELAND’S SCHOOL-LEAVERS TAKE STOCK OF EXAM RESULTS

All- Ireland driving bans recognised DRIVING disqualifications have become mutually recognised on both sides of the Irish border.

Laws changed in Northern Ireland and the Republic to give effect to a road safety agreement signed between the British and Irish governments in 2015.

Those who receive a driving ban on the other side of the border from where they live will have the prohibition extended to their home jurisdiction.

“The mutual recognition of driving disqualifications is an important road safety measure because it aims to target dangerous drivers on our roads,” Irish Transport Minister Shane Ross said.

“Under the agreement, the driving disqualification is, in effect, transferred by the state which imposes it to the licence of the offender’s ‘home’ state. So, the legal consequence of the offence follows the offender home.”

Taoiseach reveals boost for childcare MORE than 5,000 new childcare places are to be created as the Government pumps an extra €4 million into its new affordable childcare scheme.

The additional childcare places will be available in 225 school-age childcare services from September.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that in three weeks up to 70,000 children will be able to register for a range of childcare subsidies.

A universal, non-means tested childcare subsidy, amounting to a maximum of €1,040 per year, will be available for children aged six months to three years.

Mr Varadkar said extra support for parents on lower incomes going back to work or education, providing as much as €145 per week towards the cost of their childcare, will also be available.

Funding calls for mental health care

Rachel Fitzgerald (left) and Sarah Walsh celebrate after collecting their Leaving Certificate results at Maryfield College, Drumcondra, Dublin. (Inset) Jack Synnott with principal of St Oliver’s Community College Drogheda John Halpin. Pictures: Grainne Synnott, Brian Lawless.

Class of 2017 first to graduate under new grading Ed Carty THIRTEEN students have come top of the bill in this year’s Leaving Certificate, examinations chiefs have revealed.

While no one managed to secure the highest marks in nine subjects, a studious group of school leavers scored 90 per cent or more in eight of their classes. Fifty pupils scored Grade One in seven subjects; another 130 scored the best marks in six subjects; and another 222 worked their way to top marks in five of their classes.

The State Examinations Commission (SEC), in the first year of a new eight grade system, revealed that more and more pupils are opting to sit higher level papers across nearly all subjects.

The outcome is that while there were no dramatic shifts in standards, more students ended up with lower grades in the higher papers than last year.

Some 16,395 pupils – 30 per cent of the class of 2017 – took Higher Maths, reaching the Government’s target for 2020. The number of pupils taking chemistry increased 16 per cent since 2013. Some 11.2 per cent of pupils got grade one in the higher level, up half a percent compared to last year’s top marks.

The new grading system, which runs from one to eight, is a shift away from the old system which ran from A1 and A2 down to F and NG. Among those receiving results are more than 2,773 students who took the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA), an alternative to the traditional academic exams.

There were also 39 students from Libya who took the Leaving Cert with exams being offered in Malta due to the security situation in the country.

Jack Synnott, from Termonfeckin, Co Louth, was one of the 13 highest

achievers from the almost 60,000 who sat exams in June.

Jack, who has just turned 18, is planning a career in journalism, after he studies law and politics at Trinity College Dublin.

The St Oliver’s Community College, Drogheda student scored eight grade ones at higher level and a grade three in a ninth subject.

Jack and his parents Grainne and Michael took the decision not to take grinds as he set a target to push himself to see what he could achieve on his own.

“I really wanted to challenge myself going into sixth year and see how much I could achieve,” he said.

“I just kept pushing myself to see how much I could do on my own. The teachers at St Oliver’s were so great.”

Jack’s study timetable included opening his school books at 4.10pm

at home Monday to Friday and working until 10pm, with a stop for tea.

He also clocked in at 9am on a Saturday and worked until 5pm.

“I usually took Sundays off,” he said.

John Halpin, principal of St Oliver’s, said: “He’s a remarkable young man.

He got the results himself.”

“It makes my job, the job of teachers, worthwhile.”

Mr Halpin also noted the success of another student, Lithuanian-born Zygimantas “Ziggy” Tvarijonavicius who excelled in four technical subjects largely due to the high quality of his project work.

“Incidents like that when I see someone with talent, working hard, developing skills and he was able to focus on all these at the same time – that brings great satisfaction,” the principal said.

“Ziggy’s obviously going to be a master craftsman of some variety.”

INVESTMENT in youth mental health care should be a government priority in the autumn budget, a leading young people’s organisation has urged.

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) called for a €32 million spend on improving services for children and young adults with mental health difficulties in its costed pre-budget submission.

“While the overall number of people dying by suicide has declined, for example, there has been an increase among young men,” James Doorley, deputy director of NYCI, said.

“Of particular concern is the fact that the suicide rate for young people aged 15 to 19 here in Ireland is the fourth-highest in the EU.”

Student dies in US swimming accident AN Irish student has died in hospital after a swimming accident in the United States last month.

Philip Leahy, 22, from Ballyhooly, Co Cork, got into difficulty in the sea at Ocean City, Maryland.

The student at Cork Institute of Technology, who was in the US on a J1 visa, died in Maryland General Hospital. An online fundraising campaign to pay for his treatment had reached almost €100,000 before his death. Mr Leahy’s GAA club at Ballyhooly organised the fundraising initiative.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

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

Man with Limerick links identified as Grenfell Tower fire victim A MAN with Limerick links has been formally identified as a victim of the Grenfell Tower fire.

The Limerick Leader reports that London’s Metropolitan Police said that a “further victim of the Grenfell Tower fire has been identified as Denis Murphy”.

“After an agonising 10 weeks our beloved Denis has finally been identified,” the family of Mr Murphy, 56 – a second generation Irish man whose mother Ann moved from Limerick to the UK – said in a statement: “The pain, loss and sorrow we feel is indescribable and we have been left devastated with a gaping hole in our hearts that can never be filled.

“To us he was an inspiration and an amazing, selfless, caring person and we feel lucky and blessed that he was part of our family, and his warmth and love will stay with us forever.

“What really matters to us is what he stood for, family, friends, community, loyalty and love, and our lives will never be the same without him.”

It brings to 57 the number of victims of the horrific fire on June 14 who have been formally identified, the London Met said.

At least 80 people are thought to have died in the fire, but searches of the building are continuing in an effort to identify all of those who were killed.

DUBLIN

Humanist teacher loses case over Virgin Mary statue in school THE attempted removal of a statue of the Virgin Mary at a school sparked a scuffle between a teacher and a school caretaker that left the latter visibly shaken and with a cut to his neck.

The Irish Times reports that the computer science and maths teacher was sanctioned by his superiors after the two had their confrontation when the teacher removed the Virgin Mary statue on a makeshift “May altar” erected by the caretaker at the entrance to the school.

The matter was reported to gardaí and the teacher – who is a humanist – was issued with a verbal warning.

Details of the incident, which occurred on May 1, 2015, are contained in a new Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ruling which has found that the teacher concerned wasn’t discriminated against on the grounds of religion concerning the placing of the Virgin Mary and the altar at a prominent place in the school.

Adjudication officer Enda Murphy said the humanist was the only person to complain about the 30 year-long tradition of the May altar.

A witness said the caretaker

“stumbled out from behind the area after an aggressive altercation” and was “visibly shaken from the incident”.

No parties are named in the case and the teacher – employed at the school since 1994 – told the hearing that the placing of the statue provoked deep unease and anxiety in him because of his deeply held beliefs.

He said the presence of the May altar “is unpalatable and offensive to him personally on the basis of his belief that the religious statue of the Virgin Mary is one associated with the repression of normal human sexuality”.

“I am satisfied that the placement of the May altar is a passive symbol which is not intended for the purpose of imposing or manifesting Catholic or Christian beliefs upon the complainant personally,” Mr Murphy said. He said he could not accept that the teacher’s actions in attempting to remove the statue “were tantamount to an act of expression of his religious beliefs”.

“A more prudent course of action would have been to raise his concerns regarding the matter with management instead of taking it upon himself to remove the statue.”

CORK

Bearded seal spotted A VERY rare sighting of a seal usually found on Arctic sea ice has stunned wildlife observers after being spotted in Ireland for only the second time on record.

The Irish Examiner repots that the bearded seal, distinctive for its pale-coloured pelt and long bushy whiskers, was spotted as it sat on the banks of the estuary at Timoleague, West Cork.

The find was made by Paul Connaughton, chairman of Birdwatch Ireland West Cork branch, who said he could barely believe his eyes.

“I was immediately struck by the paleness of the animal. I did a quick U-turn and pulled in to get my binoculars and camera. At first glance I knew this was something different,” he said.

“With a fine old-fashioned moustache, a short neck and smallish square head compared to the size of the body with an overall solid creamy grey colour with no markings of any sort on the body, I was sure of my incredible find.”

Mr Connaughton, who runs Shearwater Wildlife Tours, quickly called local friends and shared the unique experience on social media before the weighty visitor “bumbled along into the water and swam away”.

The rare discovery prompted online observers to discuss how the healthy-looking mammal ended up such a long way from home, with some wondering if it had anything to do with the melting sea ice.

The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group joined the discussion. “What is happening up there [Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions], that in recent years we have recorded belugas, bow head whales and now bearded seals?” it asked.

Sculptor Siobhan Bulfin works on a clay model of a horse at the Dublin Horse Show at the RDS in Dublin.

Photo: Brian Lawless/PA Wire MEATH

Hero waiter saves choking diner in Trim restaurant A YOUNG Trim man has been hailed a hero after saving the life of a woman who was choking in the restaurant where he works.

The Meath Chronicle reports that waiter Danny Connell (23) was working in the Rococo Restaurant in Trim’s Knightsbrook Hotel when the drama unfolded. His quick actions, and use of the Heimlich Manoeuvre, saved Colette Coughlan’s life.

Ms Coughlan has saved three people’s lives using the Heimlich Manoeuvre and said she cannot stress enough how important it is to know it.

“I couldn’t breathe,” she recalled.

“I was unable to do anything. He was really on the ball. He went into superman mode. For a young guy, to have somebody there absolutely gasping for breath. He kept his wits about him, and went into action straight away. It was not a nice situation. He kept it going and didn’t stop until I took a gasp of breath.”

Knighstbrook Hotel Manager Patrick Curran has also commended Mr Connell for his actions: “We are very proud of what Danny did in such a critical moment. We’re delighted he did the right thing. For a young lad of his age to step in was incredible.”

DUBLIN

Thief who stole €500 from Dublin church left bike with his name on it at scene A DUBLIN man left a bicycle with his name on a sticker attached to it on church grounds after making off with €500 of Mass donations, a court has heard.

Justin Murray (38) cycled to the Church of Our Lady of Victories in Ballymun to steal money but he fled on foot when he was seen taking collection envelopes by a parishioner.

The Evening Herald reports that Gardaí later found the bike, which had a sticker with “Justin Murray” on it, discarded on the church grounds.

Murray, of Moatview Court, Coolock, confirmed he had signed pleas of guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to stealing cash at the church on 6 November 2016.

He has 77 previous convictions including 10 thefts and 20 burglaries.

Garda Ross Brierley said he and colleagues also identified Murray as the thief from CCTV in the area.

The garda told Fiona Murphy BL, prosecuting, that a parishioner who had been helping out after Mass that

morning saw a man enter and take money from the church collection.

At first she thought he was there to help, but soon realised he was stealing money.

She said the man fled on foot when he spotted her.

Garda Brierley said he arrested Murray the next day at a shopping centre after he and colleagues were satisfied he was the culprit. He said Murray was on bail for a robbery at the time.

He agreed with Dean Kelly BL, defending, that Murray had gone into the church “to creep into a private area and steal money” but that he had instead come face-to-face with the parishioner.

The garda further agreed that Murray’s very early guilty plea to the offence was of great assistance.

Kelly submitted to Judge Elma Sheahan that his client was on an enhanced regime in custody and wished to be transferred to Cork Prison as he found it easier to stay off heroin in that institution.

Judge Sheahan ordered a probation report and remanded Murray in continuing custody until February next year.

WESTMEATH

€3,000 stolen from Mass-goer THE Westmeath Independent reports that some €3,000 in cash was stolen from a car in a smash and grab raid recently while the owner was at Mass.

The incident happened outside St Mary’s Church, Athlone. Local gardaí have warned motorists not to leave any cash or handbags in their vehicles, even for a short period.

DONEGAL

Efforts continue to assist injured seagull in Bundoran THE Donegal Democrat website reported on the ongoing story of efforts to assist an injured seagull in Bundoran. The seagull had its leg stuck in a can.

The seagull came to the attention of former town councillor Mick McMahon “who is trying to capture the bird at the moment with a net. A number of people are with him”.

“The seagull has been like that since yesterday morning,” Mr. McMahon said. “It got its foot caught in a can, the can is only half opened and it can’t get out of it.”

“Some people might think we would have better things to be worrying about, but the bird is clearly suffering and we just want to help it,” he added.

Those who were trying to help the

bird found it extremely hard to get near the frightened animal.

Efforts to aid the bird were continuing.

MAYO

Céide Coast shortlisted for EU award THE Céide Coast in north Mayo has been shortlisted for this year’s European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) awards.

The two other Irish finalists are The Norman Way, Co Wexford, and Scattery Island, Co Clare.

The theme of this year’s biennial competition, whose winner will be announced at the end of September, was “to find the destination in Ireland which has best used its local tangible cultural assets to grow visitor numbers”.

“The Céide Coast from Ballina to Belderrig tells a story of 6,000 years of history, tangible throughout our breathtaking landscape,” Anne-Marie Flynn of Mayo North Tourism told the Mayo News.

“Uncovering North Mayo’s heritage and bringing it to life forms a strong part of our visitor experience, and we are really excited about sharing our story.”

LOUTH

Local Celtic fan spots online threats against Neil Lennon A DUNDALK Celtic fan was the first person to flag the threats made against Hibs manager Neil Lennon on Facebook recently.

The Dundalk Argus reports that the fan, who doesn’t want to be named, said he spotted the remarks on a Glasgow Rangers’ page and brought it to the notice of the authorities. His action resulted in a 54-year-old man appearing in court over death threats alleged to have made against the former Celtic boss.

The Dundalk man said he was shocked at “the naked racism which still exists only 100 miles away from us in 2017”.

He said he had seen the man’s comments on a Rangers’ page and reported it. “I can’t understand that the administrators of the page didn’t remove it straight away. Nobody condemned it.”

“It shows the blatant barefaced racism which still exists against Irish Catholics in Scotland,” he said, adding he was delighted that the police had taken the matter seriously.

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September, 2017 I www.irishecho.com.au

and review me about my lack of postal skills honesty and integrity beggars belief.

“Your possessions are en route you will be glad to know!!! And as far as my honesty is concerned I’m not even going to charge your credit card for the post.

“Furthermore the next time you visit the beautiful Emerald Isle and my county I’ll bring you shopping locally for a new windbreaker. As far I see it’s a bit of a crime against fashion.”

Taoiseach’s table AN Irish student in Chicago has told of her embarrassment after not recognising Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the restaurant she was working in.

Emma Kelly, 20, from Dublin and a hostess for the summer in the city’s Barcocina restaurant, asked the leader and his friend to wait at the bar for 20 minutes before seating them at a “tiny” table outside.

The penny did not drop over the chance encounter until a friend, who was also working in the restaurant, pointed out Mr Varadkar.

Ms Kelly said the thought running through her head was: “Oh my God. I can’t believe I’ve done this.”

“I would have know him and I would have seen his posters everywhere,” she said.

“It’s just when you are in Chicago working; you just don’t expect someone like that to walk in.”

Ms Kelly, who is in the US on a special student visa for the summer, said she felt very embarrassed by the slip-up and apologised before moving the Taoiseach’s party to a bigger table.

“He was really nice about it. He wasn’t too mad that we did not recognise him ... I don’t think,” she told RTÉ Radio.

“He was like, ‘no, it’s kind of nice to feel like a normal person again’.”

Ms Kelly took to Twitter to announce the chance meeting, adding: “Honestly, what is wrong with me?” The hostess posted a photograph (above) of what she said was a painfully awkward picture taken with the Taoiseach once he had been pointed out to her.

Mr Varadkar responded on Twitter: “Thanks Emma. The food & service was gr8. Enjoy the rest of your J1”.

Trip up advisor AN Australian called Graham recently visited the Eala Bhán restaurant in Sligo but left his windbreaker and a pair of glasses behind. He became irate when it wasn’t sent on to him quickly enough and took to TripAdvisor to say that while the food was good at the restaurant, he called into question the integrity of owner Anthony Gray over the fact he was waiting on his jacket.

It was Anthony’s witty response to the review that has got everyone talking and as far as he is concerned, all publicity is good publicity and he saw it as yet another chance to plug his beloved Sligo.

Anthony’s celebrated reply was: “We are delighted you enjoyed your meal at multi award winning restaurant here in Sligo serving the finest local sourced ingredients on the very edge of the beautiful Wild Atlantic Way! I apologise that I had not immediately sent your belongings back to Australia. I should have done a Joe 90 on it and hot tailed it up to the local post office and made your jacket a priority but unfortunately these things don’t always happen the way you may have planned.

“I mean, I’m only trying to run two restaurants in the middle of summer while my manager, whom I’m delighted to say is six months pregnant but unfortunately is suffering God bless her wee soul and out of work resting – which I insisted on!!

“People make mistakes and forget things, just like you did with your possessions. But to come on TripAdvisor

Quiz

1. Elizabeth I boasted that she ruled five kingdoms: England, Scotland, Wales — and which other two kingdoms?

2. Who did Basil Hallward paint?

3. In the film Ryan’s Daughter, who acted Rosy Ryan?

4. Can you match these names for Ireland to their languages: Airurando, Írország,

Glasshouse man throws stones CONOR McGregor might have been beaten up by Floyd Mayweather but the beat up of the month goes to Sydney’s Daily Telegraph.

A story by Phil “Buzz” Rothfield claimed that “pubs across Sydney’s eastern suburbs had banned the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor ‘fight of the century’ because of concerns about drunken misbehaviour.”

“Fears that Irish backpackers will cause trouble if their hometown hero and UFC superstar McGregor loses the billion-dollar fight have triggered an unprecedented security crackdown.”

The only problem was Buzz was light years away from the truth.

Rothfield reported that “the Glasshouse Hotel at Maroubra Junction is one of about 50 per cent of pubs refusing to buy the event for security reasons”. “ ‘It’s primarily the very high risk of anti-social and unacceptable behaviour from the McGregor supporters,’ said publican Bob Tate, a former Waverley police detective.”

But it seems that those in Glasshouse hotels should not be throwing stones. The pub has never been popular with Irish drinkers and its online reviews reveal that it might have a few problems of its own.

“Lots of ice heads hanging around.

The place didn’t feel safe,” reported Google user James Madden.

“A dive. Don’t take a woman there”, reported another.

Bob’s slur on the Irish may have disguised the fact that he wouldn’t (or couldn’t) cough up the reported $6k price tag for the fight

Clues across:

1. Irish airport to criticise sound of engine (5)

9. German gentleman registered in Muckanaghederdauhaulia (3)

10. Swift home of the minute men? (8) 11. Heath, a singer we hear (4)

Hungarian, Russian.

14. South Irish river grunt (5)

which of these companies? (a) De Havilland; (b) Douglas; (c) Grumman (d) Bristol (e) Boeing (f) Vickers?

6. Novelist John McGahern lost his job because of ‘indecencies’ in his book The Dark. What was his job?

7. (a) The Belfast Giants play which sport? (b) Boston Celtics plays which sport? (c) Belfast Celtic played which sport?

8. Which university is Ireland’s oldest?

9. Country singer Steve Earle wrote which song set in Connacht?

10. Who is the Irish foreign minister?

Mairead McGuinness MEP (Fine Gael).

“As Belfast’s first citizen, the Lord Mayor should reflect those values.

That’s why we’re proposing our mayor decline any invitation to champagne socials at the Trump White House. The important business of enhancing our relationship with Irish America can be done outside of the White House and without the influence of a president who has already encouraged businesses to disinvest in Ireland.”

Belfast councillor Brian Heading (SDLP). He added that the invitation by former First Ministers Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness for President Donald Trump to visit the North of Ireland should be rescinded.

“With limited engagement since the talks concluded on 4th July, I am keen to formally re-engage at the earliest opportunity in order to re-establish an Executive and power sharing institutions on a proper and sustainable footing.”

Sinn Féin’s leader in Stormont, Michelle O’Neill, saying she wants to get the stalled Northern Executive up and running.

“Totally supporting Jim (Allister) on this one, making children an icon of sexuality today, pedophilia (sic) tomorrow. Absolutely disgusting.”

A tweet by former DUP Environment Minister Edwin Poots.

A complaint against the MLA has been dropped after the Northern Assembly’s standards watchdog said the DUP politician had not been acting in his capacity as an MLA in a controversial tweet about homosexuality. Mr Poots’ tweet was in support of Jim Allister who had castigated the PinkNews LGBT website for referring to Prince George as a “gay icon”.

“I have no problem working with Arlene Foster, and we share a lot of common ground.”

Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill speaking about her relationship with the DUP leader, Arlene Foster.

“It is frustrating that if you stand up for marriage and if you stand up for the definition of marriage as we believe in it, then in some way that makes you homophobic and a hater of gays. Nothing could be further from the truth as far as I personally am concerned and it really does hurt me when people call me a homophobe just because I stand up for the definition of marriage which I believe in.”

DUP leader Arlene Foster.

“We need to build more bridges and fewer borders.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar speaking about the implications of Brexit on the border between the North and the Republic of Ireland.

potter (6,6)

Clues down:

1. Briefly exterminate Dan, space hero 3. Morse tells sidekick he has detected in Irish area (7) gas Belfast writer (1,1,5) 2. They’ll scull in an instant to find

Languages: Korean, Czech, Japanese, 5. The first Aer Lingus plane was made by

“UK’s Brexit proposal for Northern Ireland is an attempt to have its cake and eat ours.”

Crossword

12 & 13 across: Flier or communist naval officer, confusingly married lad (3,7)

Irlaniya, Aillaendeu, Irsko.

They said it...

16 across, 6 down: Rearrange, reorder nuns for loyalist utterance (2,9) 17. Open yard reveals singer (4) 19. Indian rulers follow sodium floats, or Scotsman with no money (particularly shillings, we hear) (6) 22. Precedes spare to succeed (4) 24. Irish family sung about by Neil Sedaka, we hear (8) 25. Gravity lost from monarch family (3) 27. Princess follows elemental gold into car (4) 28. Order given to lumberjack, it’s said, Belfast poet (6) 30. Volcano detected in Vietnam (4) 31. Irish family confused charge (6)

Thomas, Irish American writer (8)

1

2

3

4

5

6

8

9

10

11 12

4. One of the original sons (4) 5. Morning seen in a long time for Irish man (5)

13

14 15

6. See 17 across 7. Irish woman removes nothing from boy but is replaced by me and religious degree shortly (5)

17

18

19

21. Lost me from the UK people and substitute second person becomes violent (7) 23. Nation found in Corscreenagh (4) 26. Sodium, selenium and nothing removed from boy at English Civil War battle (6) 28. Cha-cha involves secretary (4)

32. Roman surveying instrument obtained from gravity and gypsy (5)

29. Hydrogen lost from ancient political party reveals English judges’ headgear (4)

33 & 34 across: Stony Ireland somehow produces celebrated

31. Short weapon buried in Templemacateer (3)

20

21

23 24

25

26 27

18. Innovative Englishman’s home West, in New South Wales (9) 20. Lagomorph partner snatched bodies (5)

16

22

8. Confusingly, rat pins animal droppings (7) 15. I soon built a complex release from guilt (9)

7

28

29

30

31 32

33

34

LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS: Clues across: 1. Rover. 3. Raphoe. 9. GNER (Great North Eastern Railway). 10. Err. 11. Morrissey. 12. Ryle. 13. Ska. 14.

Armagnac. 15. Hum. 17. Ascertain. 19. Annual. 21. Ash. 23 across, 14 down: Kerr’s Ass. 24. Nag. 27. Humanitarian. 28. Money-laundering.

Clues down: 1 & 16 down: Rinty Monaghan. 2. Vermeer. 4. Alasdair.

5. Hibernian. 6. Eye. 7. Curtailed. 8. Rarer. 12. Rathfarnham. 13. Scones.

14. see 23 across 16. see 1 down 18. Erne. 20. Orca. 22. Hannon (Neil).

23. Kenya. 25. Emly. 26. Birr.

Answers: 1. Ireland and Cornwall; 2. Dorian Gray (in the book by Oscar Wilde); 3. Sarah Miles; 4. Japanese, Hungarian, Russian, Korean, Czech; 5. De Havilland; 6. A teacher; 7. (a) Ice hockey; (b) basketball (c) soccer; 8. Trinity College Dublin; 9. Galway Girl; 10. Simon Coveney

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A U S T R A L I A N T O U R NOVEMBER 2 0 1 7

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TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT TROUBADOUR-MUSIC.COM WWW.HERMITAGEGREEN.COM

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September, 2017 I www.irishecho.com.au

Rebel with a passionate cause A FOURTEEN-year old Andy attends the carnival with his parents: a ride on the rollercoaster, then with his mother on the carousel and after that he makes his own way into Burleigh’s Amazing Hall of Mirrors.

Somehow he gets locked inside one of the mirrors with a copy of him on the outside. The copy then assumes his identity and goes home with parents who are puzzled by what they imagine are small changes in their child. If you find this confusing, you are only a dozen pages into what is a thoroughly confusing piece of non-sense.

At one level the people who run the carnival, known as carnies, are similar to the Good People imagined by Hannah Kent in her book of that name. “When a crop went bad or the milk turned sour or a drunken farmer happened upon one of them, at night on the lonely road home, or by a moonlit graveyard, they inhabited the legends and in time the legends inhabited them.” But whereas the subsistence farmers in Kent’s imaginings were completely human, the inhabitants of this book are in a weird half world between real and image, a place where the laws of physics and biology no longer apply and anything is possible.

It appears that “the spice, the gum, the glue, the sap, the resin, the mildew”, has particular significance for these carnies. What to call this mysterious substance is a problem. “There was the void before there were things to fill it; there was the gasp before the void and the gasp filled it. The gasp was the breath and breath was the mildew and the mildew was the spice and the spice just was.” I hope that clears things up.

I learn from Wikipedia that there is a thing called carnivalesque literature in which “a world upsidedown is created, ideas and truths are endlessly tested and contested, and all demand equal dialogic status.” That may be the sense

behind filmmaker Neil Jordan’s book, but it makes for a story that is confusing, dense and more than a little tedious. If you are left with a feeling closer to exhaustion than enlightenment, you are not alone.

THE photograph on the cover is a police mugshot but there is nothing apologetic about the man shown, no downcast eyes or defeated look; instead, there is cold defiance, as of a man telling the world, “you haven’t finished with me yet.” And indeed, the British state, which was about to hand down a long sentence for the prisoner, would hear much from John Devoy in the more than six decades left to him.

He spent five years in English prisons before being released on the understanding that he would live anywhere except within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Among the others released with him was Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa; in the years to come, they would combine to create havoc. Much of that was among the huge Irish community in America, reckoned to be in excess of two million, but they were also lifelong leaders in campaigns for Irish freedom.

One thing that last year’s centenary of the Easter Rising brought home to students of that event was the core role played by the American Irish. The heart and central figure in the preparations for Easter was the first signatory of the Proclamation, Tom Clarke, an American citizen and close friend of Devoy. The organising body was the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) which worked hand in glove with their US equivalent, Clan na Gael, of which Devoy was the main driver. They would provide much of the money needed to buy guns and uniforms for the Volunteers.

But Devoy’s path was far from smooth. As Brendan Behan famously said, the first item on the agenda of any Irish organisation is

BOOKS Carnivalesque

By Neil Jordan Bloomsbury 282 pp $24.99

C Irish Rebel - John Devoy and America’s fight for Ireland’s Freedom.

By Terry Golway Merrion Press Dublin 371 pp 19.99 euro

CCCCC Frank O’Shea “the split” and much of this book describes the internal squabbles between the different people and groups wanting to help Ireland.

Devoy fell out with O’Donovan Rossa and with Michael Davitt, though he managed to maintain a good relationship with Parnell. He had longstanding rows with the Irish-American leaders outside of New York, people like McGarrity and McCartan; all of these disputes are covered in this book. However, Devoy’s major falling-out was with Eamon de Valera, whose 19 months in America were a disaster, a fact that is acknowledged by historians and by Dev’s biographers. For all his thunder and intemperate language, the diehard Fenian Devoy understood that there was a proper way of dealing with US politicians, a task in which he was a consummate professional. To give one example, he was able to put a resolution to the Republican Party for inclusion in

their 1920 election manifesto, something which the Democrats would have to copy or better. Dev and his allies put an alternative proposal which was turned down; he couldn’t understand why and tried to use his muscle to force it through. The result was that he was again repulsed and in the fallout, Devoy’s resolution was also removed. The Democrats saw no need to mention Ireland either, so the two conventions of 1920 went without a mention of Ireland.

Despite his Fenian past, his IRB and Clan no Gael memberships, his constant drumming of the word republic, Devoy was a pragmatist and supported the Treaty. For his enemies, this was presented as compromising and as this writer puts it, “Compromise would inevitably demand scapegoats, for the Irish Republic was not some diplomatic negotiating point, but a mystical, martyr-producing organism that could trace its bloody and tragic ancestry to Theobald Wolfe Tone … Someone was going to answer to the ghosts of Irish rebellions past.”

Devoy did visit Ireland in 1925 and was rightly feted wherever he went. He also met again the woman

who had promised to wait for him when he began his prison term half a century earlier. She did wait 12 years and then married. Many years later, Devoy was told that she had died. In that return to Ireland, she, now in her eighties, contacted him and they had an emotional reunion.

He again proposed marriage, but this time she decided that they had missed their chance. Be warned that this final chapter may send you looking for your supply of tissues.

This is a wonderful book. At times it reads like fiction, at times like a war story.

There is political intrigue, hidden spies and constant economic trouble. Devoy’s causes included the Fenians, the Land War and the Parnell split as well as 1916 and the War of Independence, but he had almost as much trouble dealing with the other well-meaning leaders in America. Reading this book may set you looking for biographies of other characters like Cohalan and McGarrity.

Most photographs of John Devoy show a man with bushy beard and deep-set frown, and there are many of them included here, but that defiant front cover is the one that most closely describes the subject of this wonderful biography.

THE TOP 10 BOOK CHARTS FROM IRELAND BESTSELLERS

ORIGINAL FICTION

HARDBACK NON-FICTION

1

The Couple Next Door

Shari Lapena

1

leanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

1

Owning It - Bullsh*t Free Guide to Anxiety

2

The Whistler

John Grisham

2

The Good Daughter

Karin Slaughter

2

5 Ingredients – Quick & Easy Food

3

I Found My Tribe

4

The Handmaid’s Tale

5 6

Caroline Foran Jamie Oliver

Ruth Fitzmaurice

3

Midwinter Break

Bernard MacLaverty

3

A Pocket History of Ireland

Margaret Atwood

4

Into the Water

Paula Hawkins

4

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

5

The Last Tudor

Philippa Gregory

5

The Secret

The Good Daughter

Karin Slaughter

6

Smile

Roddy Doyle

6

Pocket Irish Wit & Wisdom

Gill & Macmillan

7

The World’s Worst Children 2

David Walliams

7

Game of Thrones - Song of Ice and Fire

George R. Martin

7

The Pocket Irish Pub Cookbook

Gill & Macmillan

8

Wonder

R.J. Palacio

8

IT

Stephen King

8

Irish History: From Prehistoric Times to... Seamus Mac Annaidh

9

The Dry

Jane Harper

9

The Late Show

Michael Connelly

9

Make Your Bed: Small things… Admiral William H. McRaven

10 Midwinter Break

Bernard MacLaverty

MASS MARKET FICTION

John Connolly

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION

1

The Couple Next Door

2

The Whistler

3

The Handmaid’s Tale

4

The Dry

5

Of Mice and Men

6

Holding

7

To Kill A Mockingbird

8

You Said Forever:The No Child of Mine Trilogy

9

An Triail

10 Secrets of a Happy Marriage

10 He - A Novel

Shari Lapena

1

I Found My Tribe

Rhonda Byrne

10 Devil’s Bargain: ..The Storming of the Presidency Joshua Green

CHILDREN’S

John Grisham

2

Fully Functioning Human (Almost):,,,

Margaret Atwood

3

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Jane Harper

4

Prisoners of Geography:Ten Maps...

John Steinbeck

5

Bully-Proof Kids: Practical tools to help..

Grahan Norton

6

When Breath Becomes Air

Lee Harper

7

Susan Lewis

8

Mairead Ni An Gum Gharda

9

Carhy Kelly

Joseph McCullough Elena Favilli/Francesca Cavallo

Ruth Fitzmaurice

1

The World’s Worst Children 2

David Walliams

Melanie Murphy

2

The Wonder

Yuval Noah Harari

3

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - One and Two J.K. Rowling

Tim Marshall

4

Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone

J.K. Rowling

Stell O’Malley

5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J.K. Rowling

Paul Kalanithi

6

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J.K. Rowling

Geography:Ten Maps That Tell You Everything... Tim Marshall

7

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J.K. Rowling

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and culture... J.D. Vance

8

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

The Cartel

9

A Place Called Perfect,

Stephen Breen/Owen Conlon

10 Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow

Yuval Noah Harari

10 Demon Dentist

R. J. Palacio

J.K. Rowling Helena Duggan David Walliams

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STARTS 27 OCTOBER

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KING GEORGE SQUARE WEST END REDBANK PLAINS PIGNWHISTLE.COM.AU

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September, 2017 I www.irishecho.com.au

AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

BANSHEES CLAIM AFL WORLD CUP GLORY FOR IRELAND

Success for Irish Banshees in world decider David Hennessy

IRELAND’S female Aussie Rules team, nicknamed The Banshees, claimed the International Cup in Melbourne last month. It was the team’s second triumph in the competition that is only three tournaments old.

The Irish came out on top in a hard fought battle with Canada, winning the final by 25-21 at Etihad Stadium on Saturday August 19. It had also been Canada who defeated Ireland in the previous final.

“It was a bitter-sweet victory after losing three years ago, it really hurt,” co-captain Laura Corrigan Duryea told the Irish Echo.

“We just didn’t play as well as we could have three years ago so to have that fire in our belly going into it this year was great.”

A Colleen Quinn goal with 10 minutes to go ensured Ireland’s victory after earlier goals by Maebh Moriarty, Linda Connolly and Aisling Gillespie.

“They started really strong and every quarter we came in, we regrouped. We said, ‘Girls, we’re better than this. We know we have the ability, We haven’t even started playing our style of football yet and when we do, they’re not going to know what hit them’.

“You could tell we built every quarter.

I don’t think they scored at all in the second half. I think it was just sheer determination and that hunger to win.

We’ve all come a long way. We just got over the line. I was never so happy to hear a siren in my life.”

Corrigan Duryea has played in all three tournaments now, also featur-

Laura Corrigan Duryea celebrates with teammates after the Banshees success at the International Cup. Picture: Scott Barbour ing in Ireland’s victory of the inaugural tournament in 2011 and the 2014 final defeat. “It’s a massive honour to play for your country. To be co-captain with Onora Mulcahy was just amazing.

“It goes by so fast and you’re just like, ‘did that actually happen?’ Because you don’t have much time to focus. It was my third one and I’m 33 now.

“I’ll be 36 by the time the next one rolls around. I don’t know if I’ll still be playing but I’d love to be part of it.

Coaching maybe.”

Corrigan Duryea also made history last year, playing in the inaugural WAFL season with Melbourne Demons, even wearing Jim Stynes’ No.11. “There is

an opportunity for girls to come out here and possibly get drafted. You can definitely see Ireland have upped the ante this year with fitness. It was taking it to the next level.”

The Irish ladies steamed through their pool matches with a 38-point opening victory over the USA being their closest match. European Crusaders didn’t get a point on the board against the Banshees who beat them 61-0. Papua New Guinea were then defeated 60-3. Great Britain were defeated to set up the final.

The Banshees’ panel consisted of players based in Ireland, Britain as well as Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. Laura

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS :: IRELAND V GEORGIA

Irish fail in Georgia Damian Spellman

VALERI Kazaishvili put the brakes on the Republic of Ireland’s charge towards the World Cup finals as they had to make do with a draw in Georgia.

The midfielder cancelled out Shane Duffy’s early opener, the first goal of his senior international career, before the break to leave the Republic hanging on on a steamy night in Tbilisi.

Ireland boss Mar tin O’Neill had admitted before kick-off that the Group D clash was not so much a “tricky” affair as a “really, genuinely difficult” one, and so it proved as Georgia did ever ything within their powers to secure a first win of the campaign.

The Republic, who had won all eight previous meetings between the sides, started strongly and ended on the front foot with three out-and-out strikers on the pitch, but did too little in between to warrant anything more than a draw.

Indeed, the Georgians among a small but noisy crowd at the Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena will feel a point was significantly more than the visitors deserved, although substitute Aiden McGeady wasted a glorious opportunity to win it at the death. It was a different story to three years ago,

Aiden McGeady sums up what was a very poor performance by the Irish in Tbilisi.

when a late McGeady goal at the same stadium secured three points.

The Irish could hardly have got off to a better start than when they took the lead with just four minutes gone.

Goalkeeper Giorgi Makaridze chose to come for, but did not reach, Cyrus Christie’s deep free-kick under pressure from Duffy and Ciaran Clark. And the pain of colliding with the pair was doubled when Brighton defender Duffy climbed highest to head into the unguarded net.

However, with the excellent Jano Ananidze orchestrating from an advanced midfield position and Jambul Jigauri and Otar Kakabadze combining down the right to cause full-back Stephen Ward all kinds of problems, Georgia dominated possession for much of the first half.

Georgia got their reward with 11 minutes of the half remaining when Ananidze accepted Valerian Gvilia’s pass, shuffled the ball into space and then slid it behind Christie for Kazaishvili to sidefoot home.

With the game opening up towards the end of the second half, O’Neill’s men went close twice within seconds when Aiden McGeady ended a promising run with an ambitious shot which was blocked at source before Brady tested Makaridze with a rasping effort.

It was Sunderland winger McGeady who could have won it in stoppage time when the ball fell to him in front of goal amid a frenetic conclusion, but he ballooned his shot high over the bar.

With Wales defeating Austria and Serbia accounting for Moldova, only a win against the Serbs (which will have already taken place when you read this) will get Irish World Cup hopes back on track.

co-captained the team to glory while still working full-time, missing out on some of the celebrations enjoyed by those returning home.

“It’s nice for them to be able to go back and enjoy all the glory and take the cup with them. Hopefully I’ll get home next year and catch up with them all and celebrate with them properly.”

Corrigan Duryea was one of five Irish ladies who made the team of the tournament and was also named co-captain of that team. Her Diamond Creek teammate Clara Fitzpatrick, Sydney’s Carol Breen and Gillian Behan and Colleen Quinn also made the list.

Corrigan Duryea has returned to

playing football with her club Diamond Creek before she is back on duty with Melbourne Demons.

“We’re all really excited to be back.

Now they’ll be expecting us to be fitter and stronger because we know what’s ahead of us. We’ll be looking to make that grand final, unlike last year, and hopefully win.”

There was heartbreak for the Irish men’s team in their final pool game against New Zealand. A win would have secured a Grand Final spot for the Warriors but a controversial free kick was awarded to New Zealand just as the siren sounded. New Zealand scored a goal to beat Ireland by four points.

WORLD CUP :: NORTHERN IRELAND

North on historic run JOSH Magennis wants the current group of Northern Ireland players to leave a lasting legacy after achieving their latest slice of histor y in San Marino last Friday night.

A brace from Magennis and Steven Davis’ penalty ensured Michael O’Neill’s team set a new record for consecutive wins as they made it four on the spin following previous triumphs over Norway, New Zealand and Azerbaijan.

It also strengthened their grip on second spot in World Cup qualifying Group C, with a r unners-up spot guaranteed if they avoid defeat to Czech Republic (which will have been played by the time you read this).

That would probably lead to a playoff berth too and the opportunity to reach consecutive major tournament finals for the first time.

Magennis is eyeing more than just a point, though, with the importance of maintaining their current winning streak paramount to him as they enter a final stretch they hope will be extended into November.

“We just don’t want to get there and say, ‘All right, we’re there’,” Magennis said of finishing second.

“We want to get there and push on and the momentum if we make the play-off spot is key.

Northern Ireland’s manager Michael O’Neill.

“We want to keep winning because we just don’t want to be complacent.

“We want to make history.

“This squad is a stand-out squad and people in the future who are trying to get to where we’ve been, we want to make sure they have to go a long way to beat it.”

Manager Michael O’Neill said they were looking for ward to hosting Germany later in the year.

“It would be nice knowing we are in a strong position going in to play Germany at home. It’s great to play the world champions in Belfast when you have guaranteed second spot.”

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

sports WOMEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP :: COACH STEPS DOWN AFTER POOR FINISH

Disappointing World Cup for Irish hosts TOM Tierney stepped down as head coach of the women’s team after three years in charge.

A stressful tournament during which his team won two games unconvincingly against Australia and Japan, followed by three defeats in a row to France, Australia and Wales, condemned the host nation to a lowly eighth-placed finish out of 12 - something that would have been unthinkable at the start.

“That was my last game in charge, yes,” Tierney said. “I’m very proud of the job that I’ve done. Obviously, it hasn’t ended the way we’d have liked, but I’m very proud of the girls who have come through in my time.”

A newspaper interview by injured player Ruth O’Reilly, who only left the squad last week, suggested Tierney had lost the players’ support.

“I’m disappointed someone like Ruth, who is a valued member of the squad, would have done that. I suppose the timing was not great for the girls because we were trying to win an important game at the World Cup. But it is what it is. I’ll go home; I’ll see my two little girls, which is very important, and then once the emotion and exhaustion

of it settles down, we’ll review where we went right, where we went wrong.

Emotions are high. The tournament is just over,” he said.

Ireland were hoping to at least emulate the semi-final appearance they achieved at the last World Cup, but losing to the Welsh denied them an automatic place at the next tournament in 2021. Ireland will now have to qualify to be here next time.

Their final humiliation was a 36-24 defeat to Australia in Belfast.

Australia struck first through captain Sharni Williams’ eighth-minute try, but Ireland were ahead when Ailis Egan pounced from a rolling maul and Nora Stapleton converted.

Wing Alison Miller extended Ireland’s lead after jinking through the Wallaroos’ defence. It was a level game when Sarah Riordan burst off the back of a scrum and Ashleigh Hewson converted.

Australia powered on with Hilisha Samoa, flanker Millie Boyle and wing Mahalia Murphy running in tries.

Hewson added three conversions and a penalty. Sophie Spence and Paula Fitzpatrick claimed consolation tries for Ireland in the final six minutes.

Ireland’s Larissa Muldoon runs at Australia’s Trilleen Pomare at the Kingspan Stadium. Picture: Brian Lawless

ALL IRELAND HURLING FINAL

ALL IRELAND FOOTBALL FINAL

GALWAY are All-Ireland hurling champions for the first time in 29 years following a nail-biting 0-26 to 2-17 victory over Waterford at Croke Park.

With a full house of 82,300 in attendance, the Tribesmen captured their first Liam MacCarthy Cup since 1988 (and fifth in all), seeing off the dogged and determined resistance of a Na Deise side themselves attempting to bridge a gap twice as long.

In this novel decider, captain David Burke was immense for the winners (thudding over four points; two side of the break), as were Conor Cooney, Joe Canning, Gearoid McInerney and substitutes Niall Burke and Jason Flynn. But the team effort from the winners was ultimately the difference between success and failure as they simply refused to leave Dublin 3 empty-handed.

The mighty men in maroon seemed to have the better of an absorbing opening period, clipping over a series of great points, but goals from Kevin Moran and Kieran Bennett ensured that the underdogs were just a point adrift at the short whistle, 0-14 to 2-7.

The Tribesmen made a dream start, notching four points in the first four minutes: Canning opened the scoring at the Davin End inside 20 seconds before Johnny Coen, Joseph Cooney and Cathal Mannion made it 0-4 to no score.

It was the shakiest of starts from Derek McGrath’s men but their talismanic captain Moran collected a pass from fellow veteran Michael “Brick” Walsh to plant a fourth-minute bullet to the bottom left corner of the net under Hill 16.

The Tribe ticked onwards with points from Conor Cooney and David Burke but back came the Suirsiders with scores of their own via the first of eleven from Pauric Mahony (free) and

FORMER Mayo star Conor Mortimer is expecting Mayo to put up a big performance against Dublin in the All-Ireland SFC final on September 17.

The former Mayo forward lauded the “r uthless streak” Stephen Rochford’s side demonstrated against Kerry in the recent semi-final replay but admits they will face a “a phenomenal outfit” in the decider.

“Our form has been up and down all year but I believe that we’ve now reached our level and will produce a big performance in the final,” Mortimer said. “We probably should have beaten Dublin at the first go of it last year, but we were missing that ruthless streak that was on display against Kerry.

“However, what they’ll face on September 17th in Croker is like nothing they’ve seen before. The Dubs are a phenomenal outfit and the 70 minutes they put in against Tyrone was as near to a peak performance as I’ve seen. They’re such a formidable side and I can’t see the benefit in trying something that might backfire for the sake of surprising them. It just wouldn’t make any sense.

“It’ll be a huge ask. Still, we’ve had a good run and hopefully the hype will be kept under control over the next couple of weeks, which will allow the players to get their head in the right space for the big one.”

Meanwhile Dublin selector Declan Darcy has dismissed suggestions that the county’s large population gives them an unfair advantage.

R TÉ pundit Colm O’Rourke led renewed calls for Dublin to be split in two after their All-Ireland SFC semifinal demolition of Tyrone which leaves them on the cusp of a three-in-a-row.

But Darcy, who famously captained the country’s less populated county Leitrim to Connacht SFC glory in 1994, argues that Dublin’s success is down to its excellent underage structures.

“I have an U10s team in Clann naGael and two U14 girls teams and competition for spor t is huge in Dublin,” he said.

Galway edge out gallant Waterford Galway 0-29 Waterford 2-17

Galway captain David Burke added four points for the victors.

Moran before Mannion, Canning and Conor Cooney all registered their second points to make it 0-9 to 1-2 after 14 exhilarating minutes.

Water ford halved their deficit through Mahony and Walsh – an excellent point from beneath the Cusack Stand – and David Burke increased the gap before the sides were level for the first time in the 22nd minute when Kieran Bennett’s long deliver y deceived Colm Callanan and bounced all the way to the net with Shane Bennett lurking – 2-4 to 0-10!

The corner forward certainly got in Callanan’s eye-line and – though failing to connect – his swing at the sliothar did enough to cause the goal; it was his last contribution as he departed the action through injury, making way for Maurice Shanahan.

Canning’s delightful sideline cut from the Cusack side flew between the uprights and Whelan added a tremendous point from the same area on the run after a Mahony free had tied the scores up again. Conor Cooney pointed

in the 32nd minute as the westerners moved two ahead once more but a brace from the brilliant Jamie Barron drew Waterford level again.

Canning’s free deep into injury time at the end of the first half handed Micheal Donoghue’s men the narrowest of interval leads.

Mahony’s 38th-minute free had them level for the third time and Canning’s fifth point (free) restored Galway’s lead, only for Mahony to equalise from play following superb approach play from Barron. In the 43rd minute, Mahony’s next converted free had Na Deise in front for the first time, 2-10 to 0-15.

Canning (free) and David Burke pointed either side of Mahony’s seventh ... Mahony’s fifth of the second half edged the men in white and blue back in front for the last time with 47 minutes played.

Substitute Niall Burke hammered over a brace as the Tribe recaptured the lead with 22 minutes remaining and a long-range Canning free cleared the bar handsomely at the Hill 16 end to leave two in it once more; David Burke struck the fourth consecutive Galway point but a wonderscor e fr om Waterford substitute Brian O’Halloran ensured that the gap was just two as we passed the three-quarters stage of an epic encounter. Substitute Tommy Ryan halved the deficit but quickfire points from Canning (from the softest of frees), Flynn and Conor Cooney propelled the victors into a four-point lead with seven minutes to play.

Mahony added two more points but Canning converted a free on the stroke of 70 minutes and Galway managed to hold on in a riveting finale.

Mayo looking to derail Dublin’s three-in-a-row

Conor Mortimer believes Mayo can upset the red-hot Dubs in the All Ireland decider.

“Our kids are being challenged to play rugby and soccer, in particular, as well as other sports, which is fantastic.

It is great for the kids to be able to play our sports. I would love for them to play our national games, for sure.

“We are in a golden period at the minute, which is fantastic, but the reason Ciaran Kilkenny and these people are playing is because of what their coaches and school teachers did 10 years ago. They just didn’t turn good footballers in the last year or two.

“I don’t think Dublin should be punished for that, they should be congratulated for that. And it is maybe for other counties to look in and see how did they do that and then bring it into their own county. Bring that blueprint in.

“I played for Leitrim. It is the same for them, they have 30 arms and 30 legs, it is the same. Look at New Zealand, they have a small population and they are still the best rugby team in the world and they are able to England, with a population of 60 million. Big population doesn’t entitle you to anything.”

Mayo have not won an All Ireland title since 1951.

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