Irish Echo Feb 2018

JOHN KINSELLA

DOLORES O’RIORDAN

PAGE 3

OBITUARY :: PAGE 11

Kilkenny-man Humbled By Australia Day Recognition

Tributes Flow For Cranberries Singer, Dead At Just 46

For breaking news visit www.irishecho.com.au

AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R February, 2018 | Volume 31 – Number 1

1970s popstar Gilbert O’Sullivan returns to Australia in March.

PAGE 7

TOP END POLICE FEAR THE WORST

Outback mystery as Paddy vanishes SEVENTY-year-old Irishman Paddy Moriar ty has not been seen since December 16.

Police continue to investigate his mysterious disappearance, along with his dog Kellie, from the Nor thern Territory town of Larrimah but foul play is suspected.

The detective in charge of the case said last weekend that police have unable to find any family members in Australia or Ireland.

Detective Sergeant Matt Allen has compiled a profile of a confident character and fit man who worked most of his life as a stockman and even won a rodeo in Dar win. He has no substantive criminal record.

Detective Sergeant Allen acknowledged that he and his colleagues believe a crime has been committed.

“In Larrimah, feuds run deep and grudges hold fast,” Detective Sergeant Allen told the ABC. “In the case of missing person Paddy Moriarty, police suspect foul play and that his missing dog Kellie holds the key to unravelling the mystery.

“The physical evidence at the scene is completely undisturbed. So, the assessment is he's voluntarily left his residence. The bed was made, he had food on the table, he had dog food for his dog Kellie.

“He had a calendar that he crossed off each day. And the last date that was crossed off was the 15th. He had a water gauge that he checks in the morning that wasn't checked.

“So, we believe he's voluntarily left his residence and because he's set in his ways and he's a local and he always does the same thing — like attends the pub — when he walks his dog he walks

Missing: Paddy Moriarty

the dog in the morning, and based on that we're treating it as a worst case scenario.”

Asked if he thought Paddy Moriarty was still alive he said “no, I don’t”.

“We conduct routine checks. We check banks, we check transpor t companies, we check Centrelink where he was on some sort of pension where he gets regular payments. All those signs of life have been checked with unfortunately negative results.

There is a remote possibility but I would say it's unlikely.”

Mr Moriarty has been described by friends as a jolly larrikin with a sense of humour who would do anything for his mates. But the 70-year-old pensioner also had enemies. Neighbour Barry “Cookie” Burke said he “was his own worst enemy” and would “make trouble in an empty house”.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

local KILKENNY MAN HONOURED ON AUSTRALIA DAY

Kinsella’s charity work recognised Fiona Brady

A TOP Irish Australian businessman and philanthropist says he is “truly humbled” after being honoured in this year’s Australia Day awards for his charity work with Cambodian children.

John Kinsella, originally from Co Kilkenny, was appointed a member of the Order of Australia.

In 1988, he and his brother William co-founded the Billbergia Group, now one of the biggest developers of waterfront apartments in Sydney.

“You need a bit of luck in life, and I think we’ve been quite lucky in that side of things,” said Mr Kinsella who left school at the age of 12.

“When things have gone well, you have to give back too.”

It was a small newspaper article about a struggling Cambodian orphanage that spurred him into action 13 years ago. He founded Hope for Cambodian Children with a few likeminded people. The community-based charity has now helped more than 1000 vulnerable children through healthcare and educational projects, and by providing basic housing.

Mr Kinsella, who visits the charity in Battambang every couple of months said there are “lots of success stories”.

“We’ve got kids starting at university; kids who are motor mechanics, hairdressers and beauticians,” said the developer who also supports a charity in the Philippines.

“It’s good to be able to help give someone a hand up….But it’s all

teamwork…a lot of hands have gone into making it work.”

His own success is testament to the power of hard work, entrepreneurship and, as he frequently stresses, luck.

After leaving school at 12 despite coming top in his exams, he worked on the family dair y farm outside Kilkenny’s Mooncoin.

His first came Down Under in 1976 when he won a young farmers’ scholarship to work on New Zealand farms.

But it was Australia that took his fancy and he emigrated here in 1985.

The enterprising Kilkenny man found plenty of work on building sites around Sydney. He soon became a sub-contractor after buying some equipment. Within a few years, he had joined forces with his brother William who’d followed him to Australia and they were sub-contracting civil construction projects around NSW. “We brought the sewers to the country towns,” he said.

But those jobs involved a lot of travel and Billbergia moved into residential property after John married his wife Riezel and they started a family.

“The boss didn’t like me being away so much,” he said with a laugh.

The couple’s three sons are now grown up and Billbergia is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

He said his work colleagues have been teasing him about his Australia Day honour.

“You know what it’s like in construction,” he said. “Today they were asking me ‘should we bow?’.”

Mr Kinsella will be formally presented with the award later this year.

John Kinsella (above) at Manila Hospital where Operation Restore Hope (International NGO) are operating on underprivileged children and teenagers with cleft palate. (Left) John Kinsella with his family (from left to right) John Kinsella Jnr, John Kinsella Snr, Thomas Kinsella, Joseph Kinsella and mum Riezel Kinsella.

OBITUARY :: TOM POWER 1930-2017

Famine monument pioneer Tom Power dead at 87 Billy Cantwell

Tom Power with President Mary McAleese at the Hyde Park Barracks in 2003.

WITHOUT Tom Power, there would be no monument to the Great Irish Famine in Sydney.

Perhaps more importantly, we would be less likely to know about the more than 4,000 Irish orphan girls who came to Australia during and after the Great Hunger.

These girls and young women became the mothers and grandmothers of Australia and as many as seven million Aussies may be able to trace their ancestry to them.

It was back in 1995, during her state visit to Australia, that President Mary Robinson suggested that some memorial be erected in remembrance of the Great Famine, which had driven so many people to Australia in the 19th century.

A committee was formed to do just that, with Tom Power as chairman.

“It all started in 1995 and we got to work from there,” Tom told the Irish Echo back in 2012.

“We had a meeting of all the county associations and decided to build this memorial. It was four hard years of fundraising and it was a lot of work with dinners, dances and raffles. Hopefully it’s something that will be there forever. It’s a marvellous thing.”

Tom, who died on December 28, aged 87, was the man who envisioned the monument; who worked tirelessly and selflessly alongside his committee colleagues to raise the funds necessary to complete its design and construction.

The result, located in the grounds of the Hyde Park Barracks – one of Australia’s oldest and most significant buildings – is a breathtaking structure.

Each year, descendants of the orphan girls, whose names are inscribed on the glass walls of the monument, gather there to honour their Irish ancestors. It’s a profoundly moving event and a wonderful legacy to Tom’s dedication, passion and vision. But most of all, his hard work has gifted this part of the Diaspora a sacred site in a prestigious location which will forever remind us of the depth and complexity of Australia’s Irish heritage.

When Tom Power left his home village of Powerstown in Co Tipperar y to set sail for Australia back in 1956, he could hardly have known the lasting impact he would have on the cultural heritage of his new home.

He was farewelled by many family and friends at St Kieran’s Catholic Church, Manly Vale on January 5 and is survived by wife Trish and sons Robert and John.

Fisherman charged with murder of Cork father A FREMANTLE fisherman has been charged with murder following an alleged attack on Corkman Charles McCarthy in Perth.

Mr McCarthy (32) was allegedly struck on the head with an object while out walking with his wife and a friend early on December 23. He later died from his injuries in hospital.

Andrew Doan (34) was charged with causing grievous bodily harm. This was upgraded to murder during an appearance in the Magistrates Court of Western Australia. It is understood that Mr McCarthy (pictured above with his wife and children) moved to Australia in 2000. A father-of-two, he was working as a cable layer in Perth.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

news PUNK OUTFIT STIFF LITTLE FINGERS STILL ROCKIN’ AFTER 40 YEARS

Flame still Burns for Belfast rockers Fiona Brady

DON’T fear the mosh pit if you’re going to one of Stiff Little Fingers’ 40th anniversary gigs around Australia later this month.

The Belfast punks’ music hasn’t mellowed much over the years – but their fans obviously have.

“Our audiences tend to be ver y supportive, not just of us, but of each other,” said frontman Jake Burns on the phone from his home in Chicago.

“We get mosh pits at most shows and when you see people fall over, generally they stop straight away and help them up and check if they’re okay.

Then they go right back to it again.”

The set list will, of course, include SLF anthems like Alternative Ulster, Suspect Device, Barbed Wire Love and Wasted Life - songs written at the height of the Nor ther n Ireland Troubles.

“The ones we refer to as ‘we’ve got to play or they’ll lynch us’ ”, said Burns.

“I’ll try to keep my onstage rambling to a minimum so we can cram as many songs in as possible.”

So much has changed since SLF played its first gig at Paddy Lamb’s bar in East Belfast back in 1977.

In those days, tight security measures shut down the city centre after 7pm, and there was very little live entertainment as bands were too afraid to play there. The young punks were bored and disillusioned.

“We thought the only way to have music played live was to do it ourselves.” Burns reflected.

No one ever dreamed they’d still be doing it 40 years later – least of all their parents. Burns remembers how unhappy his dad was when he ditched his clerical job to go off touring with SLF in his late teens.

“As far as he was concerned I was giving up a steady job to go gallivanting with my pals, which was pretty true.”

“In one of those strange quirks of fate that (the firm) later went bust and shut down…yet I’m still doing this.“ Now living in Chicago, he marvels at the changes to his hometown since the peace process. Belfast city centre teems with bars and restaurants.

Stiff Little Fingers, who captured the anger and frustration of The Troubles in the late 1970s, return to Australia this month.

“It was very much like a ghost town for the longest time…. Now people go there for hen nights and bachelor nights and stuff,” he said. “It is very much a party destination.”

Speaking of parties, Burns will celebrate his 60th birthday during the Australian tour. At an age when some

VISA-BILITY Your visa questions answered

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

Dear John, In December I made an application to immigration to be sponsored on a 457 visa as a Hair Salon Manager. I am still waiting for the visa.

I’ve now heard that my occupation has been removed from the skills list. What will happen to my visa application now? Is there anything I can do?

Breda Mc

Dear Breda, On January 17 2018, immigration announced changes to its skilled occupation lists. Two occupations were removed from the lists: Hair and Beauty Salon Manager; and Building Associate.

Unlike the occupation changes in 2017, this time immigration have said that the employer nominations for these occupations lodged before January 17, 2018 will not be affected by these changes.

And any visa applications linked to nominations lodged before January

people are thinking of retirement, he loves his job more than ever.

And creative inspiration hasn’t dried up either. Living in America under President Donald Trump has made sure of that.

“I lived through the whole Thatcher years in Britain and I thought that was

the epitome of greed as a personal creed,” he says.

“I didn’t think that people could get more greedy or self-absorbed or less caring about their fellow man. Yet here we are in the era of Trump and if anything it is a million times worse…

“If I was a quieter sort of person it

17, 2018 will not be affected whether the visa application was made before or after that date.

So, if your employers part of the application was lodged before that date, your visa application can still be processed. No new applications in these occupations will be possible.

Anyone who already holds a 457 visa in these occupations granted before April 2017, will have ‘grandfathering provisions’ as announced by immigration in November 2017. The grandfathering arrangements allow a pathway to a permanent residence application through the employer nomination scheme.

In other changes on the same date, the occupations of Management Consultant and Horse Breeder were moved to the ‘hot list’.

This means there are options for four year visas and permanent residence visas if you qualify.

Three occupations were put back on the ‘short term’ list – only good for two year sponsored visas ; Psychotherapist , Property manager and Real Estate Representative.

Immigration ‘caveats’ apply to many of the occupations.

Caveats mean there are special eligibility criteria to meet, for example some have a higher salary requirement, and some are only

available for sponsorship in regional areas of Australia.

(See the full list of changes and caveats here www.homeaffairs.gov. au/trav/work/work/2018-changes-ofeligible-skilled-occupations).

For a 457 visa application lodged in December, immigration processing times were listed as four to seven months. That time frame has now blown out to seven to ten months.

Immigration are expecting a very high number of 457 visa applications in February. This is due to the visa law changes coming on March 1 with much higher fees for visas and employers. Expect processing times to get even longer.

If applying in Australia, a bridging visa is granted allowing you to stay while waiting for processing.

Offshore applicants don’t get bridging visas so need to wait outside Australia for processing.

Form March 1, the cost of a four year temporary sponsored visa will rise from $1,080 to $2,400 per adult. Employers will be asked to pay a training levy of $1,200 or $1,800 per year for each new person they sponsor.

Applications lodged before then will be processed under the old fees/rules, so anyone in a position to lodge an application should apply soon.

would break my heart. Being the person I am it makes me bloody angry.”

Stiff Little Fingers will kick off their Australian tour at the Rosemount Hotel in Perth on Feb 19. They will also perform in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. For details, visit www. metropolistouring.com

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

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

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local PAULINE SCANLON RETURNS

Kerry singer happy to be back in Exile David Hennessy PAULINE Scanlon did not hesitate when she was invited back to Australia to be in Exile Songs, a theatrical musical journey into the Irish Australian soul.

“It’s an amazing show,” the Dingle singer said of Shane Howard’s ExileSongs and Tales of Irish Australia show which chronicles the Irish impact on Australian life.

Scanlon will join Shane Howard, beloved Cork singer John Spillane and a host of other artists from both Ireland and Australia for two exclusive shows at the Port Fairy Folk Festival.

Howard is a passionate Irish Australian who first came to prominence in the 1970s with his band Goanna.

“It’s really moving and Shane is amazing. It’s really powerful, really powerful imagery. Shane’s married the two elements together really beautifully. It’s kind of the truth of how it all unfolded and what happened after they came and all of that. My favourite thing about it is meeting all the Australian musicians, the band is amazing.”

Irish musicians Andy Irvine and John McSherry, well known for being founding members of the great bands Planxty and Lúnasa respectively, will also be part of the show. They will be joined by Australian country singer Troy Cassar-Daley, Darwin singer-songwriter Leah Flanagan, Lynelle Moran and Shane himself.

“It was great the last time to make

new connections because I’ve always felt connected to Australians.

“I went out in 1998 on the one year visa and I’ve been back so many times and I’ve lots of friends there. Lots of Australian friends and lots of Irish friends who subsequently emigrated there so I find it an amazing thing.

“John Spillane is my favourite songwriter in the whole world. I absolutely love him, he’s a very close friend and also I’m just a fan, a complete fan of everything he does. I’m delighted we’re going to be doing a couple of duo gigs because he’s great craic, he’s great company on the road.”

Pauline and John Spillane made the trip down under when Exile toured Australia in 2016 with big names like Paul Kelly, Declan O’Rourke and the Australian-based Irish singer Áine Tyrrell taking part.

When she was a teenager, Pauline herself spent time in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

“I loved it. Had an absolute ball, had a whale of a time and I’ve been back every couple of years since. I’ve never left it too long to visit Australia.

“There’s been different migrations to Australia. There was people going because their parents gave them money when they finished school.

“It was a bit of a rite of passage to go to Australia and then there’s another strand of people who go because they have to but I think most of the people, in my life anyway who have done that,

Pauline Scanlon will perform at the Port Fairy Folk Festival. are very happy there.”

A singer with Sharon Shannon’s band for three years, Scanlon is also well known as one half of celebrated singing duo Lumiere with Éilís Kennedy.

As a solo performer, she has built her traditional following but added enough contemporary style to attract a broader audience since her debut album Red Colour Sun in 2004.

Pauline had the pleasure of playing engagements for the New Zealand leg of Michael D Higgins’ recent trip down under, when the Irish head of state also toured Australia in October.

“It certainly was an honour and he spoke so eloquently all the time and we were so proud of him. I heard lots of things about his trip to Australia and how people felt the same about him.

He does us proud anywhere he goes.”

Port Fairy have a distinctively Irish feel to the line-up this year. In addition to the Exile show, there is also a tribute to Shane MacGowan’s Pogues.

“There’s always a good spread of Irish acts. My husband [Belfast musician Eamon Murray] is in a band and he’s played in it loads of times, all pals of mine have played there. Every time

I’ve played there myself, there’s always been one or two people that I know.”

Exile, featuring Pauline Scanlon and John Spillane plays for Port Fairy Folk Festival on 9 and 10 March. Pauline also plays on 11 and 12 March as the festival runs 9-12 March. Pauline and John play as a duo at Petersham Bowling Club, Sydney on 15 March, Canberra Irish Club on March 16 and Blue Mountains Folk Festival on 17 and 18 March. For more information on Port Fairy or to buy tickets, go to www.portfairyfolkfestival.com

CELTIC WOMAN KICK OFF NATIONAL TOUR IN BRISBANE

Female voices celebrate Irish spirit David Hennessy

CELTIC Woman’s Éabha McMahon says the quartet “can’t wait” to bring their Voices of Angels tour to Australia.

Celtic Woman are known for combining Irish music and storytelling with modern elements that make for a huge spectacle that aims to keep Irish traditions and stories alive.

And the joy for McMahon and the other three members is in the stories they hear back from the audience.

“It makes the show for me anyway and I think we all say that.

“We go all around the world and we meet people with different stories and the beautiful thing about Celtic Woman is it keeps the people connected, it keeps the conversation going.

“People can come for a night and talk about Ireland. It’s a brilliant way to bring people together and keep the Irish traditions going.

“I find that’s what gives me the go to do a really brilliant show and to really tell the story because a lot of songs we do would be about emigration and heritage and they don’t need to live in Ireland to be Irish.

“Even the people that aren’t Irish, it gives them a sense of Irish music but we’re meeting people everywhere we go. That means a lot to us.”

Founded in 2004, the group’s line up has changed over the years but their popularity has endured. They have now sold ten million records and last year they were nominated for the Best World Music Grammy Award.

The last time the group came to Australia, McMahon was a new addition after just joining in 2015. However, she would have been hugely supportive

Tara McNeill, Susan McFadden, Mairéad Carlin and Éabha McMahon are Celtic Woman.

of the band since long before that.

A native Irish speaker from Dublin, she remembers: “I was really young at the time and I remember saying to my mum, ‘they’re singing in Irish’ because nobody did that, nobody was bringing the Irish language onto the world stage at the time that I knew of. They were making it really accessible, the girls were singing it in a way that you could sing along and learn it.

“From then on, I remember thinking, ‘I really admire Celtic Woman’ and, ‘God, if only I could ever sing with them’. Then I went on to do other things, I didn’t even know if I was going to be a singer.”

The other things include gaining a

Human Rights degree and working in Vietnam with the Christina Noble Children’s Foundation, the organisation set up by the Dubliner to protect marginalised, vulnerable children.

“I wasn’t even singing and then something happened in my life where I went: ‘Look, I’m gonna take a year and I’m gonna give singing and writing a go’ and then Celtic Woman came into my life and it really did feel quite serendipitous.

“I think it’s our duty really as young Irish people to keep the language going and it’s one of those things: If you don’t use it, you lose it. I always felt very strongly about that.

“I grew up singing in sean nós and

Celtic Woman now sing a sean nós piece and ever y night I do it, I get shivers in my arms and I feel so proud that nobody else in the world is doing that right now.

“It is our duty as Irish people to give a nod to the Irish tradition, the Irish language in its most pure form.”

Joining McMahon in the line-up are classical singer Mairéad Carlin, Susan McFadden - who has a musical theatre background and violinist - and harpist and soprano Tara McNeill.

“It’s quite an unusual line up in the sense that you would never normally put those four genres together but something happens when we come together. Every night, I’m like, ‘this is

incredible’. it’s an epic kind of sound.

“I’m so proud to be part of it and I’m really excited because it really is a brilliant show. There’s a real mix of ever ything, there’s something for everyone. It doesn’t matter what age you are, where you’re from, there’s something for everyone in the audience. There’s happy moments, sad moments, there’s the epic moments, then there’s the moments where we bring it right back to just voice and fiddle,” she added.

McMahon said she would love to add a Cranberries song to the set as a way of honouring the late Dolores O’Riordan, who died last month at the age of 46.

“I would love to do one of her songs, she was such a legend. For me, Dolores was one of those singers who made me believe I could actually be a singer because in a world of pop where things are over saturated...Dolores broke all those barriers.

“I was always told I had quite a low voice for a girl and I couldn’t sing any pop songs but I could sing The Cranberries. She was one of my idols.

I feel so sad that she’s gone now. She’s an Irish hero. Her memory will last. I would love to do some kind of tribute to her. It’s not in the show at the moment but who knows?”

Celtic Woman play Brisbane Convention Centre on February 7, ICC Sydney Theatre on February 9, Newcastle’s Civic Theatre on February 11, Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena on February 12, Adelaide’s AEC Theatre on February 13 and Perth’s Riverside Theatre on February 16. For information, go to www.celticwoman.com

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

news IRISH-BORN SUPERSTAR OF THE 1970S TOURING AUSTRALIA IN MARCH

On tour again...naturally David Hennessy

ONE of the biggest-selling artists of the 1970s, Gilbert O’Sullivan is celebrating half a century in music and marking it with his first national Australian tour.

Although he has toured here previously before, it has just been single shows and a stripped back performance.

“I’m very much looking forward to it because it gives me the opportunity to bring the full band.”

Well-known for hits like Alone Again (Naturally), Clair and Get Down, the Waterford-born performer was even the biggest selling solo performer on the planet for a time.

When asked what it is like to reflect on half a century in the business, he said he tries not to live in the past.

“I’m not that nostalgic in many ways.

The first record came out in 1967 so I’m still at it. I still love the art of songwriting. It’s the songwriting that just keeps me onboard and I just love it so I haven’t lost any interest in that.

“Technology is fantastic, I have a purpose-built recording studio with all the digital pro tools and everything in it but to write songs, nothing has changed from when I was 15 years of age. Sitting down at a piano, tinkling out little tunes. So the process for me hasn’t changed,” he said.

“The wonderful thing is after all those years, it’s still the same so I’m still that 21-year-old sitting in a room for five days a week, eight hours a day tr ying to come up with a tune and eventually sitting down with an empty notebook and trying to write lyrics.

“It puts the last 50 years into perspective for me. I don’t feel like it’s a long, long time. I feel like it’s kind of same thing for me as it was back then.”

Of course, a lot has changed in the music industry since O’Sullivan, now 71, first charted. Twenty years ago, he was embroiled in a landmark legal case against rapper Biz Markie. The hip-hop star sampled Alone Again (Naturally), a song about suicide and bereavement, for a comic scenario.

The rapper refused to withdraw the track despite having no permission from O’Sullivan, who won 100 per cent of the royalties in a case that set a copyright precedent.

Alone Again (Naturally) topped both UK and US charts in 1972, earning its writer three Grammy nominations.

Rather than dining out on popular tracks like this, Gilbert has always continued to write and record, aiming to be fresh and current.

“

The first concert we ever did was in Dublin at The Stadium. I’m very proud of my roots, very proud of my Irish background

”

Citizens Assembly backs emigrant vote THE voting age should be dropped to 16, referendums should be held on weekends and those who have left Ireland within the last five years should be allowed to vote, the Government has been told.

The specially-convened Citizens’ Assembly recently held a series of debates on electoral reform.

Among the other proposals which got the overwhelming support of the assembly, above 80 per cent, included greater provision of voter education on referendums, freedom to vote in any polling station and spending limits for parties, groups and individuals campaigning in referendums. The idea of compulsory voting was roundly rejected.

A smaller majority of the Citizens’ Assembly, between 50 and 80 per cent, backed the option to allow voting in the weeks before the poll; online voting; and for people to be allowed to vote even if they have been out of the country for five years or less.

Emigrants may get vote for new Seanad PLANS are under way for the reform of the Seanad, the Taoiseach has said. Leo Varadkar has decided to set up a Seanad Committee to look into a radical overhaul of the second chamber of the Oireachtas.

Potential changes could include giving the vote in the Seanad elections to all Irish citizens, wherever they reside; universal suffrage using the panel system; and allowing for online registration of voters and downloading of ballot papers.

Crookwell launches new Irish festival

Gilbert O’Sullivan was born in Waterford and emigrated to England with his family at the age of seven.

“I don’t know how many records I’ve made, but what I enjoy most is writing the songs, enough songs to make an album and then working with a producer or an engineer and finishing the record. That’s something I can control and deal with, outside of that it’s up to the public, it’s record companies.

“It’s a) are they going to release it? and b) are they going to like it? That’s fine, that’s the business. I’m ver y happy in the position that I’m in now, able to record the songs that I write

and get them released of course.”

After spending the early part of his life in Water ford, Gilber t’s family moved to England so his father could find work, settling in Swindon.

He has never lost his Irishness although he was only seven when the family moved.

“My roots are Irish of course, my musical background is pretty much growing up in England, in Swindon and Wiltshire, that’s the background to all my songwriting.

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“You never lose your roots. I have lots of relatives and family in Ireland.

I always went back. I used to take a boat from Fishguard to Rosslare. So I had good memories of growing up and of course the first concert we ever did was in Dublin in The Stadium, a very famous venue, so the concerts are always very special. I’m very proud of my roots, ver y proud of my Irish background.”

Gilbert O’Sullivan tours Australia from March 10 to 27

ST Patrick’s Day will arrive early in the NSW Southern Tablelands with a weekend of Irish traditional music, song and dance at Crookwell from February 16 to 18.

Organiser Paul Gallagher said the inaugural Crookwell Irish Heritage Weekend will celebrate the area’s rich links to the Emerald Isle.

“The Crookwell region has a long history of Irish immigration dating back to the early 1800s,” Mr Gallagher said.

“The Irish Heritage Weekend will celebrate that rich local history with three days of fun and entertainment – including traditional music and a series of song sessions.”

The weekend celebrations get underway at 8pm on Friday 16 February at Crookwell’s Criterion Hotel in Goulburn St.

AT LAST! ONE HOP WITH ONE STOP - TO IRELAND Call and let us show you how!

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

ireland :: abortion referendum FAULT-LINES APPEAR AHEAD OF CRUCIAL REFERENDUM

Unborn must be protected: Tánaiste Deborah McAleese

the health of women first and foremost and that hasn’t happened ever in Ireland. As a country we need to recognise change to the constitution and the law.”

The May vote will decide whether to repeal a constitutional amendment that effectively bans terminations.

Currently abortion is only allowed when a woman’s life is at risk, but not in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality.

Mr Coveney said the Government is united in its approach to repealing the Eighth Amendment, but that there are differing views on the legislation.

He told RTE’s Sean O’Rourke Show that he supported recommendations that terminations, post 12 weeks, should be allowed in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities, rape and incest.

Referring to rape cases, he said he believed one doctor should be able to sanction an abortion after a consultation with the woman.

“I believe that because that is such an intimate and private and delicate conversation that one doctor should in conversation with a victim be able to sanction an abortion in those circumstances,” he said.

“Where I have a difficulty is that I don’t believe that there should be effectively, as the committee has described, unrestricted access to abortion at any point in time, because I don’t believe that that is consistent with the state having a legal obligation to protect an unborn child.”

Mr Coveney said it was too early to predict how people would vote in the referendum.

“I am not going to be deviated by opinion polls or by badgering by journalists,” he said.

Minister of State Patrick O’Donovan has also gone on the record to say that he would vote against the proposal to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution.

POLITICAL fault-lines have appeared in both Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ahead of the forthcoming referendum on abortion in May. Ireland’s deputy Prime Minister has said he cannot support unrestricted access to abortions.

Simon Coveney said that while women’s health must be prioritised he does not believe there should be no protection in law for the unborn child.

The Irish government has agreed to hold a referendum at the end of May on whether to reform the country’s near-total ban on abortion.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would be campaigning for reform.

But Mr Coveney, his deputy, said he has always believed “the state has an obligation to protect the unborn child”.

The Tánaiste said he does not support unrestricted access to terminations during the first 12 weeks of

pregnancy. Earlier, the Taoiseach said if people voted to repeal, the Government would then table draft legislation that would allow for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy.

However he added: “I still believe that, but I believe we have to prioritise

AMENDMENT

‘ABOVE ALL, I HAVE LISTENED TO WOMEN’: VARADKAR

AG’s words of warning over legal challenges

Tánaiste Simon Coveney

“I won’t support a referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment, based on the fact I believe it leaves too much uncertainty in relation to what’s going to happen,” Mr O’Donovan said.

Fianna Fáil is also divided on the referendum with front-bencher and Cork South Central TD Mr McGrath saying that while he supports a vote being held on the issue, he would personally vote no.

“If the referendum is asking the question that there would be a straightfor ward full repeal of the Eighth Amendment with the intention of replacing it with legislation providing for unrestricted access to abortion up to 12 weeks then that is not something I can personally support. I believe it’s a step too far.”

Party leader Michael Martin suppor ts the removal of the Eighth Amendment. He has also said that he would support access to abortion in the first trimester.

Michelle Devane

THE Irish Gover nment has been warned that failure to insert explicit wording in the Constitution to replace the Eighth Amendment could leave any new regime open to legal challenges.

The Attor ney General Séamus Woulfe advised that new wording should be put into Article 40.3.3, which gives equal right to life to the mother and the unborn, giving express power to politicians to legislate for abortion.

The option will only come into effect if voters backed a repeal of current constitutional limitations in a referendum to be held in May. A summary of the advice released by the Department of Health states that the wording would help bring “greater constitutional certainty” to make laws dealing with medical matters.

Terminations are currently only allowed in Ireland when the life of the mother is at risk, including from suicide, and the maximum penalty for accessing an illegal abortion is 14 years in prison.

The Attorney General said there was “no absolute certainty” about landscape of rights if the Eighth Amendment was repealed.

Mr Woulfe said that if a repeal was backed by voters it might subsequently be argued in courts that the unborn have residual rights under other articles of the constitution and in turn restrict new legislation.

“To mitigate the uncertainty that might arise in such circumstances, it was advised that consideration should be given to inserting the wording into the Constitution that expressly affirms the right of the Oireachtas to legislate for the regulation of termination of pregnancy,” he said.

The report of the Citizens’ Assembly recommended a replacement be inserted in the Constitution should the referendum be repealed, whereas the specially convened parliamentar y committee advocated repeal alone.

Children’s Minister Katherin Zappone, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris reveal plans for the referendum.

Referendum to ‘repeal the eighth’ to be held in May Michelle Devane, David Young and Deborah McAleese ELIGIBLE Irish voters will be going to the polls in May to cast their vote on liberalising the country’s restrictive abortion laws.

The Irish Government has formally backed proposals to hold a referendum on the state’s constitutional amendment on abortion by the end of May. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland already had abortion, but it was unsafe, unregulated and unlawful.

“In my opinion we cannot continue to export our problems and import our solutions,” Mr Varadkar said.

He outlined the Government’s approach after a specially convened cabinet meeting in Dublin.

Voters will be asked whether they want to repeal the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution, which gives equal right to life to the mother and the unborn, and replace it with new wording to allow parliament to legislate on abor-

tion in the future. The Taoiseach said if people voted to repeal, the Government would then table draft legislation that would allow for unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks into pregnancy.

Terminations are currently only allowed when the life of the mother is at risk and the maximum penalty for accessing an illegal abortion is 14 years in prison.

Last December, a report by a specially convened parliamentary committee found the Eighth Amendment was not fit for purpose and should be repealed. That followed recommendations from members of Ireland’s Citizens’ Assembly to liberalise the law on terminations.

The committee also recommended abortion be available up to 12 weeks of pregnancy without a woman having to explain her decision.

“I know this will be a difficult decision for the Irish people to make,” said Mr Varadkar. “I know it is a very personal and private issue and for most of us it

is not a black and white issue, it is one that is grey - the balance between the rights of a pregnant woman and the foetus or unborn.

“It is a matter for people to make their own decision based on the evidence they hear, compassion and empathy and I want the debate to be respectful on all sides and it should never be personalised.”

Mr Varadkar said: “The saddest and loneliest journey is made by Irish women who travel to foreign countries to end their pregnancies. That doesn’t have to happen.”

He said: “I don’t believe the constitution is the place for making absolute statements about medical, moral and legal issues, an issue which is not black and white and can never be explained in black and white.”

His comments came after he announced that he would be campaigning for more liberal abortion laws.

Mr Varadkar said he had thought “long and hard” before deciding to sup-

port abortion without restriction in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

He said he came to that view after listening to medical experts, the public, his own Fine Gael party, ministers and friends.

“Above all I have listened to women,” he said.

Mr Varadkar added: “The question has to be a yes or no one - do we reform our abortion laws or do we leave them as they are?

“For my part I will advocate a yes vote. My own views have evolved over time - life experience does that.”

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone said: “As an independent woman sitting at the cabinet table I believe we have reached a significant moment and I am full of emotion at this time.

“As we continue our preparation for a referendum it is my firm hope we will have a respectful debate based on the facts. I hope we will live together in an Ireland someday soon where abortion is safe, legal and rare.”

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland BALLYMENA ACTOR HONOURED BY PRESIDENT, SPEAKS OUT ON #METOO ‘WITCH-HUNT’

Presidential honour for Liam Neeson Deborah McAleese

AN emotional Liam Neeson has received an award from the President of Ireland for his contribution to the country and humanity.

Receiving the honour, the Irish actor revealed that he was wary of giving public addresses.

“My fear, and it’s a genuine fear, is public speaking.

“Everyone says ‘oh, you’re an actor, you should be good at that.’ It’s just not true,” he said.

Neeson was presented with the Presidential Distinguished Ser vice Awar d by President Michael D Higgins. The award highlights the outstanding work by Irish people living overseas across a range of areas, from sport to science, charity or community suppor t. Neeson, who appeared slightly emotional as he received the award, said he was “honoured” and “ver y humbled”. He said he would continue to “fly the flag for Irish arts” and the charity Unicef, of which he is a goodwill ambassador.

President Higgins described the Ballymena native as a “splendid Irish man abroad” and a “worthy recipient” of the award.

“We started the awards in 2012 to give recognition to the contribution of Irish people living abroad who have made a distinguished contribution, not just to Ireland, but to humanity in general. And indeed, that is the case in the case of Liam Neeson”, he said.

Mr Higgins added: “I think our reason for having the award is to be able to say the Irish family isn’t defined by national borders or territories.

“It is defined by care, compassion, a shared culture and heritage, a common sense of responsibility, a consciousness of our historic experience and also the importance of Ireland contributing dynamically to a future that would be humane and more compassionate and just. Liam Neeson qualifies by all of this criteria”.

Of the sixty awards presented to date, only two have been awarded to Irish Australians, the late Jim Stynes and author Tom Keneally.

The citation for Neeson’s award reads: “As an extremely gifted and internationally renowned film actor, Liam Neeson has helped to raise Ireland’s profile and awareness of Ireland and Irish artists around the world, especially in the United States where he is based.”

Liam Neeson at Aras an Uachtarain with President Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina. Picture: Laura Hutton

Harassment scandal now ‘witch-hunt’ Sherna Noah LIAM Neeson says that the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal has sparked “a bit of a witch-hunt”.

Asked about the issue on the Late Late Show, Neeson, 65, said: “There is a bit of a witch hunt happening too.

“There’s some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee or something and suddenly they’re being dropped from their programme....”

He said that he was “on the fence”

about allegations levelled at Dustin Hoffman.

“When you’re doing a play and you’re with your family, other actors and technicians, you do silly things. You do silly things and it becomes superstitious. If you don’t do it every night you think it’s going to jinx the show,” the Irish star said. “I think Dustin Hoffman... I’m not saying I’ve done similar things like what he did. Apparently he touched a girl’s breast and stuff... it’s childhood stuff.”

Last year, actress Anna Graham Hunter alleged Hoffman groped her and

made inappropriate comments when she was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV movie Death Of A Salesman. Playwright Cori Thomas accused him of exposing himself to her in New York in 1980, when she was 16.

In response to Hunter’s allegations, Hoffman issued a statement saying the incident “is not reflective of who I am”.

Neeson said of the #MeToo movement: “It’s healthy and it’s across every industry. The focus seems to be on Hollywood at the minute, but it’s across every industry.”

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Depp, Bono lead birthday festivities for Pogues icon Joe Nerssessian

JOHNNY Depp, Bono and Australian music legend Nick Cave were among the guests at a star-studded birthday concer t for The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan last month.

The Fairytale Of New York singer who turned 60 on Christmas Day - was celebrated by an array of musicians, film stars and even President Michael D Higgins as he was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the bash in Dublin’s National Concert Hall.

Sinéad O’Connor, Imelda May and Glen Hansard all performed at the event which also saw an unlikely duet between Bono and Depp.

The Hollywood star jumped on the guitar for a rendition of The Pogues’ A Rainy Night In Soho while Cave and MacGowan teamed up for the band’s Summer In Siam.

But the backing band was also starstudded with Sharon Shannon, Clem Burke (from Blondie), Damien Dempsey, Lisa O’Neill, Carl Barat from The Libertines and a Pogues alumni including Cait O’Riordan, Terry Woods and Spider Stacy.

MacGowan, who has experienced health problems in recent times, was brought on to the stage in his wheelchair where he joined Cave for the duet before embarking on a solo version of Will You Go Lassie Go. The singer-songwriter was also presented with the National Concert Hall’s lifetime achievement award by Mr Higgins.

In a statement promoting the event, The Pogues said: “From A Pair Of

Shane MacGowan turned 60 on Christmas Day.

Brown Eyes to Fairytale In New York, Shane MacGowan is widely recognised as a poet of modern music and one of the great international songwriters.

“The National Concert Hall plays host to this renowned artist on the occasion of his 60th birthday.

“This concert as part of the NCH Perspectives Series celebrates the power and poetry of Shane’s work and his singular contribution to Irish music.”

Last year MacGowan’s mother Therese MacGowan died on New Year’s Day when the car she was driving struck a wall around 10km from the family home in Co Tipperary.

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KERRY BABIES PROBE: TAOISEACH TO CONSIDER COMPENSATION FOR JOANNE HAYES

Hayes ‘very badly treated’ Deborah McAleese

THE Government may offer compensation to the woman at the centre of the Kerr y Babies murder investigation, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

Mr Varadkar said Joanne Hayes had been “very badly treated” by the state and society.

As he issued an apology to Ms Hayes Mr Varadkar said the Government would discuss the issue of compensation with her representatives.

The Fine Gael leader added that the case “reflects the extent to which Ireland was such a different place in the 1980s”.

Ms Hayes was arrested following the discovery of a baby’s body on a beach in Co Kerry in 1984.

Advances in DNA profiling have confirmed that Ms Hayes, as she always maintained, was not the mother of that baby, who was named John.

Ms Hayes had given birth to a baby on the family farm in Abbeydorney, but that baby died and its body was found on the property after the discovery of Baby John had been made.

She was arrested and charged with murder. The murder charge was later dropped and a tribunal of inquiry was set up to probe the Garda handling of her case.

Mr Varadkar said: “I absolutely want to reiterate the apology that the Gardai have made to Joanne Hayes and also to make that apology on behalf of the state as well.

“I can’t offer compensation here and now but it is something that I think we can discuss with her representatives in the period ahead,” said Mr Varadkar.

“She evidently is a woman who was very badly treated by our state and by our society in a way that so many other women have been in the past and that needs to change.”

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan said Ms Hayes was subject to a prolonged ordeal that was “simply wrong on every level”.

“This was unacceptable even at the time and as Minister for Justice and Equality, and on behalf of the State, I am deeply sorry that this happened,” he said.

Mr Flanagan welcomed a decision

Joanne Hayes on the Late Late Show back in 1984.

by the Garda to conduct a fresh investigation into baby John’s death.

“This review team has had some success investigating historic cases and I note the sensitivity with which they have approached the appeal for new information,” he added.

In the Dáil, Tanaiste Simon Coveney also apologised to Ms Hayes.

“I think people would like to think it was a very different Ireland in terms

of the approach to women and pregnancy in those days, but I also accept the point that’s being made that there were real policing mistakes made,” he said. “There were also mistakes made in the subsequent tribunal in terms of how a woman and her family was questioned.

“It was described afterwards as insensitive, very, very frightening, harrowing and quite hor rific and shameful.”

Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin described Joanne Hayes’ treatment as shameful.

“The complete lack of empathy shown at that time through agencies of the State was shameful and represented a damning indictment on the institutions of the state and on society at the time,” he said.

The Gardaí have also apologised.

“It is a matter of significant regret for An Garda Siochana that it has taken such a long time for it to be confirmed that Ms Hayes is not the mother of Baby John, Acting Commissioner Flor Murphy said. “I would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Hayes for that.”

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER SAOIRSE RONAN HAILED AS IRELAND’S MERYL STREEP

Rules change for Man Booker Prize ONE of the world’s most prestigious literary awards is to accept Irishpublished entries for the first time.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction opened its doors after controversy over last year’s longlist when Solar Bones by Mike McCormack was ruled ineligible until it was put into book stores in Britain by a Scottish publisher. The novel had been first published by Tramp Press, a small Dublin-based firm, before the UK rights were sold to Canongate, allowing it to be entered for the competition.

Organisers of the award said the rules have been changed given the “special relationship” between the UK and Irish publishing markets - whereby most Irish publishers release books simultaneously in both jurisdictions.

Varadkar reviews long-term plans TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has u-turned on his plan to step down from politics by the time he’s 51, insisting he will be around for as long as he is wanted.

The Fine Gael leader, who spent some time as a general practitioner before focusing on a full-time political career, said he regrets comments he made in 2015 when he said he had an exit strategy from politics because he “definitely” wanted to do something else.

“I don’t see myself in politics at 51,” the former social protection minister said at the time.

However, Mr Varadkar, 38, has now said that he is in politics for the long haul. When asked if he still sees himself in politics when he is 50, he said: “I think I answered that question before and I regret answering the way I did because it was mistaken by some people as a lack of commitment to politics.

“I can absolutely guarantee you that I’m 100 per cent committed to this job, as Taoiseach, leading my party and doing everything I can for my constituency of Dublin West, so that’s my focus at the moment.”

First ferry link to Spain unveiled

Saoirse Ronan in a scene from Lady Bird and (inset) with the film’s director Greta Gerwig.

Ronan short-listed for Oscar after Globes success Deborah McAleese SHE is Ireland’s woman of the moment - even being hailed the country’s very own Meryl Streep.

Saoirse Ronan’s Golden Globes success has catapulted her among Hollywood royalty.

Irish stand-up comedian and actress Deirdre O’Kane was one of the first to congratulate her fellow countrywoman on her gong.

“Over the moon about Saoirse Ronan’s golden globe... she is our Meryl Streep, a HUGE talent and a beautiful human being, that’s all..” she tweeted.

Ireland’s Culture Minister Josepha Madigan said she was delighted for the 23-year-old Carlow woman.

The Fine Gael TD also praised Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh on his Golden Globe win.

“Saoirse Ronan and Martin McDon-

agh are both wonderfully charismatic people and their success in winning Golden Globes, which are such significant international awards, are indicative of their immense talent and versatility as artists.

“I would like to send my best wishes to both on their success and I am sure their personal achievements last night will be welcomed by all in the Irish film industry,” the minister said.

The small national school in the village of Ardattin in Co Carlow, where Saoirse studied as a young girl, suddenly became the focus of the media.

Principal Laura Vance was inundated with calls about the school’s most famous ex-pupil. It was here at the rural school that a young Saoirse juggled her studies with her television and film work. Her mother and father Monica and Paul Ronan, both from Dublin, had returned to live in the area when

Saoirse was three, after 11 years living in New York.

Her first acting job was on RTE’s The Clinic, which also starred her father, when she was just nine years old.

A part in the TV series Proof followed, before she was cast in the Michelle Pfeiffer movie I Could Never Be Your Woman. By the age of 13 she was nominated for an Oscar in the best supporting actress category for her role in the film Atonement.

She then played a child assassin in Hanna and a pastry chef who helps break a man out of prison in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

She earned her second Oscar nomination for her role as an Irish immigrant who makes her way to 1950s New York in Brooklyn.

The 23-year-old finally won her gong for her role in the coming-of-age comedy-drama Lady Bird, leading to floods of

tributes to “Ireland’s leading lady”.

Since her Golden Globe win she has received her third Oscar nomination.

“To have been a part of a film like Lady Bird was a true privilege and I am incredibly grateful to the Academy for recognising this wonderful story about the beauty and strength of women,” Ronan said.

“I am especially thrilled to share this moment with (fellow actress) Laurie Metcalf and our leader and director Greta Gerwig, who, like Lady Bird, is an incredible woman and a dear friend.”

Martin McDonagh has missed out on a Best Director Oscar nomination despite his Golden Globes success with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri. However the British-born Irish citizen has been nominated for his original screenplay and Frances McDormand is a short-priced favourite to take out Best Actress ahead of Saoirse Ronan.

IRELAND and Spain are to be linked by a direct ferry service for the first time. The sailings will enable firms to bypass Britain when transporting freight between the two countries, which could be particularly useful after Brexit.

Brittany Ferries will operate two return sailings a week from Cork to Santander in northern Spain from the end of April.

Two Irishmen die in Ecuador accident THE body of a missing Irishman has been found in central Ecuador following a kayaking accident.

David Higgins, 26, died after getting into difficulty during a flash flood on the Abanico river, in the south-east of the country.

The Kerry native, who lived in Galway, had been kayaking with 19-year-old Alex McGourty, from Sligo, whose body was discovered shortly after the incident, and three other men. Two have been found safe, but one remains missing.

Just a few weeks ago Mr Higgins told friends that, while he enjoyed travelling, he missed home.

Tributes were paid to Mr McGourty, with friends describing him as an “absolute gentleman” and an “outstanding young man”.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

death of dolores o’riordan CRANBERRIES SINGER MOURNED BY HUNDREDS AT FUNERAL

‘She possessed a talent worth its weight in gold’ David Young and Ed Carty CRANBERRIES singer Dolores O’Riordan had a loving heart, a voice of gold and starred in the gig of life itself, mourners at her funeral have heard.

Hundreds who packed into a small church in rural Co Limerick to say farewell to the musician were told she is now singing in a heavenly choir.

O’Riordan’s distinctive voice, described during the Mass as unique, far reaching and distinctly Irish, filled the Church of Saint Ailbe in Ballybricken at the outset, as her duet of Ave Maria with Luciano Pavarotti was played.

The 46-year-old was found dead in a London hotel room on January 15.

In his homily, family friend Canon Liam McNamara said O’Riordan’s voice was worth its weight in gold.

“Her kind personality and beautiful singing voice earned for her numerous admirers,” he said. “It must be added that the numbers she rescued from the darkness of depression are impossible to count. No words are adequate to describe Dolores or to accurately state the influence for good she has been over the years.”

O’Riordan - who was also a member of alternative rock group DARK - had been working on a new studio album with The Cranberries in the months before her death.

Her boyfriend and fellow DARK band member Ole Koretsky was among mourners at the service.

Her three children Taylor, Molly and

Dakota and her stepson Donny also attended along with ex-husband Don Burton. The artist’s mother Eileen, sister Angela and brothers Terence, Brendan, Donal, Joseph and PJ comforted each other in the small parish church.

Canon McNamara extended sympathies to all her family and her Cranberries bandmates Noel Hogan, Mike Hogan, and Fergal Lawler.

Cranberries fans from around the world tuned into a local Limerick radio station as it broadcast the service live.

At the outset of the mass, symbols associated with O’Riordan’s life were brought to the altar. A long-time friend and a niece brought forward a guitar and a platinum disc award.

A picture of Our Lady of Dolours, after whom Dolores was named, was placed at the altar, as was a book of poetry. Mourners then paused for a moment’s silence and a prayer before her sister Angela read a passage of scripture.

In a service with a strong family focus, a number of O’Riordan’s nieces, nephews and godchildren played roles.

Canon McNamara said he recalled meeting the young O’Riordan in 1989 when she was singing and playing the keyboard in the church.

“She possessed a very special singing voice - a talent worth its weight in gold,” he said. “Intelligent girl that she was, she knew well that she should develop and use that talent. She also knew that talents were given by almighty God to be used generously for

Dolores O’Riordan’s remains are carried from the Church of Saint Ailbe in Ballybricken. (Inset) Mum Eileen O’Riordan comforts a mourner. (Below) Ali Hewson, wife of singer Bono, arrives at the funeral. the benefit of others.”

He added: “She did have an unique respect for everybody.

“Coupled with that respect, her kind, loving and generous heart, made her a source of great hope to the Church, during its stormy years. For that we sincerely thank her from our hearts.”

Canon McNamara said O’Riordan had been reunited with loved ones in heaven, including her late father Terry.

“If tears are shed in heaven - by necessity they are tears of joy,” he said.

“Yes, tears of joy, following an excellent performance by Dolores, in the

OBITUARY :: DOLORES O’RIORDAN 1971-2018

Fame rested uneasily on singer’s shoulders Julia Hunt

BORN and raised in Limerick, Dolores O’Riordan was still in her teens when she answered an advert for a female singer for a rock band called The Cranberry Saw Us. Having written her own songs since she was 12, she tried out for the group by showing off both her lilting vocals and her ability to pen melodies and words for their demos.

Existing members Mike and Noel Hogan and Fergal Lawler snapped her up and together they became The Cranberries, increasingly becoming known for O’Riordan’s distinctive wailing voice.

One of the demos she had worked on for her audition was Linger, which gave The Cranberries a number three hit in Ireland in 1993 and proved to be their breakthrough track. More success followed with songs such as Salvation and Zombie, which scooped a coveted Ivor Novello Award.

They unveiled their debut studio album - entitled Ever ybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can’t We? - in 1993 and it topped the charts.

Successful follow ups No Need To Argue and To the Faithful Departed came in 1994 and 1996, cementing the band’s status as a mainstream international rock band. To date the group has sold over 40 million records.

But by 2003 it was time for a change and the band announced they were taking some time off to pursue other opportunities.

O’Riordan seized the opportunity to pursue a solo career and released the albums Are You Listening? (2007) and No Baggage (2009).

But while her musical ventures thrived, the singer was battling depression and mental health troubles in her personal life. In an interview in 2013 she said she had been abused as a child which she said later led to an eating disorder and a breakdown.

“I had anorexia, then depression, a breakdown,” she said.

“I knew why I hated myself. I knew why I loathed myself. I knew why I wanted to make myself disappear.”

O’Riordan married Don Burton, the former tour manager of Duran Duran, in 1994 and they had three children.

Her family, she said, were her “salvation”.

But there was more hear tbreak ahead, with the singer losing her beloved father in 2011 and her marriage coming to an end in 2014. Two years later O’Riordan was ordered to pay €6,000 to charity for headbutting, kicking, hitting and spitting on police officers following an alleged air rage incident. The singer had previously admitted three assaults and obstructing a Garda after being taken off an Aer Lingus flight from New York’s JFK to Ireland in November 2014.

Medical reports produced for the trial at Ennis District Court revealed she had been suffering from mania, mental illness and severely impaired judgement at the time of the incident, and that she remembered nothing of it. She later revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

She told Metro: “There are two ends of the spectrum - you can get extremely depressed and dark and lose interest in the things you love to do, then you can get super manic.”

In another revealing inter view O’Riordan told the Irish News that depression “whatever the cause, is one of the worst things to go through”, but that her family had given her happiness.

“I’ve also had a lot of joy in my life, especially with my children,” she said.

“You get ups as well as downs. Sure isn’t that what life’s all about?”

A number of tests have been carried out to establish the cause of the musician’s death. An inquest hearing was adjourned until April 3.

most important and vital gig of all - the gig of life itself.”

During communion, O’Riordan’s haunting version of the hymn Panis Angelicus was played in the church.

Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Kieran O’Reilly said the star had been a source of inspiration to many young musicians.

“Her gifts have resonated in the lives of many and will continue to do so as her music and her songs will continue to be played and listened to,” he said.

“Her singing voice was unique, farreaching and distinctly Irish.”

LINGER WAS MY LAMENT FOR LEAVING

Punk choirgirl vocalised my emigrant experience Helen O’Rahilly in London

FOR many Irish now in their 30s and 40s, The Cranberries’ Linger was the track of their teenage years. Released in 1993, it said everything about unrequited love, lust and longing.

I, on the other hand, was heading towards my 30s when I first heard it on a London radio station.

That Irish accent was so distinctive, the lush arrangement so engaging, I had to stop my car somewhere near King’s Cross on my commute home and I think I said, out loud, “Who on earth is that?”

The ever so gentle see-saw start with a gentle hum underneath, the almost soporific opening bars giving way to a symphonic sweep - starting nearly 40 seconds later, an almost totally different song - then that plaintive voice: “If you... If you could return…”

For me, Linger wasn’t about love, unrequited or not: it was about Ireland.

“If you could return, don’t let it burn, don’t let it fade…”

I was five years gone from Dublin but emigrants, as I discovered, hung on to everything from Ireland with a tighter grip: I’d never seen Riverdance, had cruelly slagged it off to my metropolitan media mates but, secretly, was delighted an Irish brand had made it on the global scale.

Now, this slip of a Limerick girl with the voice of a punk choirgirl, was charting new territory with this track, shouldering U2’s preachy braggadocio out of the way, making room, along with Sinéad O’Connor, for Irish women with their searing lines: “I’m in so deep. You know I’m

such a fool for you. You’ve got me wrapped around your finger…”

Linger was a song we emigrants could belt out while loving and hating Ireland simultaneously.

Whether it was a car seat chorus of one, or mouthing the words silently to the hum in your earplugs insulating you from the daily Tube crush, or, best of all, the shoulders-around-each-other at last orders in our favourite pubs in Camden, Stockwell, Cricklewood or Harlesden:

“Is that the way we stand? Were you lying all the time? Was it just a game to you?”

Linger was a cri de coeur: Ireland, why did we have to go? Why do we still love you so? In 1993, five years in London behind me, I still hadn’t quit you, Ireland. My father died that year.

The pull to come home, permanently, was strong. Linger was my touchstone for so much pain, so much loss, so far from home. Never have 300 miles felt like 10 times that distance.

When I heard that Dolores O’Riordan had died in London my reaction, after shock and sadness, was that she was not at home. Not in Limerick. Not in Ireland. Not home.

I played Linger louder than ever before - along with so many of us - and I hope that unmistakable sound carried all the way across the Irish Sea, carrying her spirit home.

Helen O’Rahilly is a TV executive, a former director of RTÉ Television, BBC creative director and BBC One executive.

Born in Dublin, she’s lived in London for 30 years.

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

DRINKERS TACKLE ‘GUNMAN’ AND CALL TIME ON ARMED RAID AT PUB

A regular hiding, locals confront armed robber Ed Carty AN ARMED and masked raider was tackled to the ground by three customers after trying to hold up a pub.

The would-be robber was jumped by regulars in the Speaker Connolly in the Firhouse area of Dublin after threatening two members of staff and about a dozen drinkers around closing time on New Year’s Night.

One of the pub managers, Jason Doyle, said: “We couldn’t have been more thankful for them.

“Obviously we didn’t know at the time that the gun was imitation. We thought we were in serious trouble. But they showed no fear. And we’ve told them already that they’ll be looked after.

“It just seemed to be the wrong night for your man.”

The brave customers, all believed to be in their 30s, have been regulars in the pub on and off for the last few months. The attempted hold-up began as one of the bar staff was pulling down the shutters of the pub at closing time, around midnight. He was approached by a lone raider wearing a balaclava and carrying what looked like an Uzi-type sub-machine gun.

About a dozen people were still in the bar when the incident occurred.

The raider marched the barman into the pub with the gun at his neck and ordered drinkers out of the front bar and into the lounge.

He then went behind the counter and pointed the gun at Mr Doyle as he demanded the takings.

“I was down on the floor. I shouted ‘Calm down, we’ll get whatever you need, just calm down’,” he said.

“The gunman went into the bar and pointed the gun at the lads and told everyone to get into the lounge. He told me to get up and get the money.

“By the time I was in the office, he was in the kitchen and the next thing I heard this huge commotion.

“Three of the lads had jumped over the counter, burst into the kitchen, caught him off guard and wrestled him to the ground and gave him a bit of a hiding and held him down.”

An off-duty detective was also in the pub and called Gardai while another member of staff had pressed a panic button. The raider was disarmed on the kitchen floor and restrained until Gardai arrived on the scene a few minutes later to arrest him.

Assistant manager Jason Doyle at the Speaker Connolly pub in the Firhouse area of Dublin where an armed and masked raider was tackled by three customers after trying to hold up the pub. Picture: : Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Ancient Mayo stone MY LEADERSHIP WILL BE KEY CHAPTER IN ENDING PARTITION, SAYS NEW SF LEADER chamber a ritual site A BOULDER chamber discovered by a hillwalker on a mountainside in Mayo was a ritual site for the dead, experts have revealed.

Scientific analysis of adult bones found in the chamber dates them to 3,600 BC, while a bone of a child skeleton dated to 2,400 BC. The discovery was made in August 2016 by local hillwalker Michael Chambers while hiking in the Nephin Beg range.

It is believed the chamber was not a burial site but used as a ritual place for bodies to decompose before bones were removed.

Mr Chambers found ancient human bones scattered over the rock floor.

Large pieces of quartz rock had been placed in and around them.

Homeless men defy downward trend THE number of men becoming homeless increased over Christmas, a homeless charity has warned.

Official figures revealed a drop in the total number of people in emergency accommodation at the end of last year. But the report also showed the number of homeless men increased by 64 to 3,191 in the last week of December.

Pence greets US troops at Shannon THE greeting of American soldiers

by US Vice President Mike Pence at Shannon Airport raises questions over Irish neutrality, a Sinn Féin TD has said.

Aengus O Snodaigh TD said the meeting “highlights the erosion of Irish neutrality”.

Mr Pence shook hands and posed for photographs with the troops in the airport terminal during a re-fuelling stop by Air Force Two. The soldiers were on their way to Kuwait.

Mr Pence was travelling to Egypt, Jordan and Israel.

Mr O Snodaigh said the incident “shows how much Irish neutrality has been undermined by successive Irish governments”.

McDonald to replace Adams Deborah McAleese

SINN Féin’s president-elect Mary Lou McDonald has said that the party will aim to convince unionists that a United Ireland is the best way forward for everyone.

Ms McDonald was confirmed as the only candidate nominated to replace Gerry Adams as Sinn Féin leader.

Ms McDonald said she believes her leadership will mark a defining chapter in the achievement of a United Ireland.

“I believe Irish unity is the best solution for all of our people, including our unionist brothers and sisters. I know we have a job to do to convince them of that, but I know we are more than fit for that task,” she said.

Ms McDonald added: “Some of you have said to me ‘you have very big shoes to fill’.

“Well, the truth is that no one will ever fill Gerry Adams’s shoes. The truth is, my friends, I won’t fill Gerry’s shoes. But the news is that I brought my own. So I will fill my shoes.

“I will walk in my shoes and we to-

gether over the coming years will walk a journey that is full of opportunities, full of challenges, but I believe which marks a defining chapter in our achievement of a United Ireland and the ending of partition.

“As Gerry has said, that’s not a pipe dream, that is the road we are on.”

Ms McDonald said that she grew up watching Gerry Adams on the television and had never expected that one day she would replace him as leader.

“Little was I to know at that time that I would come to know and work so closely with Gerr y and the entire leadership and to have him as such a close friend. But I cer tainly never would have guessed that come February 10, 2018 that I would be the boss of him,” she said.

Ms McDonald added that Sinn Féin is “probably the most exemplary party when it comes to girl power at this stage in Irish politics”.

Earlier Mr Adams told members that the party must devise strategies and win support for a referendum on Irish unity.

Mary Lou McDonald will become Sinn Féin president next week.

“And we need to campaign for this.

We also need to win that referendum...

Don’t believe the naysayers and begrudgers... who claim that a United Ireland is a pipe dream.

“It isn’t. It’s ver y real. It’s ver y achievable. We can do it,” he added.

Mr Adams announced in November that he was stepping down as Sinn Féin president after 34 years in the role.

Born in 1969, Ms McDonald has

been a TD for Dublin Central since 2011.

Before getting elected to the Dáil she was Sinn Féin’s first MEP in the Republic of Ireland in 2004.

Many party members have been tweeting their suppor t for Ms McDonald.

Fiachra McGuinness, son of the late Martin McGuinness, tweeted a video message on Friday announcing that he was “proud and honoured” to endorse Ms McDonald.

He said his father was a “huge admirer of her ideas, dedication and commitment”, and that she was the “ideal candidate to lead Sinn Fein into the future”.

Meanwhile, Michelle O’Neill will become the new deputy leader after it was confirmed she was the only candidate nominated for the post.

Mrs O’Neill and Mrs McDonald will be formally confirmed in their new leadership roles at a special Sinn Fein conference in Dublin on February 10.

The Mid Ulster Assembly member said she was “honoured”.

TAOISEACH CONCEDES IRELAND’S HOSPITAL TROLLEY CRISIS IS UNACCEPTABLE

Hospital trolley crisis is not defensible, says Varadkar Deborah McAleese

THE Taoiseach has admitted that the ongoing hospital trolley crisis is “not defensible”.

Leo Varadkar said that on one morning last month, more than 400 sick patients were waiting for a hospital bed and he insisted that the Government was doing all it could to alleviate the problem.

He said that plans to increase bed capacity were ongoing.

“It is not defensible. If this was simply a matter of political will and not finance we would have resolved this a long time ago,” Mr Varadkar said

during leaders’ questions in the Dáil.

The Fine Gael leader added that an additional 2,500 new inpatient beds are needed by 2031.

He warned however that the problem will not be resolved by increased resources alone.

As concern over the hospital overcrowding crisis continues, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) warned that keeping children for long periods in emergency departments is “simply not acceptable”.

According to figures released by the INMO, for the first two weeks of January 73 children were left to wait on trolleys in the three paediatric

hospitals - Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin, National Children’s Hospital Tallaght and Children’s University Hospital Temple Street.

This is the first time the INMO has counted and published the number of children left waiting for a hospital bed.

INMO general secretar y Phil Ni Sheaghdha said exposing children to extended periods in an emergency department was “unsatisfactor y on many levels.”

“All systems, processes and procedures must aim to avoid unnecessary waiting times in EDs as a matter of urgency,” she added.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin

accused the Government of a “lack of urgency” and “inertia”.

“Three years ago you as minister for health said you were sick to death of the problem and would resolve it once and for all. That plan never materialised. The situation has become much worse,” added Mr Martin.

The Taoiseach hit back, saying: “You were a member of the government in 2006 that declared this a national emergency. A decision was taken in 2007 to start reducing our hospital stock. From 2007 onwards the number of acute hospital beds was reduced every year. I took the decision to reverse that.”

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland HOLDING A SECOND BREXIT REFERENDUM WOULD NOT BE ANTI-DEMOCRATIC - LEO VARADKAR

Farage, Taoiseach clash over Brexit Ed Carty

Blair and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to thwart Brexit.

“I’m certainly not party to any plot against the United Kingdom. I’m a friend of the United Kingdom and certainly want to be a friend of the United Kingdom,” he said.

Mr Farage told the Taoiseach: “You don’t want Britain to leave because you know if you do others will leave too.

“And I would just say this to you. I don’t want a second referendum on Brexit. Absolutely not but I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure we get the worst possible deal.

“I say that because I have seen it all before. The difference is if you force the Brits to do it again it will be a different outcome.”

Mr Farage branded the Taoiseach a European unionist.

Earlier, while addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg Mr Varadkar warned that guarantees secured in the Brexit talks to protect the Irish border cannot be reneged on.

“As the negotiations move forward, we will continue to rely on your support and solidarity as we work to ensure that what has been promised in theory is delivered in practice,” he said. “There can be no backsliding.”.

Phase one of the Brexit negotiations secured agreement late last year that a hard border on the island of Ireland will be avoided and the Common Travel Area between Britain and Ireland will be maintained.

The Taoiseach told MEPs that he wanted the UK to keep its ties to Europe as close and as deep as possible while protecting the EU’s internal market and the Customs Union.

And he also called for deeper unity across the bloc.

“We’re going to need to stick together if we are to protect what we have and export our values and world view,” he said.

Earlier Jean-Claude Juncker has said he would be happy to help Britain rejoin the European Union if it wants to after Brexit.

TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has said it would not be undemocratic to hold a second Brexit referendum.

After addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Varadkar was challenged by former Ukip leader Nigel Farage who accused him of trying to overturn the UK’s split from Europe.

The Taoiseach declined to say whether the referendum should be re-run and denied being part of a secret plot to reverse the vote.

“I don’t think it would be constructive or helpful for the leader of another countr y to be advising that other country whether they should or should not have a second vote,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said referendums had been re-run in Ireland - including the contentious second vote on the Lisbon Treaty which helped pave the way for a bigger EU - but he said Ireland made those decisions alone.

And he added: “I don’t think it’s anti-

democratic for people to change their minds or have a second vote but any decision on the second referendum must only be one for the UK parliament and the UK people.

“We shouldn’t tell them to do that or

ECONOMY

MICHAEL D HIGGINS: EUROPE MUST NOT FACE THE FUTURE DIVIDED

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

put any pressure or expectation on them in any way. I think that would be counter-productive.”

The Taoiseach also denied being part of a conspiracy with the likes of former British prime minister Tony

Momentum Divisive politics Europe’s greatest challenge, Higgins will prevent Brexit crisis Ed Carty

David Young

POSITIVE momentum in the Irish economy is set to outweigh any negative impacts of the looming Brexit through 2018, a leading business body has predicted.

Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, said the country’s economy had moved on from its post-financial crash “recovery phase” and was now on a path of “strong and sustainable” growth. Ibec’s quar terly economic outlook has forecast 4.2 per cent economic growth in 2018, having estimated the growth rate in 2017 at six per cent. It said the expansion was being underpinned by business investment and strong consumer spending.

The group said the likely impact of Brexit impact on growth this year would be “outweighed by positive domestic and global momentum”.

Gerard Brady, Ibec’s head of tax and fiscal policy, said the economy could look forward with confidence.

“Since the crisis we have seen a recovery in the Irish economy which has been exceptional,” he said.

“This was driven by the strength of the Irish business model with record FDI (foreign direct investment) and an increasingly global footprint from our indigenous industries.

“Because of this growth in our business substance, the economic recovery phase is now over, with 2017 seeing Ireland surpass many of the most important pre-crisis milestones.

“The State’s accounts are effectively balanced, employment has returned to 2006 levels, and we are seeing the quickest real wage growth in Europe at 1.8 per cent. Irish households are clearly benefiting with real disposable incomes growing at over four times the eurozone average and per-capita income in working households now likely to have passed out its pre-crisis peak. This phase is now more sustainable than the ‘boom’ period.”

Mr Brady said a “major question” facing the economy in the future would be the ability of the economy to meet the needs of a growing population.

PRESIDENT of Ireland Michael D Higgins has warned about politicians trying to divide people based on race, religion and nationality.

Mr Higgins told a conference on Brexit and the future of Europe that all the issues that will test the EU in the future are common to everyone - climate change, migration and jobs.

“In the absence of an adequate and inclusive discourse and emboldened by those who seek to mimic the language of the far-right for short-term electoral advantage, these political forces exploiting and drawing on the despair, alienation and anomie of citizens - seek to divide us against one another on the grounds of ethnicity, religion and nationality,” the President said.

“While not succeeding in recent electoral contests to achieve majorities in the short term, their gains represent a formidable challenge to any future social cohesion.”

In a wide-ranging address on the future of Europe, President Higgins called for a focus on hope rather than fear.

“Let us therefore in the European Union lift our gaze to encompass the needs of all humanity, all of their history, their possible futures, and let us do such with recognition of all of our cultural diversity,” he said.

“After all the challenges which will test the European Union in this century - climate change, global migration, the future of work - are common to us all on our fragile and shared planet.

“Our best aspirations, our sustainable future, can only be met by restoring social cohesion and promoting social justice within our institutions here at home, within the institutions of the European Union, and within our global institutions. Our horizons must be limitless, for we, all of us, owe to each other an imprescriptible moral duty.

“We need a new mind for our times, a mind informed by hope rather than fear, not only for Europe but for humanity itself on our shared and vulnerable planet.”

Mr Higgins told the conference to mark the opening of Dublin City University’s Brexit Institute that the last 30 plus years had seen a trajectory towards increasing inequalities of income, wealth, power and opportunities across societies and countries.

President Michael D Higgins with former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at the Dublin conference on Brexit and the future of Europe at DCU. Picture: Brian Lawless Mr Higgins said it continues to be presented as some natural order of things. He also praised French president Emmanuel Macron and said it was refreshing to see a leading politician outline a programme for Europe.

“I would like to agree with President Macron - in the strongest terms - that we are at a moment when we must recognise that the Union cannot, as in the past, be reconstructed from above, but can only, if it is to survive in this new century, be renewed and rebuilt from below,” he said.

But Mr Higgins warned that a FrancoGerman agreement on the future of the EU will not be enough to answer the deep and sincerely held concerns over equality.

The conference was also addressed

by Hilary Benn, chairman of the UK House of Commons Committee on Exit-

ing the EU, and Herman Van Rompuy, President emeritus of the European Council.

Mr Benn called on the European Union to ask itself how it lost a valued member.

“The EU faces a choice now about its future,” he said.

Mr Benn said he favoured a new multi-speed union.

He said: “But it will be for European citizens, the ‘European Street’ to decide, and in making that choice I hope the EU will, at some point, pause and quietly ask itself how it came to lose one of its most important member states.”

On whether Britain could rejoin the EU, Mr Benn said: “In life, never say never. If we end up in the position with a decent deal but no voice then who knows, at some time in the years

ahead people may say wouldn’t it be better if we had a bit of a voice.”

And on the future of the Irish border, the committee chairman said: “Staying in the customs union is the only answer to the question.

“We above all here, and in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, understand better than anybody else just how important it is to keep the border as it is now.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said it was time for the UK to detail its future with Europe.

“It is clear that the EU shares our desire to establish as close a partnership as possible with the UK,” he said.

“But we need to know, unambiguously now, what kind of partnership the UK is seeking. It is time for the UK to provide clarity on what it wants, through confronting the hard choices it faces.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

LIFTING OF GOOD FRIDAY BOOZE BAN ‘PUTS IRELAND ON PAR WITH VATICAN’

Good Friday just got better for Irish pubs A PUBLICAN has heralded the lifting of the Good Friday booze ban as putting Ireland finally on a par with the Vatican.

Time is to be called on the 90-year prohibition this Easter, after politicians voted in favour of reform.

Ronan Lynch, owner of The Swan pub on Dublin’s Aungier Street, said the long-awaited shift in licensing laws would be a boon for the hospitality sector and the overall economy.

“They don’t close the pubs in the Vatican on Good Friday and yet we do,” Mr Lynch said. “It’s my understanding that we’re the only country in the world that closes on Good Friday.

“It’s bananas. But that will be consigned to the history books now.”

Since 1927, Good Friday has been one of only two days of the year when publicans have been obliged to keep their shutters down, the other being Christmas Day. A St Patrick’s Day ban was abandoned decades ago.

The new law will give all licensed premises the right to open.

Mr Lynch said the decision would have a knock-on effect on the rest of the economy.

“It is not just about pubs,” he said.

“It is about people eating out, getting taxis, going to restaurants.

“I’ve heard cases of men arriving in Dublin airport on Good Friday and taking the bus to Belfast when they found out the pubs would be closed.”

But as the seventh generation owner of family-run Dublin pub The Gravediggers, Anthony Kavanagh said he was somewhat torn by the ban being lifted because it meant they would no longer have a day off.

“From a family point of view, it’s a little bit inconvenient for us but from an economic, customer and employment point of view it makes sense,” Mr Kavanagh said.

Fianna Fail TD Jim O’Callaghan said it was sensible to remove the prohibition.

A loophole in the current law allowed alcohol to be sold under certain circumstances on Good Friday.

“It used to be the case that people would go to the dog show where you could buy alcohol and get a drink on Good Friday,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

“There were occasions where people would go on the train, if you had a ticket for the train, you could buy alcohol on the train.

DUNDALK MURDER

MARY MCALEESE DENIED ACCESS TO WOMEN’S CONFERENCE AT VATICAN

Michelle Devane

Japanese man, 24, dies after random attack Ed Carty

The family of a Japanese man killed as he walked to work in an apparently random attack last month have said they hope his death will not create a bad impression of Ireland.

Yosuke Sasaki, 24, originally from Ebina, west of Tokyo, had been living in the country for a year after coming to study English and deciding to stay.

He worked in the National Pen call centre in Dundalk, Co Louth.

His family issued a statement through the Japanese embassy in Dublin expressing “our sincere gratitude for the kindness the people of Ireland have shown,” “When he was alive, our son spoke about the warmth of the people of this town and his love of Dundalk.

“He came to Ireland initially as a language student and only intended a short stay. However, he was touched by the kindness of the Irish people and he decided to work here.

“As a family, we are truly saddened by what has happened, but we hope that this incident will not give Japanese people a bad impression of Ireland.”

The Sasaki family paid tribute to ambulance crews, Gardai, the National Pen Limited where their son worked, Oliver Morgan who set up the GoFundMe page to help with repatriation costs, embassy staff and Louth County Council who organised a candlelight vigil.

“Finally, we hope that a tragic event like this one will never happen in this country again,” they said.

Mr Sasaki died after being targeted in what is believed to have been a random attack on Avenue Road in Dundalk shortly before 9am as he made his way to the office.

An Egyptian man, aged 18, has been charged with murder.

The Japanese embassy said it wished to extend sincere gratitude to members of the Irish public who have expressed their condolences.

Ronan Lynch, owner of The Swan Bar in Dublin, is pleased that he will now be able to trade on Good Friday.

Vatican snub for McAleese Ed Carty

A LEADING Irish Catholic cleric has said his office was not consulted over a decision to deny former president of Ireland Mary McAleese access to a conference in the Vatican.

The Voices of Faith group said the former head of state was one of two names not approved after a list of attendees was sent to a senior cleric in the Holy See. Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said he first heard that Mrs McAleese had been excluded when she told him in person.

“Neither Archbishop Martin nor his offices were consulted by the Vatican in relation to this matter,” a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese said.

“Archbishop Martin has consistently noted that World Meeting of Families, due to take place in Dublin later this year, will be an inclusive event, open to all families and family members.”

Voices of Faith’s Why Women Matter conference, in its fifth year, is the only event linked to International Women’s Day (IWD) ever held at the Vatican.

A spokeswoman for the group said they still had no explanation about why Mrs McAleese was not cleared.

Chantal Goetz, executive director of Voices of Faith, said: “It was disappointing to realise, on IWD of all days, these women who have accomplished so much in their communities could be turned away from respectfully sharing their stories and experiences as Catholics. This event allows us to not only celebrate the wonderful work Catholic women are doing across the globe, but also create discussion and dialogue on the current power and leadership structures of our Church.”

It is understood Mrs McAleese has written to the Pope on the issue.

It is not unusual for a senior Vatican official to vet a list of attendees and speakers for conferences.

Voices of Faith was set up to empower and advocate for Catholic women to be involved in decisionmaking in the church.

It sent a list of names of speakers and attendees for its March 8 conference and a list was sent back with two names not included - Mrs McAleese

Mary McAleese was due to be keynote speaker at the event.

and Ssenfuka Juanita Warry, who runs a non-profit organisation in Uganda, where to be identified as gay or lesbian can be life-threatening.

Voices of Faith have decided to move the conference from the Casina Pio in the Holy See to the Jesuit Curia in Rome, outside the Vatican.

Mrs McAleese was originally asked to take part in a panel discussion but

was upgraded to keynote speaker.

A spokeswoman for Voices of Faith said it was in correspondence with Cardinal Kevin Farrell over Vatican approvals for attendees but that it did not receive an explanation for the two women not being on the returned list.

The Vatican press of fice, the Catholic Communications office in Ireland and Cardinal Farrell, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, did not respond to request for comment.

In 2014, The Catholic Weekly newspaper in Sydney refused to take advertisements for a lecture she was delivering about an Australian Catholic theologian who became the first woman to serve in an executive role in the Roman Curia. The advertisements were refused because, the newspaper claimed, Ms McAleese’s views did not accord with the Church.

Professor McAleese previously criticised the for mer Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Cardinal George Pell for his “boy’s club” appointment of a Sydney colleague to a key position in the Vatican.

WELLBEING OF THE NATION REPORT FINDS PEOPLE ARE HEALTHIER FOR LONGER

Fatter, drunker and lazier, but we’re feeling great

Ed Carty

THE lives of Irish people are healthier for longer, a new study on the state of the nation has found.

While people are getting fatter, drinking more and doing less sport, the vast majority generally consider themselves to be in good or very good condition.

The Wellbeing of the Nation report by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) found that people on average expect to live healthily or without a disability for more than 67 years.

The optimistic outlook compares with almost two-thirds of people being

classed as overweight or obese, up to 62 per cent in 2017 from 60 per cent in 2015. However, the CSO noted that the percentage of people who perceive their health as being good or very good was down from a high of 88 per cent in 2011 to a low of 79 per cent in 2012 before steady increases in more recent years. It said that people’s general perception of good health was important as it gives an insight into issues that are hard to measure clinically, such as fatigue.

The CSO repor t also found the amount of people aged 15 and over who still take part in sport fell by about two per cent to 45 per cent in 2015.

Some 39 per cent of people aged 15 or older are said to binge-drink - taking three or more pints in one sitting or six or more measures of spirits.

The report pulls on some previouslyreleased data from the census and also some new information to highlight life in Ireland in eight areas including the economy, housing and education.

The average work commute has gone up from 26.6 minutes in 2011 to 28.2 minutes in 2016, which the CSO said was “a fall for societal well-being”.

It also noted that 8.4 per cent of people regularly worked more than 48 hours a week in 2016.

Average household debt fell to

€87,900 in 2015 from €93,900 in the previous year while average annual earnings in 2016 were €36,919 per person and unemployment was down to 8.6 per cent.

While par ticipation in spor t has dipped, the report found more money being spent on spor t and leisure €17.85 in 2015-2016 compared with €14.40 six years earlier.

More than a quarter of over-15s volunteered in 2013, the CSO said.

Almost half of adults believe crime is a very serious problem while five per cent self-reported being victims of crime including violent and non-violent theft, physical assault and fraud.

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A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

ireland MOTHERS AND GRANDMOTHERS PROTEST OVER PENSION CUTS

‘Anomaly’ cuts pensions for many Michelle Devane

A GRANDMOTHER forced to quit her civil service job in the 1970s because she got mar ried has accused the Government of penalising a generation of women with pension cuts.

Joan McLoughlin from Caragh, Naas, Co Kildare has been denied €21,000 so far because of changes made to work-related entitlements in 2012.

“I am one of the classic cases,” said the grandmother of three. “I was forced to leave because of the marriage bar.

“When I looked for my pension in 2012 I was stunned to see I was going to be cut by €80, because of the fact that I had spent so many years caring for kids, looking after my parents and helping on the farm at home.”

Mrs McLoughlin was among scores of aggrieved women and campaigners who protested outside Leinster House recently to highlight inequalities in pension reforms.

In 2012, the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government made changes to the system, which has led to reduced rates for women who sacrificed their careers, gave up permanent jobs or were forced to quit work in order to look after their children. Up to 40,000 people are affected, many of them women.

The cuts are caused by pensions being calculated based on the number of PRSI payments made over a working lifetime and the sums are averaged out.

Mrs McLoughlin said that the changes penalised any woman who took time out of work before the mid1990s to raise a family.

“For women and men, it’s an inequality issue, it’s unjust and unfair,” Mrs McLoughlin said. “We are all meant to be equal.”

Dubliners Anna Byr ne and her husband Brian were also among those protesting outside the Dáil. Both have been af fected by the changes and calling for the cuts to be reversed.

The grandmother of four said her pension has been cut by five euro a week. “It doesn’t sound like a lot but it’s my money,” she said. “We were the building block for this country - I don’t know how they expect people to live on 150 euro per week.

“We’re doing this for the future generations, my daughter, my sons.”

While the protest was taking place, Sinn Féin’s new leader Mar y Lou MacDonald said it was well known how

the changes would impact people, particularly women.

She said: “This discrimination did not happen by accident. It was not an oversight or mistake.”

Regina Doherty, Minister for Social Protection, said she was hopeful the issue could be resolved.

“The only reassurance that I can give those people is that I’m going to fight very, very hard to make sure that we address the anomaly as I have said on numerous occasion,” she said.

Justin Moran, Age Action spokesman, said people were being punished for taking time out of the workforce to rear a family.

“It’s something we really need to address for this generation of pensioners, but also for everybody who is retiring [in the future],” he said.

Joan McLoughlin was one of many women forced to quit her job because of the ‘marriage bar’.

PETER SUTHERLAND BRANAGH DELIGHTED TO RECEIVE FREEDOM OF BELFAST

Statesman Sutherland, dead at 71 David Young

TRIBUTES have been paid to former Irish attorney general, leading businessman and international statesman Peter Sutherland (pictured), who has died at the age of 71.

Mr Sutherland, a former European Commissioner and United Nations’ special representative on international migration, died in hospital in Dublin in early January after a long illness.

President Michael D. Higgins said he had left an “important legacy”.

“Tirelessly campaigning for global solutions to human trafficking and for ced migration, he became a passionate and influential voice for the rights of the 65 million people who have been forced to flee their homes and homelands,” he said.

“A passionate European, throughout his career Peter Sutherland remained deeply committed to peaceful co-operation and integration in Europe, promoting greater awareness of the importance and possibilities of Irish engagement in European decision making.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described him as “a statesman in every sense of the word; a committed European and a proud internationalist.”

“He was a champion for individual and economic freedoms.”

Born in 1946, Mr Sutherland was educated at Gonzaga College, Ranelagh in Dublin and University College Dublin. A barrister by profession, he was appointed Ireland’s attorney general in 1981 at the age of just 35.

Mr Sutherland went on to serve as Ir eland’s r epr esentative in the European Commission. In 1993, he became the first director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In a glittering business career, he also fulfilled roles as non-executive chairman of both Goldman Sachs and BP. In 2013, UCD’s Law School was renamed the Sutherland School of Law in honour of one of its most famous students. He is survived by his wife of 46 years Maruja, and three children.

Kenneth Branagh, pictured at Belfast City Hall, where he was awarded the freedom of the city which he called home for the first nine years of his life.

Belfast-boy Branagh touched by hometown honour Michael McHugh KENNETH Branagh has said he is humbled to receive the freedom of his native Belfast.

The film director and actor received the honour after leaving the city aged nine. He said his mother and father would have been proud.

He played a central role in the 1980s Billy plays which portrayed a Protestant working-class family in Belfast and helped propel him to prominence with a British audience.

Branagh said he had been shaped by Belfast and added: “It is very humbling and frankly amazing to follow in the footsteps of so many extraordinary people including very fine artists and particularly, and especially last year, the nurses of Belfast, which I think was

an amazing, brilliant, perfect choice from this city to honour people who do such an important thing and have done for so long.

“So, that is a humbling thing to be mentioned in the same breath.”

Poet Michael Longley and singer/ songwriter Van Morrison are among past recipients. He received the freedom at a special event in Belfast’s Ulster Hall and a pop-up film festival was organised to showcase his bestknown works around the city.

He has directed or starred in film adaptations of Shakespeare plays and has acted in Hollywood blockbusters like Dunkirk. He directed last year’s box office hit Murder on the Orient Express.

Branagh said there was pride in the arts in Belfast and paid tribute to a lineage including the late Belfast actor

Jimmy Ellis and Stephen Rea. He noted wryly that the Billy plays which made his name were supposed to be a trilogy but ended up stretching to four.

Fraught interactions between Norman Martin, played by Ellis, and his son Billy, played by Branagh, were the keystone of the televised portrayal of a Belfast Protestant working-class family in the 1980s.

He said he was struck by how far the work travelled, how immaterial it was that it was set in Belfast because it was about working-class life and difficult family situations and social problems.

He added: “Northern Ireland mirrored a million other places. I was spoilt by what a fine piece of work that was.”

He said he had not been “grabbed” by a Belfast character yet in terms of

doing another film.

However, he was impressed by the long-term view of film production taken in Northern Ireland, the infrastructure development and the open flow of talent. Fantasy drama Game of Thrones (GoT) was filmed in Northern Ireland and has been a huge success for the local industry - a sea of talent, as Branagh put it.

“It is smart and it has been longterm, and it is a real strong example to the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is watching, as you know.

Literally they are watching the most popular show on television in the world from here (GoT), so they know all about it. The spread of imagination about how to build that business, I think, across these last 10 years in many areas has been very impressive.”

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AUST R ALIA’S IR ISH NE WSPAP E R

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

Garda officer accepts apology from attacker A GARDA who was punched to the ground in a violent incident has accepted an apology from the attacker, who was yesterday jailed for nine months.

The Irish Examiner reports that Aran Shanahan from Ballincollig, pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing harm, and a variety of public order charges.

Judge Olann Kelleher said: “He viciously assaulted Garda Jonathan O’Sullivan. I have read the victim impact statement. It affected this young guard and his family, causing them distress. I note that the guard accepts Mr Shanahan’s apology. I will take that into consideration.

Insp Ronan Kennelly said that, on July 6, 2017, Gardaí were alerted to a large group of people drinking on a green at Innishmore, Ballincollig.

“Mr Shanahan was asleep on the green area and when he was awoken it was apparent he was in a very inebriated state and then became very volatile,” he said.

He shouted abuse at Gardaí, violently resisted arrest, and punched Gda O’Sullivan, knocking him down.

In a separate incident on June 4, Shanahan was with a group of youths refused entry to a nightclub. While Gardaí were arresting two of the group, Shanahan interfered, being abusive and aggressive. He pleaded guilty to being threatening and abusive, being drunk and a danger, and obstructing Garda Mary Horgan.

CORK

Man punched his female neighbour in the stomach A MAN who punched a female neighbour in the stomach outside her front door has been convicted of assault and ordered to undergo assessment for anger management.

The Irish Examiner reports that Costica Coker, aged 47 of Cork, denied the charge of assaulting his neighbour, Rachel Sheehan.

Insp Vincent O’Sullivan said CCTV of the incident clearly showed the accused punching her in the stomach and going beyond anything that could be regarded as self-defence.

“You were after losing the head at this stage?” the inspector suggested.

Coker said: “She hit me with a closed fist. I just pushed her so she don’t hit me again. I didn’t hit her, I just pushed her away, not in the stomach, in the hips.”

Ms Sheehan told the court she was outside her house on the afternoon of November 25, 2016, when Coker came at her with his fists up. She said she put her open hand up to his face. She said that she got a Garda caution for assault and accepted her part in that aspect of the incident.

However, she said he then punched her in the stomach.

Garda Graham Desmond took

a cautioned memo from Coker in which he blamed another person for provoking him and giving him two-fingered gestures.

The judge put sentencing back for two months to allow time for a probation report to address issues including anger management.

KERRY

English ‘scum’ accusation AN inquiry is ongoing into an allegation that a district judge in Co. Kerry called a defendant “English scum” at a remand hearing.

The Kerryman investigated the allegation which arose from an appearance by English national Paul Harrison before Killarney District Court on a possession of drugs charge.

Mr Harrison, who lives in Killarney, wrote to the Chief Justice to complain about being addressed as “English scum” by the judge. He also requested the production of an audio record of the day’s proceedings.

Judge O’Connor strongly denies the allegation.

The complaint is currently in the hands of the President of the District Court, Judge Rosemary Horgan.

The complaint is dated July 4, 2016. The delay has been caused due to attempts to retrieve some record of the proceedings.

After appearing before Judge O’Connor, Mr Harrison was subsequently prosecuted at Tralee Circuit Court, where he received a three-year suspended term.

The Court Service has confirmed Judge O’Connor is ill at the minute and is not available for court sittings for the foreseeable future.

LIMERICK

Holy row: Limerick priest tells singing granny to ‘get off the bus’ THE Limerick Leader reports that a local pensioner is considering taking legal action against a priest who ordered her off a bus carrying local people who were going Hunting the Wren — an ancient custom still particularly popular in the south west of Ireland.

The priest, Fr John Mockler, said that he told the woman to leave the bus because she was not one of his ‘chosen’ musicians for the event.

‘Local sources’ told the Leader: “There is bad blood between the woman – who is in her 60s – and the priest, Fr Mockler, who have not spoken for several years.”

It also transpired that Fr Mockler changed the collection point for those travelling on the bus, after he heard the woman intended to travel.

The confrontation took place on St Stephen’s Day — the traditional day for Hunting the Wren — and Fr Mockler eventually called the Gardaí in an effort to get the woman to get off the bus.

“This was despite the fact that

Photographer Peter Varga holding a print from his Humans of Dublin series of portraits which is showing at dlr Lexicon in Dún Laoghaire. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire the event was advertised in local newspapers as an ‘All Welcome’ day out,” the Limerick Leader pointed out.

According to the newspaper the woman “also brought refreshments with her on the day for the group”.

Despite the priest changing the pick-up point the woman still managed to catch up with the group, and was at the bus when it reached its destination. At this point the row escalated.

The dispute between the pair is said to go back to an incident two years ago after the woman had been involved in a car accident. It seems she presented herself at Fr Mockler’s Church and broke the Eucharistic host in two at Mass in order to place one half on her neck. This was a bid to heal a whiplash injury.

According to locals, Fr Mockler was said to have been very furious at the incident.

DOWN

A police spokesman confirmed that two separate calls were made to the PSNI about “a situation at the school” and that officers attended.

Mr Geraghty, a 44-year-old house husband, said what had happened is completely contrary to the philosophy of Steiner schools, where “the child is meant to come first”.

“I am furious that two armed police came into the school grounds on Monday and asked Ben to leave,” he said.

Parents pay school fees to Holywood Steiner based on their income, but problems arose when the Geraghtys were told theirs were increasing from £280 to £594 per month because Anita’s wages had gone up.

In a statement, the Steiner School said it was unable to comment on family financial matters.

It added: “We can tell you that the school has followed the correct procedures.”

LIMERICK

Dad fury as police called to remove son staging protest outside school

Limerick residents seek help as gangs of teens ‘run riot’

A Co. DOWN man has told of his anger after police were called to remove his 14-year-old son from outside a local school.

Two officers arrived at Holywood’s Rudolf Steiner School to deal with a young boy, Ben Geraghty, who was staging a peaceful protest over unpaid fees.

The teenager’s parents have now been told that none of their three children, all currently pupils, are welcome at the school because of money owed to the school.

They also received a letter threatening action from a debt collection agency for arrears.

The protester’s father, Jonny Geraghty said he will be taking further action over his “serious concerns”.

THE Limerick Leader reports that concerned residents in Canon Breen Park, Thomondgate have called on Gardaí to tackle the problem of 50 to 60 teenagers “running riot” in the estate every night.

One resident told the Limerick Leader that they have witnessed the youths drink alcohol, take drugs, vandalise property and fight in public between 8pm and 2.30am each night since December 20.

“The scale of the problem, I have never seen it this bad before. I have had a bit in the past, but the scale has just jumped tenfold,” a witness said. “They are coming after our properties and urinating on our properties. It is obscene.

“When they are finished with a glass bottle, they will smash it off

the houses, or the nearest thing; the ground, the house, a car. It’s ridiculous,” the witness added.

Superintendent Derek Smart said he has put on extra patrols, including the deployment of a public order dog which is utilised to “calm a situation down a lot quicker than just having two guards there”.

CAVAN

Sales of mouse traps soar as infestations hit homes IN the last two months, Hardware stores throughout County Cavan have noticed sales of all form of mouse traps and poisons soar, as sleep deprived families endeavour to rid their homes of infestations, reports the Anglo-Celt.

With all the heavy rain in recent months, it seems that both field mice and house mice are making determined incursions into homes all over the county.

Families in urban and rural areas are distraught as scores of mice have invaded their homes and all seem to have a prodigious talent to evade capture. The fact that they also appear to have developed bait shyness and poison resistance could well herald the arrival of the ‘super mouse’.

Families across Cavan have told The Anglo-Celt about the distress the mice are causing to them.

One farmer close to the Fermanagh border told The AngloCelt that he is now an expert mouse trapper, having caught six mice in traps in two days.

When asked if any of the mice could have come across the border to mate with their Southern cousins, the farmer who was rushing to reset his traps, could not rule out incursions by Northern mice.

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A passer-by checks out a new mural in Dublin city centre by art group Subset of Blindboy Boatclub, one half of Irish comedy hip hop group The Rubberbandits, along with a quote directed at the US President Donald Trump.

No thanks, Mr President TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar risked getting the leader of the free world offside when he was asked if President Trump might be helpful in solving the current political stalemate in Northern Ireland.

While several recent US presidents used their influence to help broker peace deals in the region, Leo Varadkar has ruled out the current incumbent playing a useful role.

Referring to Mr Trump’s business advice book, The Art Of The Deal, Mr Varadkar said: “I have read The Art Of The Deal and the basic concept behind that is ‘a good deal is when I win and you lose’. That’s not the kind of deal that is going to work in Northern Ireland. So while President Trump has many enormous talents and abilities, I don’t think bringing about peace in Northern Ireland would be his skill set.”

But perhaps remembering his diplomatic obligations, added: “But certainly we are always open to assistance from the US.” Northern Ireland has effectively been without a devolved government for a year.

Splitting hairs IN a court hearing that seemed to be a classic case of splitting hairs, a soldier in the Irish Defence Forces

failed in his bid to stop the Irish Army taking 30 cents a week out of his wages to pay for haircuts.

As the soldier is a technician he doesn’t live in the barracks, but at home and so does not avail of the services provided by the 30 cents — haircuts, laundry, sports facilities. A case was duly convened in front of the Workplace Relations Commission, with the Defence Forces represented by a barrister.

The commission eventually ruled that they had no jurisdiction in the case. So, in the meantime the soldier has to keep paying his 30 Euro cents (or around 50c Australian) for visits to the barber’s shop.

It makes you wonder.

Do the Irish Defence Forces have enough to do?

When we used to beat the Danes HISTORY is written by the winners.

That’s the popular view, but in the case of the Vikings, erroneous.

The northern invaders were pagan illiterates, so their story has been told by those they conquered, largely Christian literates — with consequent editorial bias.

But no matter what spin you put on it, there seems little disguising Viking violence. Anglo-Saxon chronicles and Irish annals all testify to a seeming insatiable Norse appetite for cruelty — abbots and monks being hung up by their testicles, commoners herded into barns and burnt or boiled alive, the routine torture of any whose paths were unfortunate enough to

Quiz

1. Which writer, from Ireland, was the first to record the word ‘cowboy’ in print, and may even have originally coined the word — Joyce, Swift, O’Casey, Beckett or CS Lewis?

2. Religiously, what links New York; Dublin; Melbourne; Karachi; Armagh (two) ?

3. In which language is the Book of Kells written?

4. Exile was the only play of which Irish writer?

5. Liam Neeson sufferes from acrophobia. “I get dizzy on a thick carpet,” he once quipped.

What is acrophobia?

6. What links: Tor Beg Rock, Co. Donegal; Fastnet Rock, Co. Cork; Tearaght Island, Co. Kerry; Cannon Rock, Co. Down?

7. Name the following O’Neill’s: (a) leader of Sinn Féin in the North; (b) former prime minister of Northern Ireland; (c) manager of Northern Ireland international soccer squad; (d) former IRA spokesman; (e) former speaker of the House of Representatives; (f) manager of Republic of Ireland international soccer squad.

8. Which Dublin-born painter of international repute shares his name with an English philosopher?

9. Which Taoiseach was known as the Longford Slasher?

10. Which river virtually divides the North of Ireland in two?

February, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

cross the Norsemen’s.

Little evidence of ‘hygge’ and ‘lagom’, the contemporary Scandinavian concepts of wellness, cosiness and warmth.

Although many historical documents focusing on Viking rule in Ireland were little short of propaganda, they do provide a sketch of life during the early Middle Ages. One recently analysed medieval account of the Vikings’ rampage through the country has allowed some light to be shed on a key event in Irish history — the Battle of Clontarf.

This text, Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib (The War of the Irish with the Foreigners), reports on Viking rule in Ireland. A study by the Applied Mathematics Department at Coventry University (stay with me now) – led by Athlone man Prof Ralph Kenna – examines the relationship between Irish and Vikings in the text by applying modern mathematical methods normally employed while investigating social networks.

His research has thus addressed a crucial question in Irish history: was the Battle of Clontarf a good home win for the Irish forces against international competition or was it a war between opposing Irish sides?

Prof Kenna’s team researched multitudes of characters, alliances, conflicts, relationships and interactions contained in the medieval text, thus, in theory, eliminating editorial bias and propaganda. The research team developed a mathematical measure to assess the conflict.

After crunching these numbers, Prof Kenna came up with an allembracing mathematical concept: a negative value would indicate it was predominantly Irish versus Viking: a positive value would correspond to civil war, with help on either side from Viking forces.

The answer? The statistical analysis delivered a moderately negative value – in other words, although Irish-on-Irish hostility was widespread, the medieval text describes a mostly international conflict. In other words Ireland trounced the Vikings, Danes, Norsemen. #COYBIG The country then settled down to a peaceful 150 years or so until another nasty shock came from over the waves...

They said it...

“Her death is a big loss. The Cranberries had an immense influence on rock and pop music in Ireland and internationally.”

President Michael D Higgins on the death of Dolores O’Riordan.

“If the amendment is approved in a Referendum, abortion in Ireland will become safe, legal and rare, in the situations provided for by the Oireachtas. If the referendum is defeated, the law will remain as it is now.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.

“A coalition of cavemen.”

The description of the Democratic Unionist Party and the Tories’ parliamentary agreement to work together, by Emily Thornberry, the Labour shadow foreign secretary.

“The deep and unnecessary hurt this video caused the families of the victims of Kingsmills is my greatest regret. . . Kingsmills was wrong, unjustifiable and sectarian. It should never have happened.”

Barry McElduff MP (Sinn Féin) apologising for posting a video of himself in a shop with a loaf of Kingsmill bread on his head on the 42nd anniversary of the Kingsmills murders — ten Protestant workmen were shot dead by the IRA. Mr McElduff has since resigned as MP for West Tyrone.

“There are some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee, or something, and suddenly they’re being dropped from their programme.”

Liam Neeson, on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show describing the wave of sexual misconduct allegations currently sweeping the entertainment industry as “a bit of a witch-hunt”.

“Phase 2 will be very, very demanding. For it to be done across the time of the transitionary period will involve a phenomenal amount of work and negotiation.”

Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe, warning that phase two of the Brexit talks will be “very, very demanding”.

“I would give anything to be Irish, the Irish are natural storytellers... whether it’s something in your history or the fact that telling stories is something you do at the dinner table and have for generations.”

US screenwriter and director Aaron Sorkin, currently promoting his latest movie Molly’s Game “I don’t think there will be mass protests. People are entitled to protest.

It’s a free country.”

The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, speaking about the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to Ireland.

Crossword Clues across: 1. Poke one young woman that’s extravagant (8) 4. Some grub, rice maybe, can conceal a statement of purpose (6) 9. Mixed up, outlandish port mistaken for Dublin landmark (7,8) 10. Gaelic.

12. Labour.

13. A reflex is ten cents worth making a continued survival apparent (9) 16. Ovum found at the far end of the townland of Carrownalegga (3) 18. Initially promulgated time of arrival of Basque separatist organisation? (1,1,1) 19. Oho! Go nude in error bold Irish hero (9) 20. Iberia: Cut off southern part of cold Russian territory reaches European peninsula (6) 21. English city registered in Cabinteely (3) 23. Bonuses also carry a heavy weight within (4) 25. Travelling saint involves short monk to finish article (7) 28. Is nothing in Irish city laughable? (8)

29. An orchestra aboard Titanic, we hear, maybe issuing emergency instruction (7,4) Clues down: 1. Portglenone: Town that embraces harbour, and reversed single valley (11) 2. Man in Man — or Cork (7) 3. Adam: A reservoir that’s first person (4) 5. A fortune blip becomes financially unviable (12) 6. Person stopped working with reference to Hebridean island (7) 7. Shouting for a vocation? (7) 8. Greek poet who seems a chore (6) 11. A germ cell introduced into a uilleann piping decoration and area of Derry or Tyrone (7) 14. Ferrous-like sardonicism? (5) 15. Carbon croons with friends (5) 17. Italian politician who takes the biscuit? (9) 22. French article added to by short editors for English city (5) 24. Container found in Drumbinnisk (3) 26. With reference to negative town in US (4) 27. A certain know-how attached to we French (4)

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LAST EDITION’S ANSWERS: Clues across: 1. The Irish Mail (Ireland to England train service) 8. Cap. 9 across & 10 down: Dunluce Castle.

11. Eternity. 13. Shanks. 14. Townlands. 17. Ushering. 20. Page. 21. Oil. 23. Raising Cain. 24. Gates. 25. Lanigan. 29. Uprising. 32. Orchid.

33. River Lagan. Clues down: 2. Haughey. 3. Illinois. 4. See. 5. Martin O’Neill.

6. Iberian. 7. Punt. 10. see 9 across 12. Indiana. 15. Lennon.

16. Longmuir (Alan). 17. Ulster. 18. Horses. 19. Roisin. 22. Agen. 26. Avon.

27. Inch. 28. Aria. 30. Ice. 31. Ill.

Answers: 1. Swift, in 1725; 2. Have a St Patrick’s Cathedral; in Armagh’s case it has two; 3. Latin; 4. James Joyce; 5. Fear of heights; 6. They are, respectively, the most northerly, southerly, westerly and easterly points in Ireland; 7. (a) Michelle O’Neill; (b) Captain Terence O’Neill; (c) Michael O’Neill; (d) P. O’Neill; (e) Tip O’Neill; (f) Martin O’Neill; 8. Francis Bacon; 9. Albert Reynolds; 10. The Bann

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McMonagle’s dark comedy & post-crash classic INSIDE the front cover of Carlo Gebler’s book of short stories, you will find the titles of almost 40 books, plays or librettos written by the author. Oddly, none of these have been published in Australia; if the writing in this short collection of loosely connected stories is a typical example of his work, we are poorer for that omission. Gebler, who is a member of Aosdana, is the son of Edna O’Brien, one of Ireland’s truly great writers.

All the stories are set among the prisoner population of the fictitious Loanend prison, outside Belfast. “Every block the same ... It’s deliberate. They designed it like that to disorientate the cons, and it does.

It’s also downright depressing, dreary and monotonous.

Everywhere, in every direction, the same buildings with the same walls of grey concrete, the same bars of grey concrete and the same roofs of grey steel.” It might all lead to dull or grim stories, but the characters are all human, damaged certainly, but each with his own story.

Take Smurf, a small-time criminal whose mother had been killed by the Provos and who said that he hated all paramilitaries, whatever their colour. The hard men got their own back when they did not tell him that there was to be a strike at the jail as a way to try to persuade the authorities to segregate the Loyalists from the Republicans.

As a result, without knowing it he broke the strike and was punished by being doused with boiling water to which sugar had been added. The significance of that detail is unclear to this innocent reader, but Smurf ended his days in a psych ward.

Then there is the story of Engine, a Sri Lankan former ship’s engineer, who was given ten years for slashing his Belfast girlfriend. He was a cheerful innocent, treating all his fellow prisoners as if they were his friends. A particularly brutal pair named Tiny and Red Ken, the first not small and the second not socialist, persuaded him to engineer a pair of knuckledusters, which they used to beat up another prisoner.

In the subsequent investigation, the hard men were given three months

in the Punishment Block, but Engine got four times as much. There he quickly learned that the only way to survive was to be as tough and as brutal as everyone else.

The narrator in all the stories is a prisoner known as Chalky who is paid a small stipend for making breakfast for the four night staff and doing some other small tasks around the prison. The story of Engine is a kind of microcosm of the hopelessness of prison life and has its own moral, one that could be taken as the message of the entire collection. Engine explains to Chalky that “You put on a mask and ... after a while your skin and the inside of the mask grow together.

They become one. And once that happens, you can’t take the mask off again.”

Though this may seem to suggest a set of stories characterised by despair and blackness, there is hope and even black humor to humanise the stories. The book is a reminder that distance has made us poorer for not having met this writer before.

IN any list of memorable opening sentences, Galway writer Alan McMonagle’s start to his first novel has to be up there with the best: “I am the cancer-ridden only son of a dangerous driver who has thoughts of turning herself into a man.” Never mind that only one of those four snippets of information is actually true, because the reader can hardly leave a story that calls so alluringly.

The speaker is eleven-year old Jason Lowry and he is fixated on trying to find out who his father is. He is living with his mother; she is not quite 30 and won’t answer the question for him, quite possibly because she doesn’t know. She manages to pay the rent by providing a free service to their randy landlord and uses the hint of the same to keep the local policeman off her case. She smokes “rollies”, has an endless supply of vodka and works at a local deli whenever she feels like it.

As the story progresses, Jason finds uncertain companionship

BOOKS THE WING ORDERLY’S TALES

By Carlo Gébler New Island Books 163 pp

CCC ITHACA

By Alan McMonagle Picador 310 pp 15 euro

CCCCC Frank O’Shea from a girl of his own age whose main obsession is whether her “knockers” are noticeable. We never learn her name and by the end of the book, the reader may well wonder whether she exists at all except in the mind of the troubled Jason. Come to think of it, the reader may speculate on Jason also and may need to consider whether the logic of the story should take second place to the exuberance of the telling.

Take Jason for example. He has the mind and concerns of a timid eleven-year old, used to being beaten up by older boys. But when he interacts with others, even with his bullies, he takes on the voice and mannerisms of a much older wisecracking smartass – think Sam Spade or James Bond.

Then there is the town in the Irish midlands where the story is set. It is less a real place than an amalgam

of all the things the story needs: a bridge from which folk jump to their deaths, an unfinished shopping centre, a hill section where the rich live and which invites vandalism, a place where young hoons gather to do loud wheelies, a laneway where the drunks congregate around a small fire, a swamp whose wonky KEEP OUT sign maintains high-vis workers in employment.

“The book is set in 2009,

“the summer after all the money disappeared.

One minute it was here.

The next it had vanished.

All of it. Without trace.”

”

And the residents are selected for their use to the writer rather than to the story: Flukey Nolan whom Jason thinks may be his father, the McManus brothers called Brains and No-brains who beat him up whenever they meet, Slug Doyle,

Lily the Nose and the inseparable duo Harry Brewster and Fergal Flood, one half-deaf, the other blind in one eye.

The book is set in 2009, “the summer after all the money disappeared. One minute it was here. The next it had vanished. All of it. Without trace.” Which brings me back to the speculation that while Jason may inspire our sympathy and his mother our censure, we may miss what the book is doing.

In the context of modern Irish writers, Kevin Barry (City of Bohane) provides the location, Donal Ryan (The Spinning Heart) gives the post-crash setting, while Jason seems like a younger version of Patrick McCabe’s Butcher Boy. And by coincidence, each of those three writers provides an endorsement of the book on the front or back cover.

This is not to take from the enjoyment of the story, but to suggest that it is less a logical narrative than a kind of extended writing exercise, a way for the author to allow his imagination to take control of his pen. And since that puts him in distinguished company of people like Flann O’Brien and James Joyce, it should be treated as praise, not as censure.

Darkly comic and quite enthralling.

THE TOP 10 BOOK CHARTS FROM IRELAND BESTSELLERS 1

Fire and Fury

2

The Woman in the Window

3

Still Me

4 5

ORIGINAL FICTION

HARDBACK NON-FICTION

Michael Wolff

1

A J Fin

2

Still Me

Jojo Moyes

3

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

4

The Confession

Bad Dad

David Walliams

5

The Break

6

No Middle Name: Complete Collected Jack Reacher Lee Child

6

Missing Ones

7

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

Jeff Kinney

7

The Innocent Wife

8

The Confession

Jo Spain

8

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

9

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

9

Jack Reacher: The Midnight Line

10 The Couple Next Door

Shari Lapena

The Woman in the Window

A J Fin

1

12 Rules for Life

Jojo Moyes

2

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls Elena Favilli/Francesca Cavallo

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

3

5 Ingredients – Quick & Easy Food

10 Three Things About Elsie

PAPERBACK NON-FICTION

1

No Middle Name: Complete Collected Jack Reacher Lee Child

1

Fire and Fury

2

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

2

The Fat-Loss Plan

3

The Couple Next Door

Shari Lapena

3

The Baby Snatchers

4

Camino Island

John Grisham

4

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

5

The Heart’s Invisible Furies

John Boyne

5

The 4 Pillar Plan

6

Foster

Claire Keegan

6

Organised

7

Midwinter Break

Bernard MacLaverty

7

How to Be Human: The Manual

8

The Thirst: Harry Hole 11

Jo Nesbo

8

Why We Sleep

9

Behind Her Eyes

Sarah Pinborough

9

The Playboy of the Western World

F. Scott Fitzgerald

10 Milk and Honey

10 The Great Gatsby

Jamie Oliver

Jo Spain

4

Lose Weight for Good

Marian Keyes

5

Half Hour Hero

Patricia Gibney

6

Fire and Fury

Michael Wolff

Amy Lloyd

7

The Secret

Rhonda Byrne

Heather Morris

8

On Tuesdays I’m a Buddhist

Lee Child

9

Owning It

Joanna Cannon

MASS MARKET FICTION

Jordan P. Peterson

10 Motherfocloir

Tom Kerridge Rozanna Purcell

Michael Harding Caroline Foran Darach O’Seaghdha

CHILDREN’S Michael Wolff

1

Bad Dad

Joe Wicks

2

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Getaway

Mary Creighton

3

Wonder

Yuval Noah Harari

4

Adventures of Dog Man 4: Dog Man and Cat Kid

Dr Rangan Chatterjee

5

Demon Dentist

David Walliams

Sarah Reynolds

6

Gangsta Granny

David Walliams

Ruby Wax

7

Awful Auntie

David Walliams

Matthew Walker

8

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

J. M. Synge

9

Billionaire Biy

Rupi Kaur

10 Dog Man 3: A Tale of Two Kitties

David Walliams Jeff Kinney R. J. Palacio Dav Pilkey

J. K. Rowling David Walliams Dav Pilkey

February, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

time out

Irish

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SSPD CHRISTMAS BALL SYDNEY - DECMEBER 2017

SSPD Christmas Ball Team Organisers - Elaine Ryan, Olivia Ryan, Eimear O’Neill, Shauneen Campbell and Leanne Higgins

Looking suitably Festive - Fergal McCauley (PJ O’Briens) and Karen Murphy

SSPD President, Robert Kineavy addresses the Ball

Santa and his Helpers - Sydney Rose, Aishling Walsh and Tina King-Garde

Girls Festive Night Out: Mary Doherty, Siobhan Luddy, Christine McSweeney, Sinead Teague, Karen Murphy

Some of our Naughty and Nice Revellers: Eimear O’Farrell, Paul Reilly, Jen Reilly, Patrick Ferguson, Victoria Leach, Niall Agambar, Kairi Kaljo, Susan Mallon, Paddy Mallon

22 sport

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WOMEN’S AFL :: MAYO SUPERSTAR MAKES GIANTS DEBUT

Staunton impresses in first AFL hit-out CORA Staunton received widespread praise after impressing in the first round of the new Women’s AFL (AFLW) season.

Her side the Greater Western Sydney Giants (GWS Giants) suffered a 7.3 (45) - 6.3 (39) defeat to the Melbourne Demons, but the Mayo legend scored a goal in the first quarter of the game, making her the first international recruit to do so this season.

It was a closely fought encounter in Melbourne, where the lead changed hands on three occasions in the final quarter, before the home side went on to secure the victory.

In addition to Staunton, there was some Irish representation in the Melbourne side. Cavan native Laura Corrigan Duryea is an established member of the women’s team, and she lined out in the back pocket position for the clash against GWS Giants.

The two Irish women were direct op-

ponents for portions of the game.

This is the second season of the Women’s Aussie Rules competition, with the GWS Giants finishing bottom of the ladder at the end of the inaugural campaign.

Staunton signed for the Sydney club last October.

The four-time All-Ireland winner is still learning to adapt to the new sport of course, but GWS Giants coach Alan McConnell says he is pleased with her progress at this early stage of the season.

“I think (Staunton) got lost a couple of times on running patterns, but it’s not surprising when you’re trying to learn the game in eight weeks,” he told SBS News. “She hasn’t had a full preseason, she missed the first two weeks because her team (Carnacon) went all the way through to an All-Ireland (club) final. But we’re so glad we have her.

She brings something to the team.”

Cora Staunton has scored her first AFL goal for the GWS Giants.

CONTRACT SIGNED AFTER STOKE JOB FALLS THROUGH

O’Neill, Keane will stay on with Ireland Jim van Wijk

MARTIN O’Neill believes the Republic of Ireland’s next generation will have the “drive and determination” to put themselves firmly on the road towards reaching Euro 2020.

O’Neill has finally put pen to paper on a contract extension with the Football Association of Ireland to remain as manager for the next qualifying campaign, after initially agreeing to do so in October 2017.

The 65-year-old had been the leading candidate to take over at Stoke, where Paul Lambert was eventually appointed as successor to Mark Hughes.

Speculation over O’Neill’s position increased following the 5-1 aggregate World Cup play-off defeat by Denmark which ended hopes of reaching the 2018 finals in Russia.

O’Neill accepted he had taken time for “a bit of reflection”, but was always content his understanding with FAI chief executive John Delaney allowed for him to talk to other potential employers. Now, though, O’Neill remains ver y much focused on the job of bringing the best out of the emerging

Staying on - Martin O’Neill

talent and to provide a change of the guard within the senior set-up.

“I am obviously pleased to do so (extend my contract),” O’Neill said on Sky Sports News. “I had conversations with the FAI board. They wanted me to continue in the job and let’s see how we progress.”

O’Neill continued: “We have got a group of older players who have served the country absolutely brilliantly and we have a group of younger players trying to make their way at club level for a start, to establish themselves.

“One or two of them have a bit of experience now, not only with the qualifications for the (2016) Euros, but

also the qualification and the disappointment of losing to Denmark in the play-offs for the World Cup. So I think all of those things taken into consideration, that the younger players should have that drive and determination now to try and do something.

“I am staying, I am with the Republic of Ireland and am delighted to be so.”

Roy Keane will also stay on as O’Neill’s assistant.

Meanwhile, Michael O’Neill looks likely to sign a new deal with Northern Ireland having turned down the chance to take the Scotland job.

The 48-year-old spoke with the Scottish Football Association about their managerial vacancy but the Edinburgh-based boss has elected to remain with the Northern Irish, who he has been in charge of since 2011.

Press Association Sport understands the Irish Football Association have already discussed improved terms with O’Neill and he now appears set to pen a four-year contract extension to keep him with Northern Ireland until 2024.

He took his country to the last 16 at Euro 2016 - Northern Ireland’s first major tournament in three decades.

SOCCEROOS V IRELAND A NON STARTER

Irish fixture too pricey for Aussies, report A PRE-World Cup friendly between the Socceroos and the Republic of Ireland will not go ahead.

Speculation on a possible friendly clash between the nations in Sydney or Melbour ne was mooted befor e Christmas but reports now suggest that the Football Association of Ireland’s asking price was deemed too high by state governments.

Fairfax Media has reported that a high asking price from the FFA and the preference of new coach Ber t van Marwijk to run a training camp could derail a possible home friendly before the Socceroos head off to Russia.

The report claimed that “sources

close to a state government suggest the FFA recently put forward three potential opponents (Ireland, Scotland and Chile) for a farewell friendly match but were put off by the organisation’s high asking price for the games.”

“It’s understood the appetite of state gover nments to host Socceroos friendly games, particularly weeknight fixtures, has waned significantly given the small number of interstate travellers for games compared to qualifiers or international club friendlies,” the report claimed.

The FAI was asking for an appearance fee of around $700,000 to travel to play Australia in May, Fairfax re-

ported. Chile were prepared to play for less than $1 million. Both appearance fees are reported to be significantly less than the price for state governments to host the games.

The repor t continued: “While Ireland and Scotland don’t hold the same football pedigree as Chile, the popularity of the teams and the enormous diaspora of both nations within Australia would likely attract large attendances.”

Mar tin O’Neill’s side has subsequently confirmed a friendly fixture against France for May 28 ruling out a possible trip down under. They will also play Turkey in March.

SPORT :: IN BRIEF

Ireland to host India for T20 clashes CRICKET: Ireland will host two Twenty20 internationals against India in Dublin this year, marking the first time the sides have met in any format on Irish soil since June 2007.

The opener will be on Wednesday, June 27, with the second match to be played two days later at Malahide, the venue for Ireland’s inaugural Test match against Pakistan in May. The double-header will act as part of India’s preparations for their three-match T20 series against England, which gets under way the following week.

Ireland are currently 18th in the International Cricket Council T20 rankings but head coach Graham Ford senses an opportunity for several of his players to make a name for themselves against third-ranked India.

Ireland will also play a four-day match against Somerset in April before next summer’s maiden Test against Pakistan.

Irish left-arm spinner George Dockrell will return to the County Ground to face Somerset, where he spent five seasons.

“I have some great memories from my time in Somerset and made some great friends while I was there,” said Dockrell.

“It’s a wonderful place to play cricket and it’ll be good to get a run-out after a winter of mostly white-ball cricket.

“Everyone is buzzing ahead of the historic first Test for the squad and this game will be a great help as we build up to the match.”

Daryl Murphy calls time on Irish career FOOTBALL: Republic of Ireland striker Daryl Murphy has announced his retirement from international football as manager Martin O’Neill prepares to turn to a new generation.

The 34-year-old Nottingham Forest frontman won 33 senior caps for his country and scored three goals.

Murphy announced his decision via his Twitter account.

He said: “I would just want to let all the Irish supporters know that I’ve come to the decision to retire from the national team.

“It’s been a hard decision to make, but I would just like to thank all the fans for all their support and I hope the best for the future.”

Murphy made his Ireland debut in a friendly against Ecuador in May 2007, but had to wait until September 2016 to score his first goal, a priceless late equaliser in a 2-2 World Cup qualifier draw against Serbia in Belgrade.

O’Neill said: “Daryl did really well in the couple of years that I worked with him in the international set-up and he was always very professional.

“He got to play in two very big matches at Euro 2016 and I’m sure the Italian game in Lille will be a big memory for him when he looks back on his days with Ireland.

“I wish him all of the best, not just at club level, but whatever he chooses to do after that.”

McIlroy frustrated at Dubai slip GOLF: Rory McIlroy made no attempt to hide his frustration after squandering a two-shot lead with eight holes to play as China’s Li Haotong claimed the biggest win of his career in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

McIlroy overturned a one-shot overnight deficit with the aid of three birdies in the first 10 holes at Emirates Golf Club, but bogeyed the 11th and 16th as well as three-putting the par-five 13th for par.

And although the four-time major winner birdied the final two holes, Li did likewise under enormous pressure to complete a closing 69 and win by a single shot.

McIlroy has now finished third and second in his two starts since calling an early end to an injury-plagued and winless 2017 campaign.

Asked his reaction at missing out on a first win since September 2016, McIlroy told European Tour Radio: “Yeah, p***** off.”

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February, 2018 I www.irishecho.com.au

A U S TRA L IA’S IRIS H N EWS PAPER

sports CHAMPIONS CUP QUARTER FINALISTS SETTLED

Leinster and Munster to host finals Jamie Holt

Leinster’s up and coming full-back Jordan Larmour (right) in action against Glasgow at The RDS Arena, Dublin.

FAVOURITES and top seeds Leinster will face holders Saracens in a mouthwatering European Champions Cup quarter-final.

Saracens, courtesy of a 62-14 victory against Northampton in their final Pool Two fixture, scraped through as third best runners-up. But they will now head to Dublin on the weekend of March 31-April 1 in the highlight encounter of this season’s last-eight phase.

Saracens are the tour nament’s only English survivors, with their qualification avoiding a wipeout for the first time in the

21 seasons that England have had top-flight European representation.

Elsewhere, Leinster’s fellow Irish heavyweights Munster will have home advantage against Toulon following a 48-3 thumping of Castres, while in-form Scarlets entertain Champions Cup debutants La Rochelle and there is an all-French clash between Clermont Auvergne and Racing 92.

Leinster hooker Sean Cronin believes their top seeding is no guarantee they will sail through the knockout stages.

The Ireland front-rower scored the decisive try to seal the 23-14 triumph over

Montpellier that made it six wins from six matches in their Pool Three campaign.

“We might have the favourites’ tag but there will be eight quality teams in the quarter-finals with past winners in there too. It’s good to get a home quar ter-final, but that’s no guarantee either. We’re looking forward to it, it will be a huge occasion,” he said.

Munster head coach Johann van Graan said he was ver y proud to be part of a Munster set-up which earned a precious home quarter-final after routing Castres 48-3 at Thomond Park.

Should Munster win their quarter-final against Toulon,

IRELAND HEAD COACH JOE SCHMIDT WANTS TO AVOID MORE LATE DRAMA

Sexton seals rare Paris win

they will be away to either Clermont Auvergne or Racing 92 in the semi-finals.

Van Graan said: “My initial reaction to earning a home quarter-final is that I am very proud to be part of this club.

“Thomond Park has got magic, the magic is what the people deliver. I am very proud to be part of this.”

Ulster boss Les Kiss was disappointed with his side’s loss to Wasps which cost them a spot in the play-offs.

“Our accuracy was lacking.

We made too many errors, critical ones, and they had a cutting edge when they needed to,” the Australian said.

RAPE TRIAL

Nick Purewal

JOE Schmidt has ordered Ireland not to rely on Johnny Sexton to dig them out of trouble again in the NatWest 6 Nations.

Head coach Schmidt admitted he will dr um home the message that Ireland cannot afford to let Test matches slip away, after Sexton’s last-ditch drop-goal pinched a 15-13 win over France in Paris.

France caught Ireland cold with Teddy Thomas’ converted try edging Les Bleus into a late 13-12 lead, only for Sexton’s added-time drop-goal to save the day.

Ireland ploughed through close to 40 phases before Sexton dropped the winning goal, and while Schmidt hailed his talisman’s nerves of steel, he conceded his side can ill afford to leave victories so late in future.

“We can’t leave matches in the balance,” said Schmidt.

“You’ve got to make the most of advantages and get the points you need. One freakish event, and one freakishly good player in Thomas and his try can undo all that hard work.

“That’s something we’re disappointed with and we’ve got to do something to make sure that doesn’t happen next week, and for the following weeks of the championship.”

Schmidt revealed Ireland’s coaching staff turned into supporters, cheering and jumping around when Sexton slotted the winning goal. Sexton himself was mobbed by his team-mates on the Stade de France field, and Schmidt hailed the British and Irish Lions star for fending off fatigue and cramp to seal Ireland’s nail-biting triumph.

“It’s hard to explain how you feel when you think the game’s gone away, you’ve let it slip and suddenly you’ve grabbed it back,” said Schmidt.

“It was an incredible team effort. It’s fairly inspirational.

“We felt we got very close to earning some reward, but it was ver y slow ball and then we didn’t appear to be getting much chance. And when Johnny struck the drop-goal I was just willing it to have enough.

Irish captain to be ‘character witness’ in rape trial Helen William

Ireland’s Johnny Sexton celebrates after landing a last-gasp 42m drop-goal to defeat France in Paris. Picture: Gareth Fuller

“It looked it might, and when it did, as a coaching team we all stood up as one and probably cheered with the other Irish suppor ters who were in the stadium. Maybe people underestimate how hard it is to come here and win.

“Johnny has hit a few dropgoals in his time, but not many.

And I don’t think he was really thinking too much about history, he just stepped and seized the moment and he did it with absolute aplomb.

“That’s credit to a man who was str uggling a little with cramp and fatigue.

“But his clarity of thought and ability to win those big

moments is second to none.”

Ireland carried a deser ved 9-3 lead into the break courtesy of three Sexton penalties. Cian Healy was robbed on the gr ound after Ir eland had ploughed through 13 phases in the France 22, and with that turnover went their best chance of crossing the whitewash in the half. Compounding errors almost cost Schmidt’s side, when CJ Stander was stripped in contact, and then Rob Kearney was penalised for holding on in a botched counter-attack.

Sexton’s four th penalty edged Ireland further ahead to open the second half, before the visitors laid siege yet again on

the French whitewash. But just as in the first half, another long-winded set of phases - this time 15 - ended with France clearing their lines.

Sexton served up a surprise miss with his fifth penalty attempt, emboldening France into a frenzied attack. And as Les Bleus continued to build, Ireland failed to turn the tide.

Just as with French sides of old, Brunel’s outfit switched in a flash from rabble to rampant.

Wing Thomas fielded a wayward clearance, set of f on a determined run - and bisected Ireland’s hamstrung defence.

Th e p r o s tra te S e x to n ’ s pained face after failing to re-

buff Thomas told the full story.

Replacement fly-half Belleau slotted the facile conversion, and France had the 13-12 lead.

Belleau missed a penalty shot with three minutes to play, handing Ireland renewed impetus and hope of clawing their way back to victory.

And Sexton delivered, nailing his drop-goal to atone for his earlier miss, before disappearing under a mountain of joyous green-clad team-mates.

Ireland will roll on to face Italy in Dublin next weekend (live on Bein Sports), but must do so without Josh Van der Flier, who has suspected knee ligament damage.

IRELAND and Ulster rugby captain Rory Best says he is to be a character witness at the trial of two teammates for rape.

Best was spotted at Belfast Crown Court where Stuart Olding, 24, and Paddy Jackson, 26, are standing trial accused of rape.

The Ireland and Ulster rugby players are accused of raping the same woman at a property in south Belfast in June 2016. Jackson is also charged with sexual assault.

Speaking at a press conference after the Ireland v France match in Paris, Best was asked if the Irish Rugby Football Union had given him permission to attend the trial.

He told reporters: “We sign out on Tuesday night, Wednesday is our day off, so technically we don’t need permission to do stuff on our own time. The reason I was there, it’s on the record I’ve been called as a character witness. I was advised it was important to attend, so I got both sides of the story.

“Because it’s an ongoing legal matter, I will make no further comment than that.”

Fellow Lions, Ireland and Ulster star Iain Henderson were also seen at the court last week as were Craig Gilroy and Kyle McCall.

Alliance Party Northern Ireland Assembly member Paula Bradshaw has written to Ulster Rugby asking what guidance was provided to its team members in relation to attending the trial.

Olding and Jackson deny the charges. The case continues as we go to press.

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