SAOIRSE32

Teach Dáithí Ó Conaill, 223 Parnell Street, Dublin 1, Ireland
Phone: +353-1-872 9747; FAX: +353-1-872 9757; e-mail: saoirse@iol.ie
Date: 17 Iúil /July 2008

Internet resources maintained by SAOIRSE-Irish Freedom

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In this issue:

1. Tara’s world heritage significance
2. Press release - Justice for the Forgotten
3. Violence erupts for loyalist twelfth
4. Mi5 harassment intensifies
5. Loyalists attack Broadway residents
6. Man injured still in coma
7. Woodward apologises for misinformation
8. Former soldier tells attack on dance hall
9. ‘Kill all Taigs’ slogan and Tricolour on loyalist bonfire
10. Bishop defends his decision on petition
11. Guantanamo interrogation video released
12. Un committee to question rendition stance
13. Un human rights panel raises fears over Irish policies
14. Cleaning firm kept staff in stable
15. Mayo family complains over Shell surveillance
16. Jobs transfer - staff vote for industrial action
17. Greens urge Ryan to consider moving Corrib gas refinery
18. Géarghá le beartas oideachais nua, arsa an Conradh

1. TARA’S WORLD HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE

Following the largest ever international gathering of archaeologists in Dublin, Ireland, the World Archaeological Congress released a statement on July 11 expressing its opposition to any further development alongside the new stretch of motorway in the wider landscape zone surrounding the historical site of Tara in Co Meath, Ireland.

“Tara has significance far beyond Ireland itself,” said Professor Claire Smith, President of the World Archaeological Congress. “Its iconic significance derives from its unique cultural character, as situated in a broader landscape. The World Archaeological Congress strongly encourages the Irish Government (sic) to instigate formal protection measures for this area, and to consider nominating Tara for inscription as a World Heritage site.

“Prior to the holding of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress here in Ireland, we sent two senior representatives to look at the issue of the motorway,” said Professor Claire Smith. “They found that all the archaeological work had been done to the highest professional standards.”

However, during the Congress a number of competing and often contradictory claims were made and the World Archaeological Congress has now commissioned a report on the Tara discussions. The World Archaeological Congress stressed that its report would not interfere with the legal and consultative planning process already completed in Ireland.

“We do not question the validity of the planning process undertaken in Ireland. Our purpose is to learn lessons for the future and for other countries with issues surrounding development archaeology,” said Professor Smith.

“There are many strong opinions about Tara and it is important that valid claims receive due attention, and that misinformation be sifted out. This can only be done through a considered study,” Professor Smith said. Recognising that the reburial of ancient remains in Ireland is subject to the provisions of the National Monuments Act and the agreement of the National Museum of Ireland, the World Archaeological Congress also draws attention to the Vermillion Accord on human remains and suggests that any human remains excavated from the cultural landscape of Tara should be re-interred with due respect as close as possible to their original locations, as this is where these people would have wished to be buried.

The World Archaeological Congress notes the significant adverse impact that motorways and other forms of development can have on valuable cultural landscapes. “Throughout the world, developments such as motorways can have significant adverse impact on cultural landscapes,” said Professor Smith.

“Cultural heritage needs to be factored into the planning process from the beginning. In order to address these issues from a global perspective the World Archaeological Congress will be holding an Inter-Congress with the theme “Rethinking relations of Archaeology and Development.”

The Inter-Congress on archaeology and development is likely to be held in Lund, Sweden, in 2009.

Further Information: Professor Claire Smith
Email: claire.smith@flinders.edu.au

The World Archaeological Congress (WAC) is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organization and is the only elected international body of practising archaeologists. WAC holds an international congress every four years to promote the exchange of the results of archaeological research; professional training and public education for disadvantaged nations, groups and communities; the empowerment and betterment of Indigenous groups and First Nations peoples; and the conservation of archaeological sites.

The Sixth World Archaeological Congress (WAC-6) was held from 29th June-4th July at the University College Dublin. This was the first World Archaeological Congress to be held in Ireland. It was attended by over 1,800 archaeologists, native peoples and international scholars from 74 nations. Motions from the Plenary session of the Congress were considered by subsequent meetings of the World Archaeological Congress Council and Executive.

2. JUSTICE FOR THE FORGOTTEN

ON July, 10 2008, the organisation representing victims and survivors of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, Justice for the Forgotten, welcomed the all-party motion on the issue of collusion and the Barron Reports.

The motion urged the British government, “to allow access by an independent, international judicial figure to all original documents held by the British government relating to the atrocities…inquired into by Judge Barron.”

This cross-party statement is of vital importance in light of the fact that, as the Sub-Committee noted in their Final Report on the Reports of the Independent Commission of Inquiry, “all of the Barron reports [were] frustrated by the absence of any real co-operation from the British security forces.”

Justice for the Forgotten calls on the British government to act promptly on this motion and looks forward to the appointment of an independent, international judicial figure.

Judge Barron investigated the involvement of the ‘Glenanne gang’ in these and other atrocities. His reports, available on the PFC website at http://www.patfinucanecentre.org/dubmon/intro.html showed widespread and systematic British State involvement in loyalist death squads in Mid Ulster in the 1970s. At present the Pat Finucane Centre is cooperating with the Historical Enquiries Team in the re-investigation of a number of attacks carried out by this group of UVF, UDR, and RUC members.
Contact Derry office info@patfinucanecentre.org or Newry office newry@patfinucanecentre.org Website www.patfinucanecentre.org

3. VIOLENCE ERUPTS FOR LOYALIST TWELFTH

MORE than a dozen RUC/PSNI members were injured during clashes in the occupied Six Counties on July 11/12. In Portadown, 13 members were injured, four needing hospital treatment during disturbances at Obin Street. Two men were arrested, one was charged with rioting behaviour and will appear in court later in the month.

In the New Lodge area of north Belfast one member of the RUC/PSNI received leg injuries during disturbances involving a crowd of more than 50 people. Gasoline bombs, stones and other missiles were thrown before calm was restored.

Two people were arrested for rioting behaviour, two more reported to the public prosecution service for the same offence and a third for obstruction.

Meanwhile in the Broadway area of West Belfast five people were injured during clashes between rival groups. All five required hospital treatment after the violence which involved rival factions totalling around 50 people.

The Fire and Rescue Service said they were called out more than 100 times when traditional 11th Night bonfires got out of control or threatened buildings.

Thousands of Orangemen and supporters have been attending the annual Twelfth of July marches. Gatherings have been hearing the traditional platform pledges of “loyalty to the Protestant faith, the crown and to the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

4. MI5 HARASSMENT INTENSIFIES

ON THE Twelfth of July as Republican Sinn Fein Member Aodhan O Cuinn passed through security at Belfast’s Aldergrove airport he was approached by a an RUC/PSNI member who tried to lead him into a side room in the airport.

Adohan asked if it was in relation to airport security and was told that some people wanted to speak to him. As Adohan approached the room he saw two men in suits, one he recognised right away. Aodhan refused to enter the room knowing that the men were members of British intelligence.

Aodhan is no stranger to harassment from the Brits. On a number of occasions over the last two years the British Crown Forces - the RUC/PSNI and MI5 - have repeatedly tried in vain to recruit Adohan as an informer. They have used threats & bribes, waited for him outside his home, his friends homes and have made passes at him outside his place of work.

This time they stopped him and his family as they prepared to go on a family holiday. When Aodhan refused to enter the room the men, who introduced themselves as British Intelligence, came out to him. They said they wanted him to take a contact number but he refused to take it. They also said they wanted to meet him beside a statue outside his hotel the day after he landed. Aodhan told them he would never be meeting them and walked away.

When he returned to his family he learned that all the bags had been searched and his mother and father questioned in front of every one by the RUC/PSNI and MI5. His parents were asked what it felt like to raise a terrorist and did they not know they would be sending Aodhan home in a body bag. Needless to say Aodhans family were highly distraught.

Aodhan condemns the harassment aimed at him and his family. He said: “I have come to expect this lowlife behaviour from the Crown Forces, the fact I am constantly harassed makes me know I am doing my job as an Irish Republican, it makes me stronger and more determined”.

Aodhan is Chairperson of the McKearney McCaughey Cumann in Dungannon and Secretary of the newly formed East Tyrone Comhairle Ceantair, a dedicated Irish Republican.

His comrades in Republican Sinn Fein condemn this harassment of Irish Republicans and especially the ongoing targeting of Aodhan O Cuinn. We commend him for his stance and these overtures appear to be water off a ducks back to Aodhan. We condemn the local provo’s who are now up to their necks with these types who in the past have been responsible for the directing of Loyalist death squads against the nationalist community.

5. LOYALISTS ATTACK BROADWAY RESIDENTS

FIVE people were injured during violent sectarian clashes at Broadway, Belfast at the weekend of July 12/13. A crowd of around 100 drunken loyalists attacked homes in the area in the early hours of Saturday morning. Residents fought the gang back to the Broadway roundabout before the RUC/PSNI arrived and order was restored.

The invasion occurred after loyalists set alight an Eleventh Night bonfire on the Donegall Road. They then crossed the motorway on to Broadway, collecting bricks and iron bars from the Weslink building works. The loyalists made it as far as Iveagh Crescent before being beaten back by brave locals.

Community worker Daniel Jack said: “The loyalists got halfway up Broadway before residents forced them back. It was madness, there were fist fights going on all over the place. The loyalists had lifted bricks and bars from the Westlink building site.”

He added: “I was in touch with people on the loyalist end and in fairness to them they did try and restore calm, but the crowd wasn’t listening. The ones causing the trouble were at a bonfire on the lower end of the Donegall Road that wasn’t marshalled.”

A spokeswoman for the RUC/PSNI said five people were hurt during the violence and there were no arrests.

6. LOYALIST VICTIM STILL IN COMA.

THE family of a Catholic civil servant who is still in a near-coma state two years after suffering horrific head injuries in a sectarian attack by loyalists, said on June 14 that he is “in a state worse than death” and that “the Paul we knew is no longer there.”

Two years ago father-of-one Paul McCauley (31) and two friends were attacked by a seven-strong gang while they were clearing up after a barbecue in the city.

While his two friends have recovered, Paul McCauley has remained in an absolute coma for more than a year. He is now in a “low-responsive state”. Doctors also recently delivered the devastating news that the Derry man has been diagnosed as blind as a result of the attack. So vicious was the attack on Paul McCauley that doctors were able to make out the trace of the boot used to kick him on the head.

“The attack was so vicious that the skull was crushed and shattered to the stage it couldn’t be replaced,” his father Jim McCauley said. “There’s approximately five square inches of his skull missing; the only protection between the outside world and his brain is a layer of skin.”

A 15-year-old boy was charged with attempted murder in the days after the attack. He has yet to come to trial.

7. WOODWARD APOLOGISES FOR MISINFORMATION

SECRETARY of State Shaun Woodward has repeated an apology to the families of 15 people killed in the McGurk’s Bar bomb.

In December 1971, the British army urged Stormont ministers to claim that an IRA bomb being prepared inside the bar exploded prematurely, killing 15 people, including two children.

It wasn’t until seven years later that the true facts emerged when self-confessed UVF-man Robert Campbell admitted that he had carried out the attack. In 2007 British government papers were uncovered revealing British army efforts to distort the true facts surrounding the McGurk’s Bar bomb.

Despite the fact that the forensic investigation into the bombing would not be completed until two months later, a British army memo circulated to Stormont ministers just days after the bomb, stated: “The forensic evidence now available shows quite clearly that five of the victims were killed by blast indicating that the explosion must have been inside the bar, and raising a very strong presumption that it was caused by the accidental detonation of a bomb being carried by one of the customers, as has seemed likely all along.”

A week later a second memo urged that a minister should put the false claims forward to the British House of Commons as fact.

Earlier this year the Six Counties Historical Enquiries Team (HET) report into the bombing called for an apology to be made to the McGurk families describing the British army claims as “an irresponsible and inaccurate piece, which could not be based on facts but instead reflected a desired outcome”.

Last month Shaun Woodward took the unusual move of personally apologising in the British House of Commons for the “hurt that was made worse by the erroneous reporting of responsibility for the explosion”.

8. FORMER BRITISH SOLDIER TELLS OF ATTACK ON DANCE HALL

A FORMER British soldier who deserted in the aftermath of the brutal killing of Ardoyne father-of-two Jo-Jo Parker (Belfast) has claimed the shooting was covered up.

Former British army Queen’s Lancashire Regiment soldier Colin Demet was present on the night members of his regiment opened fire on a crowd of men and women dancing in Toby’s Hall on December 10, 1971.

Jo-Jo Parker, who was celebrating his wedding anniversary that night, was dancing with sister Theresa when the shots were fired. He later died in her arms.

According to the Demet’s new book, Ardoyne: The Pain Remains The Same, British soldiers outside the dance hall believed their colleagues inside were being attacked and opened fire. British soldiers inside the hall then began firing too. Close to 30 shots were fired in total in the confusion – two of the bullets skimmed the heads of local people while Jo-Jo was fatally struck in the thigh.

Demet said.“This book is my story of what happened, the actual facts are there.”

Jo-Jo’s sister Theresa said : “I don’t have anything against him [Demet]. He’s written the book now and I told him, I hope you do well out of it,” she said. “This book certainly won’t do me any good, I know that much. The bits I want to hear will be pushed under the carpet, the stuff about the government’s shoot-to-kill policy. He has admitted his part about that night.

Demet deserted in February 1972, two weeks after Bloody Sunday. Within minutes of fleeing the British regiment’s Flax Street Mill base, Demet was captured and taken hostage by the IRA. He was later released in Dundalk.

Demet lived in County Clare for over a year before giving himself up. He was court-martialled and handed a seven-year prison sentence which he served out in Wakefield maximum security prison.

“I’ll never forgive the army for that. In the end I went to jail for someone else’s mistake,” said Demet. “The person who ordered us into the hall that night got off scot-free. I joined the army to fight in wars, to do battle, not to see civilians beaten up for nothing and for innocent people to get killed.”

9. ‘KILL ALL TAIGS’ SLOGAN AND TRICOLOUR ON LOYALIST BONFIRE

ANTRIM BOROUGH COUNCIL received complaints ON July 12 after the Irish national flag bearing the initials ‘KAT’ – which stand for Kill All Taigs – was draped across the bonfire in Antrim town’s mainly loyalist Ballycraigy estate.

The Council is coming under pressure to withhold £3,000 funding from the organisers of the loyalist bonfire. This is the first year that Ballycraigy has signed up to the council-sponsored bonfire incentive scheme.

The flag was removed on July 11 afternoon following contact of the council by the media. Other councils including Belfast and Ballymena have also adopted incentive schemes to reduce the disturbance and environmental damage caused by bonfires.

Earlier this year an independent evaluation of Belfast City Council’s bonfire management scheme suggested offering funds to loyalists who do not burn Irish national flags.

On July 11in Belfast preparations for the so-called Eleventh Night disrupted traffic when loyalists closed several arterial routes. Parts of the Donegal Road in south Belfast were closed off, as was the Shore Road in north Belfast where a bonfire was built close to the road.

10. BISHOP DEFENDS HIS DECISION ON PETITION

BISHOP of Derry Dr Seamus Hegarty has defended his decision not to sign a petition calling on the INLA, Real IRA and Continuity IRA to cease their campaigns.

Dr Hegarty, expressed concern that the petition organised in response to the murder of pizza delivery man Emmett Shiels (22) was confined to only three groups and did not mention all organisations involved in the Troubles.

Emmet Shiels was shot dead in Derry’s Creggan after engaging with a masked and armed gang. The petition has been signed by approximately 600 people.

Both the INLA and the Real IRA have denied any involvement in the murder and no paramilitary group has claimed responsibility.

The online petition was organised following a vigil held on the spot where Emmet Shiels was murdered. Organisers reacted angrily when it was revealed that Dr Hegarty had refused to sign the petition.

Seamus Heaney, a community worker in Derry’s Creggan, said the bishop’s decision to make public his refusal to sign the petition distracted from its purpose.

Heaney, who acknowledged in radio interviews on July 11 that he had been a member of the Provisionals, said: “We did not feel annoyed that the bishop had not signed.

“What we found difficult was that he put out a statement to a newspaper.”

He said the organisers have since been in touch with Dr Hegarty’s spokesman, Fr Michael Canny, offering to meet the bishop to discuss the petition.

A sister of Emmet Shiels also called on Dr Hegarty to sign the petition.

Maureen Wilkinson said she could not understand why anyone would not sign a petition to “get guns of the streets of Northern Ireland”.

Dr Hegarty said he declined to sign the petition because it did not go far enough.
He said: “I have not done so as my concern goes well beyond the call contained in that petition.”

Describing Emmet Shiels’s murder as a “rejection of the teachings of Christ”, Dr Hegarty said his concerns were with all violent groups and all groups which accepted violence as a means of making political progress.

Fr Canny said the bishop felt that by singling out the INLA, Real IRA and Continuity IRA, the petition ignored all other organisations involved in armed campaigns.

Fr Canny said: “We condemn all violence. We are not being selective in our condemnation.”

11. GUANTANAMO INTERROGATION VIDEO RELEASED

A VIDEOTAPE of the interrogation at Guantanamo Bay of a suspect who was captured as a 15-year-old has been released to the public. Omar Khadr’s lawyers released excerpts of their client being questioned by Canadian officials at the US facility in 2003. The video provides insight into the effects of prolonged interrogation and detention on the Guantanamo prisoner.

Documents released last week indicated that Omar Khadr was deprived of uninterrupted sleep at Guantanamo before an interview. He was aged 16 at the time of the interview.
In the video, a Canadian Security Intelligence Services agent is shown grilling Omar Khadr about the events leading up to his capture as an enemy combatant. The Canadian citizen is accused of throwing a grenade that killed a US soldier during a 2002 fire fight in Afghanistan.

The seven-hour video, taken over four days of interviews, was originally marked “Secret/No Foreign” by the US agencies that created them.
At one point, Omar Khadr says he was tortured while at the US military detention centre at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan, where he was first detained after his arrest in 2002. He raises his orange shirt to show the wounds he sustained.

Documents released earlier this month showed that US authorities deprived Khadr of sleep ahead of the interview, putting him in a “frequent-flyer program,” where he was moved every three hours to different cells to make him more likely to talk.
Still pictures from the video show him filmed at plain wooden table in an apparently windowless cell. At times he buries his head in his hands or pulls at his hair in apparent frustration.

Omar Khadr, who is now 21, is expected go on trial before the Guantanamo prison camp’s war crimes court on charges of murdering the US soldier. He is one of two Guantanamo detainees captured as juveniles and charged with crimes that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

12. UN COMMITTEE TO QUESTION RENDITION STANCE

THE 26-COUNTY ADMINISTRATION was asked by a UN committee on July 15 to justify its failure to act on extraordinary rendition and to legislate in the areas of abortion, transgender identity, non-traditional families and freedom of religion in schools.
It will also be asked to justify its policies on the summary deportation of certain foreign nationals, the continued use of “slopping out” in prisons and the imprisonment of debtors.
The questions are raised in a “Shadow Report” to the United Nations Committee on Civil and Political Rights, to which the 26-County administration presented its five-year submission on the state of human rights in the 26-County state in Geneva on July 15.
Three organisations, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Free legal Aid Centres (Flac) and the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), collaborated in preparing the shadow report to assist the UN committee in questioning the 26-County administration on its record.
They published this report in Dublin on July 14, and it was launched by Judge Michael Kirby, the longest-serving judge on the High Court of Australia (its Supreme Court).
Judge Kirby said it would not be appropriate for him to enter into discussion of Irish controversies, but he compared some of the issues raised with those he had encountered in the Australian courts. Deaths in custody, the increase in the rate of detention, the “verballing” of vulnerable suspects and the degradation to be found in Victorian prisons, he said.
However, he said there was no Special Criminal Court in Australia, and he was surprised to see that in Ireland, unlike Australia, there was no right for a suspect to have a lawyer present during interrogation. He also expressed surprise at the lack of provision for secular education and the exemption of the 26-County police from freedom of information legislation.
Referring to legislation for same-sex couples, and describing his own same-sex relationship of 40 years as “a great blessing in life”, he said: “It is always a source of surprise and a little pain that a long-term relationship is thought to threaten marriage. It is not intended to. It suggests a degree of fragility in marriage that is not justified by my experience.”
Speaking for the ICCL on the shadow report, Mark Kelly said there were two areas of particular concern. One related to Article 7 prohibiting torture, and the Irish involvement in the “extraordinary rendition” by the CIA of people to centres where they faced torture. There was now evidence that two of them had been transported on flights that landed in Shannon, he said, and under domestic law such flights could be inspected.
Sam Priestley, of the IPRT, said that, despite numerous criticisms of “slopping out” by international bodies, there was still no commitment from the 26-County administration to the provision of in-cell sanitation for all prisoners.
Michael Farrell, of Flac, said the legal rights body had taken the case of Lydia Foy, a transgendered women, to the 26-County High Court, and it had found that the 26-County state was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights in denying her an identity in line with her new gender.
He also said it was discriminatory that child benefit was available only to “habitual residents” as this meant the children of asylum-seekers and others were unable to participate in many activities with other children. The shadow report also criticises a number of proposals contained in the 26-County Immigration and Residence Bill, including the provision for summary removal, which the report states is incompatible with 26-County state’s obligations under the covenant.

13. UN HUMAN RIGHTS PANEL RAISES FEARS OVER IRISH POLICIES

AN INDEPENDENT UN human rights expert panel raised concerns over some of the 26-County state’s policies on the treatment of asylum-seekers and imprisonment for civil debt in a conference on July 16 in Geneva.
During a two-day review of the 26-County state’s human rights track record, experts from the independent human right committee meeting at the historic Palais Wilson – (the seat of the League of Nations which was superseded after World War II by the UN) voiced their apprehensions over some of the 26-County state’s policies.
An issue of major concern were some of the state’s practices related to the detention of asylum seekers which under the Immigration Act of 2003 had increased the period of detention from 10 up to 21 days.
The detention of asylum applicants in prisons was also critically examined as was the issue of overcrowding and other aspects such as being locked in cells for more than 17 hours a day.
Detention in custody for up to 72 hours under the Offences Against the State Act without charges was also identified as an issue of concern.
The experts took particular interest in the imprisonment of persons on matters related to civil debt which is in breach of the covenant statutes.
Prof Iulia Motoc of Romania, raised issues of when the 26-County state would apply the principle of the covenant to same sex relationships; the problem of domestic violence; problems related to human trafficking and also noted corporal punishment “still happens” in the country.

14. CLEANING FIRM KEPT STAFF IN STABLE

A BRITISH-based cleaning company put its contract employees up in a stable during the Oxegen music festival.
One of its employees, Portuguese woman Sonia Mendes, said she quit in disgust when she arrived at Oxegen on July 8 to find that the 30 Portuguese and Polish contract workers were to be put up in a stable at Punchestown racecourse.
Sonia Mendes told RTÉ Radio on July 14 that when they arrived there were only 20 camp beds for them and that the company involved, Cleanevent, only sourced more beds and blankets after they went to gardaí to complain.
In response, Cleanevent said the stables involved were refurbished and heated and the stable block had facilities and restaurant area capable of producing hot food with an attached recreational area with seating and a television.
The statement denied a suggestion by Sonia Mendes that staff were hungry. Cleanevent said they overbooked their meal allocations by 40 per cent to ensure that everybody got enough.

15. MAYO FAMILY COMPLAINS OVER SHELL SURVEILLANCE

A NORTH Mayo family has made a formal complaint to the 26-County police about constant surveillance of their movements by security staff attached to the Corrib gas project.
Colm Henry, resident of Glengad, says that he and his grandchildren have been filmed by security staff with video cameras every time they walk across family land to a local beach.
Shell EP Ireland has confirmed that surveillance is taking place in Glengad, landfall for the Corrib gas pipeline, but has denied that any film of the children exists.
Colm Henry, a construction worker and musician, says that the security personnel, sometimes wearing camouflage clothing, emerge from what appears to be “foxholes” when he and his grandchildren are walking across a field owned by Mrs Henry’s family.
“We are not opposed to the gas coming ashore if done in a safe way, and our house is the nearest to the Glengad landfall…Problems really began in April when there appeared to be a change of security personnel,” Colm Henry said. “We object to our grandchildren being filmed while walking and paddling, and we will be seeking to have this footage returned to us,” he said.
The company’s external affairs manager, John Egan, said at the weekend the surveillance was needed because of “criminal activity” close to the point where the gas will come ashore. He said that since April there had been six serious incidents involving the burning of nets which had been erected by the company on a cliff to prevent sand-martins nesting there during construction work. John Egan stressed that the company was not suggesting the Henrys were involved in criminal activity, but the “facts were that known objectors had walked through his field in the past”.

16. JOBS TRANSFER - STAFF VOTE FOR INDUSTRIAL ACTION

STAFF AT insurance group Hibernian have voted overwhelmingly for industrial action over the company’s plans to transfer more than 500 posts to India.
The trade union Unite said on July 11 there would be no co-operation with the company on its proposals to transfer work or to move jobs.
Unite national officer Jerry Shanahan said the union was also mandated, if required, to organise one-hour stoppages “to bring the message home that these proposals in their current form are not acceptable”.
“If there are cost/profitability issues to be dealt with, creative solutions can be found on this island. We have already reached agreements in a number of other insurance companies that found themselves in similar situations.
“In light of this mandate, it is now up to current management to commence negotiations with us and this must be with a view to reaching an agreement,” he said.
Jimmy Shanahan also said the revelation that Hibernian’s parent company Aviva had sold its Indian operation to another company there put a new twist on the controversy surrounding the transfer of the jobs to India. He said the transfer of the jobs from Ireland had been a part of that deal.
He criticised the “commoditisation” of jobs, that could then be packaged and sold without any consultation.
Hibernian, in a statement on July 11, said the decision of the members of Unite to vote for industrial action was “disappointing”.
However, it said it welcomed the willingness of Unite to enter talks on maximising the number of sustainable jobs throughout Hibernian’s business in Ireland.

17. GREENS URGE RYAN TO CONSIDER MOVING CORRIB GAS REFINERY

26-COUNTY MINISTER FOR Energy Eamon Ryan has come under renewed pressure from his own party over his stance on the Corrib gas project, following a national Green Party motion on the issue.
The motion, which was passed by a two-thirds majority at the party’s last national executive council in June, calls for relocation of the Corrib gas refinery from its north Mayo site at Bellanaboy.
The motion states the party believes relocation to be the “only way to resolve the Corrib gas issue”. It “strongly recommends” that strategies for examining other potential sites be initiated immediately by an independent body, representative of local communities, the 26-County administration and petroleum companies.
The party’s Mayo constituency, which moved the proposal, estimates the gas field is worth €8 billion-€10 billion due to rising gas prices. The refinery cost is one-fortieth of this, at €200 to €300 million, and relocation would cost under €100 million, it estimates. The current site could be “modified” to become a research centre for renewable energy, it notes.
Green Party chairman Dan Boyle said the party had “admitted defeat in negotiations on the Corrib gas project” during last year’s post-election discussions on forming a coalition 26-County administration. On this basis, the motion was “passed as something we would like to see happen, but which we also realise is unlikely to happen”, Dan Boyle said. Eamon Ryan “has to take the motion into account”, but there was the issue of “State liability”, Dan Boyle said.
Andy Wilson, spokesman for the Green Party Mayo constituency, said he believed there was still an opportunity to act, and the motion was not “aspirational”. Grassroots members are known to be uncomfortable with an apparent U-turn on the project by its parliamentary party.
In February 2007, members unanimously backed a motion at their annual conference promising that the party “in government would not approve of a production pipeline consent being signed as part of the Corrib gas project until the completion of a full independent review of the best development concept for the project”.
In August 2007, two months after entering the 26-County administration, Eamon Ryan said the 26-County administration “could not commit to a proposed review of the entire Corrib gas project”.
A new group representing community leaders in Erris, Pobal Chill Chomain, has already received the backing of Labour Party president Michael D Higgins, Fine Gael TD Michael Ring and Bishop of Killala Dr John Fleming for an alternative location at Glinsk near Ballycastle on the north Mayo coast.

18. GÉARGHÁ LE BEARTAS OIDEACHAIS NUA, ARSA AN CONRADH

Tá Conradh na Gaeilge ag lorg cruinniú leis an 26-Contae Aire Batt O’Keeffe chun moltaí an Chonartha i dtaca le múineadh na Gaeilge sa chóras oideachas a phlé sna sála ar thuairisc de chuid chigirí na Ranna Oideachais agus Eolaíochta féin a foilsíodh inné, 15 Iúil 2008, a thug le fios go raibh beagnach 25% de mhúinteoirí bunscoile na tíre seo gan cumas sásúil Gaeilge acu agus nach múintear a dhóthain Gaeilge do dhá thrian de mhic léinn ag déanamh an Teastais Shóisearaigh sa mheánscoil.

Dúirt Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, Uachtarán Chonradh na Gaeilge: “Táimid ag súil go dtarraingeoidh taighde óna Roinn Oideachais féin aird ar an bhfadhb phráinneach seo a bhaineann le múineadh na Gaeilge sa chóras oideachais faoi láthair, agus bheadh an Conradh lánsásta comhoibriú leis an Roinn maidir le beartas úr oideachais a fhorbairt don teanga amach anseo.”

Is léir don Chonradh go bhfuil géarghá múineadh agus foghlaim na Gaeilge a fhorbairt ag an trí leibhéal ar bhonn iomlanaíoch, .i. sna bunscoileanna, ag an dara leibhéal agus sna coláistí oiliúna araon. Molann Conradh na Gaeilge:
Go múinfí ábhar amháin de bhreis ar an nGaeilge – ábhar spreagúil spraíúil dá leithéid corpoideachas, drámaíocht nó ealaín - trí Ghaeilge do gach dalta bunscoile (“an páirt-thumoideachas”) agus go bhforbrófaí seo ar bonn píolótach leis an tacaíocht agus an oiliúint agus na háiseanna cuí;
Go múinfí gach ábhar oide trí Ghaeilge i dtimpeallacht lán-Ghaeilge, ag foghlaim tríd an tumoideachas agus faoin tumoideachas, ar feadh tréimhse bliana acadúla le linn a gcúrsa oiliúna chun ionchur ar thumoideachas agus ar pháirt-thumoideachas a éascú; agus
Go gcuirfidh béim ar an nGaeilge labhartha trí dhá shiollabas a fhorbairt don Ghaeilge sa mheánscoil le dhá pháipéar scrúdaithe ar leith don Ardteist agus don Teastas Sóisearach
Teanga na Gaeilge le déanamh ag gach mac léinn dara leibhéil .i. múineadh agus ag measúnú na scileanna tuisceana, labhartha, léite agus scríofa agus an Fráma Coiteann Eorpach mar thagairt;
Litríocht na Gaeilge le déanamh ag mic léinn ardleibhéil amháin agus le múineadh go comhtháite le Teanga na Gaeilge ag an leibhéal cuí.

Creideann an Conradh go bhfuil gá le coláiste oiliúna lán-Ghaelach a bhunú freisin agus tá cruinniú á éileamh acu leis an Aire O’Keeffe leis na moltaí oideachais uile a phlé a luaithe agus is féidir.

NEW VISION URGENTLY NEEDED FOR TEACHING IRISH, SAYS CONRADH NA GAEILGE

Conradh na Gaeilge is seeking a meeting with 26-County Minister Batt O’Keeffe to discuss the Conradh’s recommendations to improve the teaching of Irish in the wake of a report by Department of Education and Science inspectors published on July 18, 2008, indicating that almost 25% of primary teachers are deficient in Irish and that two-thirds of students doing the Junior Certificate in secondary school are not taught enough Irish.

Dáithí Mac Cárthaigh, President of Conradh na Gaeilge said: “We hope that this research coming from within the Department of Education will highlight the urgent problem regarding the teaching of Irish in our education system at present, and the Conradh would welcome this opportunity to develop an innovative new education policy for the language together with the Department.”

It is obvious to the Conradh that the learning and the teaching of Irish must be developed at the three levels in a holistic manner, i.e. in the primary schools, at second level and in the teacher training colleges inclusive. Conradh na Gaeilge recommends:
That one other stimulating subject – such as physical education, drama or art - along with Irish, should be taught through Irish (“part-immersion education”) to all primary school pupils to encourage students to bring the language to life in the classroom, initially developed on a pilot basis with appropriate training and support facilities provided;
That all trainee primary school teachers should be taught through Irish in an all-Irish environment, learning through and about immersion education, for the equivalent of one academic year of their training course to facilitate the inclusion of total- and part-immersion education;
That extra emphasis should be put placed on oral Irish by developing two syllabi for Irish at second level with two separate examination papers for the Leaving and Junior Certificate:
Irish Language syllabus for all students i.e. to teach and assess the skills of understanding, speaking, reading and writing using the Common European Framework as reference; and
Irish Literature to be taken by higher level students only and to be taught in tandem with the Irish Language syllabus at an appropriate level.

Conradh na Gaeilge also believes there is a need to establish an all-Irish language training college and is asking for a meeting to discuss their various recommendations to improve the teaching of Irish across the board as soon as possible.

ENDS