Emma O'Brien's Soundslide

Rachael Power's St Patrick's Day Soundslide

A Long Overdue Apology

One may think that the letter from the pope reflects positively on the church but I see it differently. Religiosity and Spirituality have been in steady decline over the past century with the emergence of scientific knowledge. People's level of faith has shown a rapid decrease in the past two decades which makes me wonder about the arrival of Pope Benedict's letter. Why was this apology not delivered many years ago when the abuse was made known to Cardinals and higher officials in the church?

The way I see it this apology in no way justifies what happened and because of the delayed actions of the church, many more innocent people have been the victims of abuse. It seems that this apology is a plea for survival of the church knowing that many of its followers have walked out. Personally I was brought up with a very Christian background with religious values instilled in my childhood but as I grew older and became aware of the clerical child abuse in the church I turned away and lost my faith. Now I don't know what to believe and those weekly Sunday masses have become something I attend now and then to keep my dad happy.

There is little religious significance in mass for many people anymore and numbers are dropping continuously. Many officials of the church covered up abuse scandals signing secrecy oaths. This is nearly as bad as carrying out the act themselves. To think that the priests who weren't abusing were covering up for those who were is revolting and it allowed for sick individuals like Brendan Smyth to abuse numerous victims. Cardinal Brady was aware that this evil man was re-offending time after time and he allowed it to carry on. He said himself he would resign if he was made aware of abuse and did nothing about it. Why hasn't he resigned?

The worst thing of all is that certain members of the clergy hold a view that there was no law stating that clergy members were permitted to report to authorities. So do they think it's justifiable not to act on something that they know is wrong because the law didn't specifically say "if you know of abuse, report it to the authorities", and since when did the church adhere to the law. They were the law in Ireland for a very long reign of terror up until recently. This apology just doesn't cut it for me. It is too late. I think the church did nothing because they thought they didn't have to but now that they have lost their power in modern society they fear for the existence of Christianity or at least its present form.

It is too late for an apology and maybe for the best. Religion will still persist, just not in its previous twisted form and I think there is still hope for all those abused who still search for meaning. Maybe they can find answers in science or in new religious movements. Maybe the Vatican need to do a little more than apologise. Perhaps it is time for a Vatican III.

SOS

Irish journalism's failings are becoming more obvious

Originally posted at tomfelle.com

A FEW days ago I happened to bump into a former colleague who had left journalism to enter the public relations industry.

Over a coffee, we discussed several issues - the good old days, the not so good old days, the latest insider gossip, how our respective career paths had diverged, and what the future held for both of us. We also, perhaps not surprisingly, discussed at length our own former industry, the newspaper industry, specifically Irish journalism, and shared our views on what we thought was wrong with it currently.

I climbed on to my soapbox and told him that I continue to believe that newspapers have no God given right to exist. Many have gone the way of the dodo, and some Irish papers may well soon follow unless they wake up to a number of realities, including changing reader habits, the need to be much more creative about the way news is covered and what constitutes news, the need to build a brand across platforms and carry audiences from the web to print and visa versa, all in all the explosive power of the Internet and new media. Journalists also need to face up to commercial realities.

In response he said he was shocked at how easy it was for him to get a press release into a newspaper, and how easy it was to massage news in a certain direction, to the benefit of his clients. The phrase “Apple A, Apple C, Apple V” may mean nothing to most ordinary readers, but in journalistic parlance it is shorthand for lazy journalism, copying and pasting from a press release into a news story. The practice, he said, was so widespread that very often only marginal changes are made to press releases, which are topped and tailed, a byline added, and placed straight on to news pages and passed off as verified fact. He wasn’t complaining, he makes a living from it, but even he sounded shocked at how little independent questioning by journalists there is of fairly obvious spin. 

The reasons are many: less journalists working longer hours, lower standards, little or no investment in investigative reporting, all caused, in the main, by the recession and the collapse of property advertising. Ironically, it was the newspaper industry which in part fuelled the house prise inflation fiasco, and its journalists are rightly accused of not investigating or independently reporting on the property industry. The counter argument is that the public weren’t interested and those who did were roundly shouted down (Sunday Business Post deputy editor Richard Curran, through his RTE investigation ‘Futureshock’ was one of the few journalists to question the sustainability of house price inflation and warned of an impending crash in 2007, but the program was subject to a barrage of attacks and criticism).

Gene Kerrigan, writing in today’s Sunday Independent, makes compelling arguments about the failure of journalists, and the profession, to call it like it is, and fight PR spin. I’m lucky enough to teach some of the brightest, hungriest and most enthusiastic young trainee reporters in the country at the University of Limerick. The former Irish Independent executive editor Philip Molloy once told them they were the “future of Irish Journalism”. As part of their course they are taught to hold power to account, to ask the tough questions, uncover the facts, and report them in the public interest. Because if they don’t, no one will. 

If Kerrigan is right, then it seems those basic ideals have been forgotten by most of the Irish news media.

One Saturday night at Mass..and Pope Benedict XVI's letter

I sat in Mass tonight and listened with interest to the homily. Some of you may be thinking, why is she blogging about a homily at Mass? But those of you who have heard the news recently would know that all priests were reading out the letter from Pope Benedict XVI at weekend Masses, in which the Pope expressed his sadness and declared his apologies to those affected by clerical sex abuse. Pope Benedict XVI made a lot of important points throughout this letter, including how he is pleading with those who were abused not to give up hope, but that he fully accepts that what happened is unacceptable.

A lot of things went through my head as I listened to my local priest reading the summarised version of the letter (those who had a keener interest in delving more into this letter had to access it through the local diocesan website). Firstly, I would have to applaud Pope Benedict in publishing this particular letter, as it shows that this has affected those internationally, not just in Ireland. However, I also feel that just because this letter has been published doesn’t mean that everything is now perfect again. This letter may bring some form of justice to those who have been affected and abused, but what difference does it make? It won’t undo the past; it won’t change the devastating events that took place.

Worryingly, what my local priest said towards the end of the homily angered me a lot. “Out of the 360 priests who have served in our area in the last 50 years, only five have been convicted.” Only five? That’s five too many. That’s five people’s lives ruined, and maybe more. That’s five people who will never be the same again, thanks to the disgraceful antics that have occurred over the past few decades. Their lives are ruined, thanks to the vicious abuse that they had to endure from these clerical abusers. So how can this priest say that there were only five convicted of clerical abuse?

Fair enough, all priests are not sex abusers, and I know that. I understand that they are all tarnished with the same brush, and that must be hard, but what can they expect? A priest is somebody that a person should be able to trust, not somebody who could change your life – for worse, not for better. When I first heard of all of the clerical abuse scandals, I was shocked and frankly disgusted by what had happened. For this to happen in our country is simply not good enough. I have always been of a strong Christian belief, and I suppose I still am. However, what has happened over the last few decades has made me really question my beliefs. I simply don’t know what to think about the Catholic Church anymore. How can I believe that everything is perfect? Because the stark reality is that it is not, and will not be for some time.

One must wonder what the future holds for the Catholic Church, but to be honest, it looks nothing but grim.

Here is the link for the letter from the Pope..it makes interesting reading..
http://www.corkandross.org/2010_papal_letter.jsp
SW

Review of the LG KS 360 Mobile Phone

The LG KS360 mobile phone appealed to me from the second it grabbed my attention. With its QWERTY keyboard built to make texting easier and faster, it certainly was a phone which intrigued me. Launched in 2008, it was a good seller, with enticing features such as 2mp camera, touch screen dialling and Bluetooth. It also has quite a large screen, and it holds memory cards. However, I was one of those who bought this particular phone, and sadly it didn’t reach the heights at which I had hoped it would. I felt that there were more negatives than positives with this phone. There is quite a low internal memory (15MB), there is no headphone socket and the QWERTY keyboard becomes quite irritating.

For the first few days, I constantly used the phone, and at the start, I didn’t realise anything wrong with it. However, as time went on, I began increasingly frustrated with the QWERTY keyboard, which slid to the side when used to text. When I bought this phone, I thought that this feature was interesting and different; one in which I felt I could get used to. Alas, I was wrong. After a few weeks, I realised that I had become quite fed up with this phone, but could not justify buying a new model of phone, as there was nothing physically wrong with the phone...at the time!

As time progressed, my patience wore thinner and thinner with this phone. Letters seemed to jump spaces while I text, and the phone switched itself off fairly regularly over a short period of time. It was sent away, and I expected it to be in perfect working order after this. However, this unfortunately was not the case. After a month or so, it began to switch off unnecessarily yet again. I am now pretty certain that my patience will not last much longer with this phone, as it certainly hasn’t lived up to the expectation that I had wished it had.

To conclude, the LG KS 360 does have some good, enticing features, but to be honest I would highly recommend customers to not buy this phone. Believe me, the fascination of using a QWERTY keyboard to text will wear off quite rapidly!

For more info, check out a more detailed review at this link, which coincidently disagrees with my opinions. It’s worth a glance!

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/lg/lgks360/lgks360reviews/105137/lg_ks360_review.html

Pictures are courtesy of Google Images

SW

Celebrating abroad

St Patrick’s Day came and went, and for most it was spent with family and friends enjoying the craic and having a few drinks.


Not, of course, for our esteemed politicians. A mass exodus from the Dail took place in the days before March 17, when our top ministers and our junior ministers left the country to “promote” Ireland abroad.

These junkets (politicians prefer to use vocabulary such as “fact-finding missions” and “marketing drives”) have been an annual event for years, but came under scrutiny this year due to the disastrous state of our economy. An Taoiseach Brian Cowen responded to criticism when announcing the itinerary for his ministers saying the focus would be firmly on creating jobs and that costs would be kept to a minimum.

So, they planned to keep costs to a minimum. But were the trips necessary in the first place? These trips have been taking place on March 17 for years, and the same mantra has always been issued: “it’s about creating jobs.” If it was all about creating jobs in the past, then why do we find ourselves with mass unemployment? Why can’t we attract new businesses to our country? What were our ministers doing on all these trips in the past if the new jobs they spoke about still haven’t reached us?

This year, Brian Cowen was of course in Washington for his exclusive meeting with President Obama. In the picture above, he looks like the cat that’s got the cream, seated in front of the White House fireplace, with the most powerful man and woman in the world. Michael Martin was also in the American capital. Mary Coughlan visited Germany, Dermot Ahern went to France, Noel Dempsey to Atlanta, Brendan Smith to Italy, Eamon Ryan took in India and Singapore, Batt O’Keeffe visited Japan & Korea, Eamon O’Cuiv saw Poland & Austria and Mary Hanafin ventured to Philadelphia. For a full list see here.

Our controversial Health Minister, obviously confused with how long it takes to fly to New Zealand, left for her visit almost two weeks before March 17. Presumably with all the visits she says she has been making and all the meetings which have supposedly been held, we can look forward to an influx of tourists from New Zealand to boost our ailing tourism industry, and enjoy the benefits all the New Zealand businesses will bring to us when they set up all around the country.

Just in case any part of the world was left unconquered by the government on St Patrick’s Day, our junior ministers (most of us would struggle to even name or recognise two or three) made visits to the UK, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Canada, Dubai, Australia, China, Vietnam and Russia. Our good friend Peter Power made his way to South Africa.

The publicity that Ireland got this week is the envy of every other country in the world. Our ministers have met some of the most powerful political and business leaders in the world. Our country has featured on news bulletins, talk shows and just about every other type of programme on almost every TV channel in every country. Google redesigned their home page in our honour for the day. The streets of some of the world’s biggest cities were shut for parades. It must be unbearably frustrating for other countries to see the preferential treatment which we are lucky to get. So have our minister’s capitalised on this?
With supposedly such a strong focus on tourism, creating jobs and trying to recover our country from near extermination, perhaps our politicians have worked extra hard this year. With all the meetings and functions which it’s claimed have been held in these countries, surely we need not have any worries about the future of our economy…

Wishful thinking. KF

Review of He's Just Not That Into You

He’s Just Not That Into You is a 2009 film based in Baltimore in the United States. Featuring an all star cast including Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston, this film follows the lives of a group of people who navigate through their various relationships and learn the true meaning of love. One would have to concentrate while watching this film, as there are many characters involved, all of which have important roles to play in the film. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) is the girl who waits for the guy to call, yet Alex (Justin Long) wants her to stop waiting by the phone. Beth (Aniston) wants to marry her long term boyfriend Neil (Affleck), but he doesn’t share the same sentiments. Ben (Cooper) is married to Janine (Connelly), but he finds himself attracted to Anna (Johansson). Confused already?!

The film is based on the hugely popular bestseller from the writers of none other than Sex and the City, Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. As rottentomatoes.com say, He’s Just Not That Into You tells the stories of a group of interconnected, Baltimore-based twenty and thirty-somethings as they navigate their various relationships from the shallow end of the dating pool through the deep, murky waters of married life, trying to read the signs from the opposite sex...and hoping to be the exceptions to the “no-exceptions” rule.

I found the film really enjoyable as it was a romantic comedy, but one in which a lot of people could relate to, especially if you are that girl who waits by the phone for days for the male in question to call! It’s a film that will make you both laugh and cry, and is one that I would recommend for a chilled out evening.

For more reviews, check out the link below..

http://ie.rottentomatoes.com/m/hes_just_not_that_into_you/
Pictures are courtesy of Google Images
 
SW

A critical review of Luigi Malone's, Limerick City

Luigi Malone’s is situated on O’Connell Street, in the heart of Limerick City. As you enter the premises, you are welcomed by cheery staff members who navigate you to your table. When one reads the menu at first glance, one could not help but be impressed by the wide variety of foods available. Ranging from succulent chicken wings, to delicious burgers, to enticing pastas, Luigi Malone’s caters for all foodies. After contemplating my decision for quite a while, I finally chose the buffalo wings to share with my boyfriend for starters, followed by Malone’s Big Hamburger for main course. Both were fairly reasonably priced, with the large portion of Buffalo Wings priced at €12.50, but the burger was slightly overpriced at €13.90. To be honest however, both were well worth the price. Even from the look at the starters when they were brought to the table, one knew that these would be extremely tasty; and indeed they were. The burger was just as good, as I struggled to even come close to finishing such a delicious dish. We decided to forfeit the option of dessert as we were both so full after such a pleasing, and great value meal. The price for a three course meal ranges from €20 to €40, which is reasonable in my opinion. I would certainly recommend Luigi Malone’s for a great feed! Check out their website for more details.

http://www.luigimalones.com/

SW

Drinking culture in Ireland

 "For one knows that, with the help of this 'drowner of cares' one can at any time withdraw from the pressure of reality and find refuge in a world of one's own with better conditions of sensibility. As is well known, it is precisely this property of intoxicants which also determines their danger and their injuriousness. They are responsible, in certain circumstances, for the useless waste of a large quota of energy which might have been employed for the improvement of the human lot."

Sigmund Freud , from 'Civilisation and Its Discontents'.

In the following blog, Neil Treacy, Denise Calnan, Aisling Hussey Sharon Whelton and Orla Walsh talk to gardaí politicians, health professionals and representatives of the alcohol trade in an effort to uncover Ireland's attitude to alcohol.
Promoting culture change in peoples attitude to alcohol abuse, with a view to prompting a re-appraisal of some drinking behaviours and the damage they can cause to innocent third-parties. This is the focus of a new hard-hitting advertising campaign by the alcohol social responsibility organisation, drinkaware.ie.




In the gloomy aftermath of a merry St Patrick’s Day, streets all over Ireland clog with wounded commuters. Yesterday’s drinking is taking its toll on many, splitting headaches and foggy memory is the name of the game today.

But when the headaches clear and the memory returns, how will we look back on the festivities. Is St Patrick’s Day an occasion of pride, or is it just another excuse to drown our sorrows?

The UL Collective speaks to several figures from around the country as we delve into Ireland’s drinking culture with one simple question; why?

A spokesman for the Garda Press Office has stated that despite the latest drinking habits around St Patrick’s Day, public arrest figures have been relatively normal. According to figures released by the CSO, public order offence increased steadily from 2004 to 2008. However, the figure fell from 61,818 to 56,979 in 2009. Arrests for disorderly conduct also fell from 53,421 to 49,155. View the report here.

“There haven’t been remarkable arrest figures over the last few days,” he said.

“St Patrick’s Day has come and gone quite quickly. There are public order offences and arrests every day, so this year has been relatively quiet.”

These opinions were seconded by Offaly publican Fergal Quinn, who described how this year’s festivities were quieter than usual.

“It was quieter than the last two years. People were staying around for about 2 hours and then going home. There'd be more people drinking at home,” he said.

Labour party health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan TD feels that St Patrick’s day isn’t the real issue when it comes to alcohol, but rather our everyday attitude is where the real problem lies.

“The fun in parades has nothing to do with alcohol,” O’Sullivan said. “I feel that there is no harm in having a drink or two.”

Celebrating our Irishness is important to O’Sullivan, who feels that highlighting our heritage is vital for the many around the world who are proud of their Irish roots.

“I think that it is more important to those abroad, rather than those at home. St Patricks Day is an opportunity to highlight this celebration abroad.

“In Ireland, you see how much fun children have at the parades. It is a day to celebrate, but it is also a day of relaxation!”

Echoing Jan O’Sullivan’s sentiments, Paul Lee of the University of Limerick Students Union said that the problem is our attitudes to alcohol in general, rather than just students.

“Well, I don’t think this problem is really specific to just students to be honest. Any event in this country is a matter of mass alcohol consumption. The whole fact that a Bank Holiday falls mid-week is always an excuse not to attend work the next morning. It’s not specific to students. Even the corporations in the cities had problems regarding alcohol, like requests in Dublin to close the off-licences during parades. I don’t think it is fair to target just schools for this problem. “

Local Fine Gael, Ger Fahey felt that the festivities in Limerick were a successful family event, one the city should be proud of.

“From what I saw in Limerick it was a great family day, it was brilliant. All the participants too, I mean from young children to teenagers to the adults. The streets of Limerick had all young children and families, even families in the pubs too. I was in the Savoy myself and I think all the pubs catered for the family event, there were plenty of families in the Savoy. The restaurants had special menus- everyone catered perfectly for the event, a great day for all the family really.

He added, regarding the increase in public offences on national holidays, “I mean, maybe so. I was listening to the local news this morning, the local radio, and I didn’t hear of any major incidents really. I wasn’t in the city myself but I’m sure there were no incidents. I mean, maybe it was the fact that St. Patrick’s Day fell on a Wednesday this year, people would have had work etcetera the next morning; that may have influenced the situation, they could have gone home that bit earlier. In all, I certainly didn’t see any irresponsibility.

Bishop of Limerick, Willie Walsh said: “There are people who use St Patrick’s Day as a statement of being Irish and they go overboard, but people can go overboard at anytime.

“Young people tend to experiment because they don’t have a good values system. Those with faith would not abuse alcohol. It’s never good to misuse substances like alcohol; it’s bad for the mind and the health.”

Fianna Fail TD Niall Collins stated that he feels the country as a whole is improving in its attitude to alcohol;

‘I don’t think there is that emphasis anymore, I think society is more drink-aware now. It used to be worse maybe five or ten years ago. I think society is becoming more health-aware and becoming more aware of the side effects of excessive alcohol. I mean, we’re not there yet. We do have a long way to go. If there was a barometer of European countries we’re certainly still near the top.

[Regarding the increase in public offences on national holidays] Well, they wouldn’t all be drink-related. I mean alcohol is certainly part of the problem, but I believe now there are other substances involved [in these offences] too’.

A 2008 report into alcohol abuse in Ireland reveals that this problem is widespread in Ireland. The report by the HSE also stresses the negative impact alcohol abuse has on not only the drinker but on those around him.

The HSE report discovered that over one in four (28%) of all injury attendances in the accident and emergency departments were alcohol related. View the report here.

Jerry Dunne, Chief Executive of Irish Association of Suicidology, said that alcohol was a major factor in cases of self harm.

When asked if there was an increase in calls to the Irish Association of Suicidology in the run up to St Patricks Day, Mr Dunne stated that the association had no access to this information, as they are not a helpline.

“There have been 11,500 cases of self-harm yearly,” he said, “and a considerable proportion of these cases are related to alcohol.”

“This is an issue with people taking their own lives. Recently, people working in the medical area have stated that there is a greater level of alcohol consumption in Ireland, which of course is worrying for all.”

Post-Avatar 3D Blues

  It would be a fair assumption to say that almost everyone has seen Avatar and for the most part saw it in 3D.I did, on its release day and I was snared in its trap, marvelling in the depth of field and striking realism the three dimensions delivered. I wasn’t blown away by the films story or acting which could merely be described as solid but by the sheer technical excellence of how James Cameron had put his fantasy world together.

Consequently I became a convert to the 3D cause and began to tell anyone who would listen just how much 3D added to the experience of seeing a movie in the cinema. I eagerly looked up the next films that would be presented in this marvellous new way and looked forward to a day when this would be the standard.

It was I felt, a win-win scenario for both the audiences who were being served up something they truly couldn’t get in their own home and for the studios who had found a way of making that illegal torrent file look a lot less attractive. After all to see Avatar with poor quality picture and sound, on a small screen and not in 3D, well, what’s the point?

Unfortunately this cinematic bliss couldn’t last and in fact lasted only as long as it took to see my second film under stereoscopic glasses.

A week ago I went with my family to see Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland in the Galway Eye Cinema, the very same screen in which we saw Cameron’s effort last December. We had planned the trip a few weeks ago and had put the extra money aside for a rare treat and 3D aside we were excited to see a new Burton film especially one that looked to be so well  suited to his sensibilities.

To say we were disappointed is an understatement because Alice is a humourless studio product assembled with stale imagination and with nothing of the source material shining through the CGI gloop of animated creations.

Worse still, the 3D was atrociously bad.

Blurry and dim, the extra dimension did nothing to enhance the experience and with no real depth the different elements of the picture just seemed to float around and I found myself taking the glasses off to see if there was something wrong. There wasn’t and a dawning realisation hit me, I’ve been conned.

For the record, we spent extra on travel, extra on the price of admission and extra time  driving to Galway to see this film, but to have an experience made worse by the very thing we went out of our way for was just crushing.

Now don’t get me wrong, 3D is a technique and I would in no way expect it to save a bad movie and to reiterate Alice in Wonderland is a bad movie but for the 3D to be done so poorly and by the biggest studio in the world was for me unforgivable.

I was only after I got home that I discovered that Alice had not be shot in 3D,  as was the case with Avatar  but that it had been retrofitted to play in 3D screens and after seeing the terrible results I feel that audiences could, like me, be completely turned off by a slew of shoddy film with shoddy 3D that are bound to come as the astronomical amounts of money that Avatar and Alice are making are duly counted.

The whole debacle serves as a reminder that bad films cannot be improved  just by repackaging them in 3D and that the goodwill of people to pay extra for such things will be short lived if the films and the presentation do not live up to the dazzle of Avatar.

Given that not one film that has been shot in 3D will see the inside of cinemas his year, the situation does not look good and with the news that the upcoming Harry Potter and Clash of the Titans have been retrofitted for 3D, the party for the studios and audiences could be over before its even had a chance to get started.

I might give the glasses another go when a real 3D movie arrives but for now I think I’ll stick with the traditional screens and keep my money because on recent evidence it’s just not worth it.

PS

I nearly have my own blog up and running and ill post the details soon

LS

What it means to be Irish

THE global Irish community are getting ready to celebrate St Patrick's Day, but at home history repeats itself as the economic recession, mass unemployment and emigration have returned. The day is celebrated around the world as the day to be Irish, but what does that really mean? The UL Collective asks eight local Limerick Irish politicians, church leaders, sports personalities and "new" Irish emigrants about what being Irish really means to them.








By Kieran Foley, Jason Kennedy, Jean O’Donovan, Janna Murphy, Kelly Moran, David Kelly, Niall Kelly


Padraig Connelly, Former mayor of Galway

“It’s important to celebrate our Irishness, the best of Irish culture. This needs to be expressed in a public way,” he said.

However, he believes the festival has been marred of late by the consumption of alcohol.

“The Irish culture seems to be to celebrate something with alcohol. We need to get away from that. We need to celebrate with colour, with art, show off our cities, towns,” he said.

He believes groups and participants in parades do a good job, but some people need to be more involved. “Many lack cohesion and co-ordination. We need to get more businesses on board. Many don’t show themselves off.”

“They celebrate way better abroad,” he said. “ I’ve been to America, they put us to shame. They are so professional, so Irish.”


Bernie Whelan, the London Irish Women’s Centre.

The organisation participated in London’s "Go Green" parade, which was held yesterday. They decorated bicycle rickshaws and also held a stall in Trafalgar Square where they had their own products on display, such as books and green pashminas.

“I think the women got a lot out of it,” said Ms Whelan.

St Patrick's Day is still an important festival to be celebrated as Ms Whelan believes the Irish community in London is more isolated than ever before. “Being Irish isn’t as recognisable anymore. It’s second generation now, they have assimilated.”

The centre is involved in lots of other activites including helping specific disadvantaged groups.“We do lots of work with members of the Irish travelling community in London, and we give them councilling and welfare advice."

Ms Whelan believes it's very important that Irish people can see others from their native country. She believes St Patrick’s Day has become a multi-cultural event, but is still essentially Irish.


Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael TD

"Being Irish to me I suppose is a sense of a long family tradition. All my family is Irish, going back generations, my grandparents and my great grandparents. I think there is a sense of family and belonging. I suppose it’s like being part of a team if you could use that word. Yeah, I’m very proud of my heritage."


Henry Healy, Barck Obama’s 8th cousin
“For me, being Irish is about the sense of pride in our culture and our history and honouring the people who fought to make this country what it is today. This St. Patrick’s Day, I’ll be helping to organise the local parade. Like I do every year.”


Michael Noonan Fine Gael TD
“St Patrick’s Day means more to those abroad I think than it does to those at home. I will be in Limerick for the parade, I always go to the military mass in Sarsfield Barracks, and then on to the parade. Every nation has their own feeling of pride. There is a strong cultural feeling in Ireland”.


Dan Lynch, Chairman Portumna GAA Club
“The GAA is very much part of the community. It brings a sense of being and togetherness. With the local parish and county behind us, it shows it is not all about doom and gloom. Winning the All-Ireland Club Hurling Final brings great pride to those loyal supporters at home and abroad. Their support is something very special and the players know and respect that. The GAA has a very special place in Irish identity.
“The wide space in Croke Park will suit us, there will be gaps and opportunities for goals. It’s a 50/50 game, but our experience should stand to us. A mistake could be costly. Our lads will play with pride and passion, and that is what it is all about,” he added.


Siobhan O’Connor, Doras Lumni
Doras Lumni, is a non profit organisation operating in Limerick for the past ten years. Their aim is to protect the rights and culture of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
Siobhan O Connor, advocacy campaigns officer would like Ireland to be more open and inclusive, skin colour and culture shouldn’t matter. “There are no limits on what it is to be Irish,” she said.

Sophie Lee Fadlallah and her mother Bridget now live between Morocco and Ireland. Bridget had to convert to Islam to marry a man from Morocco.
“With me being Catholic and my mother Muslim I don’t think religion matters in Irish culture these days. I think being Irish is more of an attitude than a culture, we don’t really have many things that re distinct about us as a nation anymore,” she said.

In the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day debate is ongoing in Limerick city on whether traditional Catholic-oriented public drinking laws should be bended to allow rugby fans celebrate in pubs on Good Friday, April 2nd.
Last Monday members of the Gardaí and Limerick publicans met to discuss a possible relaxation of the laws on the day which, traditionally, fasting, which includes abstaining from meat and alcohol has been observed for decades.
In a country more secular now than ever, the question remains, should Ireland still hold onto its traditional Catholic laws? This is particularly important today given that we now live in a multicultural society.

Fr Gabriel, Franciscan Friars of Moyross
“In a country that’s been historically Catholic since the evangelisation of the church, it’s hard to separate any definition of term ‘Irish’ from religion. I don’t agree with rugby fans going to the pub after the match”. Observing Good Friday is now losing its meaning, it’s become a day disconnected from prayer, fasting or focusing on higher things”.

Broad Daylight

I was shocked this week after reading an article reporting the rape of a woman in Kanturk Co.Cork.
The young mother was brutally attacked in a public toilet facility on Church Street of the town at around 2:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon.
The woman had been jogging in the town park prior to the incident. She decided to use the public toilet across the road before collecting her young child from a near-by primary school.
The attacker followed her into the toilet and grabbed her from behind. He then proceeded to rape her.
Isn’t it terrible that such a disgusting crime can happen in a small town like Kanturk in the middle of the afternoon in a building so close to the busy street? It shocks me.

None of us can imagine how difficult it must be to come back from such an atrocious sexual violation unless we have experienced it ourselves. The media cover the incident as a news story but there are real lives that were cracked and broken on Tuesday afternoon as a result of one man’s crime. It is horrible to look at this incident as an outsider but imagine how difficult it would be to face if the victim was your wife, friend, mother or daughter. It is an impossible situation.

Women in the town are afraid to walk alone. Teachers won’t let their pupils out of their sight. Parents are warning their teenagers. And they have every reason to be fearful.
It is heartbreaking to think that our society has reached the point where women have to look over their shoulders in the middle of the afternoon.

Everyone is thinking 'Thank God it wasn't me.' But the thing is, it could have been.

The most terrible thing about the incident is that her attacker, like so many before him, will get a short sentence of three years or less. He will then be released with the opportunity to continue with his normal life. Will his victim ever get this chance? Probably not.
The details of that day will impact her life long after the injuries heal and the rape is old news. But forget about that.

I’m sure he’ll learn his lesson, right?
PM

Film of the Week

Brains and Brawn from the 
Bourne Team



 Green Zone
114mins, 15A
Directed by Paul Greengrass
Staring: Matt Damon, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Issacs,Greg Kinnear

Paul Greengrass the director of the new action thriller Green Zone has often been referred to as a director of two different kinds of film. There is the intelligent and political Bloody Sunday and United 93 on one hand and on the other there are the blockbuster Bourne films which have redefined what audiences expect from an action film.

So when he presents a new film the inevitable question is, which Greengrass has shown up? Thankfully with this breathless and kinetic film the answer is both.

Green Zone follows Chief Roy Miller (Matt Damon) just after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 as he is charged with finding the smoking gun of WMDs that were used as justification for the war. When he and his team come up empty yet again he begins to question the veracity of the intelligence he is being given and guided by Brendan Gleeson’s shifty CIA operative he goes off mission to find the answers to why he went to war in the first place.

Miller is no Bourne and is as frail as any other soldier on the ground but just like Bourne he is a man who needs to get his questions answered. Interspersed with the exceptionally well staged action those questions are asked almost of the audience as culpability is pointed directly at a US administration that was too far in to be distracted by trivial things such as justification and the journalists who failed to check their sources information or question their motives.

The films brilliance lies in the way its political and critical approach to its subject matter air woven into the story which never sacrifices pace or the clarity of the story in order to lay blame but rather it uses action and intelligence to deliver it all in an entertaining and accessible whole.

There really is no better director working today that understands action cinema and Greengrass  uses handheld cameras to place us in the heart of the events while never allowing the jumping and spinning to undermine our sense of what is going on. An extended chase that takes up the last third is dazzling with its expanding scale yet never loses sight of Miller and his increasingly desperate mission.

Full credit must go to Matt Damon who invests Miller with a humanity that is at odds with the just doing a job attitude of most of the soldiers and allows the film to ask the tough questions without being preachy. Damon is ably supported by a slew of characters actors such as Greg Kinnear and Jason Isaacs sporting an epic moustache as the ruthless Special Forces commander.

Even without its political aspects the film would be wildly successful as the plot and action make the two hour running time feel like half that. Green Zone treads a fine line between fact and fiction but by doing so it makes the controversies surrounding the war wholly accessible and that is quite an achievement as it lives up to its blockbuster with brains tagline.

LS

Time to go back to teaching, Mary

"Only two" people have been misdiagnosed in the Tallaght X-Ray scandal where thousands of X-rays are in a backlog, unreviewed because of a lack of radiologists at Tallaght. They won't be reviewed until May, and until then, thousands of women who may have breast cancer will go untreated.


Only two, the words uttered by our forever tactful Taoiseach as he tried in vain to defend the Minister for Health at the Dáil on Wednesday. Only two people, one of which is dead and the other of whose health hangs severly in the balance.

 Of course, the Minister herself, who knew about this for a long while, was nowhere to be seen, conveniently on another excursion - this time to New Zealand.

This will round the number of her nice little "fact finding missions" off to roughly 16. Between 2006 - 2008 she worked up a hefty little bill of €750,000 of our money using the government jet.

That's only the jet. Not to mention the FAS scandal she was involved in in recent years where she had a grand old time getting her hair and nails done (not much good it did her either).

Personally, I am totally with Enda Kenny and Eamonn Gilmore and probably with the rest of the country in asking - when the hell is she going to get sacked?!

Not only is it madness to have a non healthcare expert as the Minister for Health (how on earth a secondary school teacher is meant to know anything about running a country's healthcare I'll never understand) but she's making a complete mockery of her post.

Imagine that €750,000 pumped into hiring radiologists for Tallaght. One person would not be dead, and another couple of thousand would be currently recieving treatment for their breast cancer, or would have the assurance of knowing that they are perfectly healthy.

I think people's lives are far, far more important than getting your hair done and going to the superbowl, but I guess that's just me, I'm not a TD.

If this happened in most other countries, she'd be out on her ear. I think it's so sad we just sit back and allow atrocities like this to happen to a country with a healthcare system so severely messed up.

If she, or Fianna Fáil, had any wish to stay in government or secure people's votes in general, they would seriously want to get their act together.

RP

Robin Hood Tax

Seems like a good idea? Well, I hope some of you ask the TDs we meet about it on Tuesday.
TF

Lights, camera, action!

The Bell Table hosts the Fresh Film Festival 2010 from Monday 22nd March to Thursday 25th March, with both junior and senior categories. Always worth a gander.
EOB

Packet and Tripe and auld ones having a natter...

http://www.eva.ie/eva-present.php?PHPSESSID=41c39ae583f419c4cd4812d58a288799

This weekend sees the welcome return of the EV+A exhibition in Limerick City. Saturday March 13th sees the beginning of 10 weeks of wonderful national and international art throughout the city centre. The Spirit Store group, an independent arts group based in Limerick City are hosting a packet and tripe evening on Catherine Street, with free packet and tripe and a lovely little film revolving around the older generation of women in Limerick who still cook this very Limerick, very traditional dish. If you're brave or curious, or just out for an evening that breaks from the norm, then make your way to Catherine Street at 6pm to help the Spirit Store group kick off what can only be described as an offal- tastic extravaganza.

EOB

Throw down your arms!

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/vincent-hogan/vincent-hogan-sour-gatland-cant-get-over-irish-allergy-2091753.html
EOB

The future is new media

The Daily Telegraph's news "hub" operation in central London is the future of all digital newsrooms. Journalism students simply have to be able to work cross platform if they are to have any future. TF

www.freemagazineplease.com

As technology has developed hugely over the past years the media industry has been forced to modernise and keep up with new technological advances if they wish to keep their readers.


With the choice of being able to read article online came the thousands of online blogs. Here people report the news, on subjects of interest and give their opinions and the opinions of others. This resulted in the magazines and newspapers competing with a group of almost amateur reporters and online journalists reporting for free, sometimes criticising the writing of print journalists.

As more people gained access to design software and Photoshop there was a bigger pressure on magazines and news papers to have high quality design and photographs.

Also as younger generations are online a lot of the time they may not be as inclined to go out and buy a print publication anymore. Also with more people on the go using mobile phones and lap tops more and more magazines and newspapers really needed to access these mediums to maintain a relationship with their existing and future readers.

Publications after realising this decided, a bit too slowly in my mind to go online. Online versions of the publication from cover to cover can be found for free in some cases. Other formats involve some of the articles in the magazine mixed with blogs, forums and other online features in an attempt to entice people into subscribing.

Some people offer all content for free but ask for payment to view things from their archives. Also many online magazines offer extras such as newsletters which they will email to you between issues, some for free some charging. Lastly some magazines who are struggling with cost, especially of printing and distribution and profit transfer the publication totally online and cease printing the magazine.

Also some publications created applications fro mobile phones. These vary in their level of design and content. They range from some magazines and newspapers offering simple text filled daily news updates to the New York Times for example who have created a virtual copy of their publication for the iPad.

Obviously there are the smaller and initial struggles with converting you print magazine into an online version. You must sort the design of the website, train people to design and write for it and sort online advertising and look at what extras such as pod casts, videos etc, if any, you wish to include.

However the main problem for magazine which decide on creating an online version is profit. It is tricky for Magazines to gain online users/readers and maintain them while charging them. Certainly the Irish media at least has not got the hang of generating revenue from their online counter parts.

Obviously the magazine cannot keep updating and employing people to write for a source that is making no return, ultimately, the publications are leaking money. However, online readers are not inclined to pay for online content while free versions are available from others, unless of course the content is absolutely exceptional and exclusive. Also even those who do subscribe online to magazines and newsletters can cause a loss of profit as they may simply forward the content to family and friends.

I think that pulling out of online versions is simply not an option for magazines who wish to remain competing in the market. To convert online versions from liabilities to profit makers a balance has to be struck somewhere. I think a taster of each issue should be made available. Also some videos, pod casts, sound slides should be included, which not all Irish publications have begun to do yet. The option to subscribe should be available online and if you want to see the rest then subscribe or buy the print versions.

Of course as a consumer I would rather get as much as possible for free but as, hopefully, as a future journalist I can see that this cannot be maintained by publications, a profit has to be made from these online publications soon. If a change isn’t made it may mean serious damage to the print version and the disappearance of online papers/magazines.

Somethings got to give!

JM

News or snooze?

In yesterday's Star there were at least 300-400 words and two pictures on how Mr Cowen 'narrowly' avoided being caught up in a pub row. My remark is how is this news? He went to pay his respects to relatives of Ronnie Walsh who passed away earlier this week. Yet the fact that he 'narrowly' missed being involved in a brawl is blown out of proportion. He missed the fight by an HOUR not by a few seconds-an HOUR-that’s 3600 seconds. I just don't get how this is relevant. If it was a pub fight in Moyross it would make national headlines, but probably nowhere else.

Muhammad Ali would be proud

Courtesy of: http://www.independent.ie/business/irish/cowens-early-budget-to-boost-firsttime-buyers-1468913.html

It made page 1 and 4 which is laughable. It seems that Haiti and Chile are the curtains of the past. Perhaps it is a dig at Mr Cowen's personal life. The Star has been accused of being anti-Irish in the past you know. Have they nothing else to talk about-what about the way we are all being hit with the new pension retirement age, cuts and another killer budget (although these were covered), we need real news-not made up news. That's one X for the Star.

D.K

Protect the Source

While casually reading the Sunday newspapers yesterday I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the reporter that lead to Trevor Sargents departure from government last week.


It seems that Conor Feehan of the Evening Herald is being subjected to a Garda investigation to find out which member of the Gardaí became the source of the story.

The Sunday Tribune reported that “detectives have carried out a preliminary analysis on the mobile phone traffic” of the said reporter.

Fair play to the Evening Herald who the Sunday Tribune also report “will refuse to cooperate with the investigation”.

They should not have to reveal their source and I think it’s ludicrous that the Gardaí backed by Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy and the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern, are taking such a stance on this. Of course it’s a serious matter, but was it not in the public interest that this story be revealed?

This attempt to smoke out the source reflects on a government that is struggling to stay together and an Garda Síochana who are obviously embarrassed at the release of such information.

To make matters worse for our dear Government to whom we owe so much, the Sunday Independent yesterday published a poll showing that 82 per cent of the public no longer believe that The Green Party and Fianna Fáil trust each other.

So, I’m just curious, how long do we think this Government are going to survive?

JOC

Beautiful Ireland

Sitting on a bus full of strangers regularly gives someone an awful lot of time to think. Today the topic on my mind was litter.

Rubbish. Litter. Waste. All words connotative of ugly images and paint a negative picture of Ireland today. As I sit contemplating I can’t help but to notice how bad the litter situation on the sides of roads are.

Travelling for four hours every Friday and Sunday gives some one loads of time to look out the window, for fear of being caught looking at someone else and being given an incredibly bad look.
Today however, sitting in my usual seat by the window the only thing that is grabbing my attention is the amount of rubbish dumped on the side of the road.

Normally I’d be the last person to take any notice of this but what must tourists think when they come into the country and see hedges covered in newspapers, crisp packets, nappies and general household waste.

Why is it so hard for people to put the litter in the bin? God knows I’m not mad about the environment but I wouldn’t discard coffee cups out of the window of my car.
Are we blind to the fact that it is we ourselves that are ruining the environment?

If Bord Fáilte and Tourism Ireland want us to stay in Ireland for our holidays someone is going to have to clean the place up a bit. All the ads in the world aren’t going to convince us to stay in a country that uses its hedges as bins or dumps.

http://www.tourismireland.com/Home/Our_Marketing_Overseas/TV-Advertising.aspx.

What must tourists think of us? If I’m taking offence to this they must have an awful opinion of Ireland… The once ‘Beautiful Green Pastures’ have been replaced with sweet wrappers, polystyrene cups and various other household materials.

To say I’m disgusted would be an understatement. Wake up and smell the coffee… Stop this litter obsession.

As for me I’m off to daydream a little more, perhaps count how many wrappers I see… although that could prove quite challenging.

JOC