Making the trains run on time...and in two languages

Anyone who had the misfortune to have to use the cattle byre which was Newry Train Station will be pleased to see it emerge as a regional, modern building at the end of a £12m rebuild programme.

Better still for Irish speakers is that Translink have been coaxed over the line on bilingual signage. You can see see 'Iúr Chinn Trá Stáisiún Traenach' on the 'totem' behind Conor Murphy and his giant scissors in our picture. I'm told the signage inside is Sainsbury's West Belfast store-standard.

Minister Conor Murphy, who has committed to reversing the neglect of Newry, Derry and other points west, said at the opening: "This new station will provide a modern, attractive facility for passengers with many new amenities, including the provision for 300 parking spaces for the use of rail passengers. The new station with its state of the art passenger building and concourse is in stark contrast to the facilities previously provided. Reliability, comfort and accessibility are important factors in attracting people to public transport and I hope passengers will quickly see the benefits arising from the investment in this new station for Newry."

Pictured with Minister Murphy are Newry and Mourne Mayor John Feehan of the SDLP and Translink CEO Catherine Mason.

You can see the great bilingual signage on YouTube (look out for the bilingual plaque).

Basque journalists on the rack

Those of us who yearn for peace in the Basque Country and vehemently oppose the ETA campaign will be saddened to hear that the Spanish courts are to proceed with the bogus case against Martxelo Otamendi and the executives of the Basque daily newspaper Egunkaria which was closed down in February 2003.

At the time, five senior officials of Egunkaria were arrested and tortured, including Martxelo, by the Guardia Civil; conduct subsequently condemned by the UN rapporteur on torture.

The trial against the Egunkaria accused starts on 14 December. It is a travesty. Newspapers should not be closed down in any country, not least in an EU country and the international community must insist this sham is stopped.

I think back to my last conversation with the hero of the Irish peace process, Fr Alex Reid, who told me he returned from the Basque Country because peace was unattainable. "The Spanish government is not interested in dialogue," he said.

This case confirms his thesis.

Martxelo Otamendi (pictured) and his co-accused Inaxi Uria were frequent visitors to Belfast and addressed a packed meeting in Teach Basil some years back on the subject of a daily Irish newspaper. Martxelo has since travelled to the Aisling Awards on many occasions.

A powerpoint presentation of the Egunkaria case is here (hope this works, if not techies will sort tomorrow).

Fleadh Feirste

Is togra an-dearfach é Fleadh Feirste a thosaíonn amárach le lasadh na solais Nollag ar an chrann Nollag ag an Chultúrlann. Leanfaidh sé ar aghaidh ansin le himeachtaí ar feadh cheithre lá, ina measc Cothaigh oíche Aoine sa Chultúrlann.

Téann ardmholadh chuig Jake Mac Siacais agus foireann na Cultúrlainne, Fhorbairt Feirste agus na Ceathrún Gaeltachta as an imeacht seo a thionscnú...cé go mbogfainn féin gach rud chuig an 12ú Iúil.

Go n-éirí go geal le Fleadh Feirste.

Ireland 2009

If I only had the energy to go to TripAdvisor to tell them my hotel in Galway had no hot water in the shower at 6am this morning and then doubled up by having no soap/shampoo in the soap/shampoo thingy they insist in using instead of giving you a good old fashioned bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo.

Still, despite delays at Galway airport due to strong winds at Dublin (and, boy, that was some landing when we finally arrived), I arrive home safe if only partially washed.

The two great sights of Ireland 2009 which greeted me on my way to TG4 yesterday for the TG4 7 Lá show were a five-mile queue of striking workers and co. snaking their way into Newry for the Day of Action bargains and Galway under water from our Aer Arann plane as we came into land at Galway.

It's a disaster out there in Galway and Clare; in Cork half the populace can't drink the water. Anyone who thinks, as Taoiseach Brian Cowen suggested yesterday in the Dáil that the insurance companies will pick up the bill should think again.

I suspect that anyone who claims won't be able to afford the cover next year because their premium will be bumped up or, in fact, all insurance companies will decide these floods are a permanent fixture and decline cover entirely.

Certainly, after our premises were fire-bombed earlier this year, we claimed our insurance only to find out when renewal time came round last week that no-one wanted our business. Nice that.

Breakfast in the heart of the Shankill

My own Aisling has been to be able to enjoy a pint of Guinness in a Shankill Road pub some Saturday evening with a full view of the populace passing by (and they of me).

I haven't realised that dream yet but I did enjoy breakfast at 8am yesterday morning at Edenderry primary school on Tennent Street in the Shankill yesterday morning, courtesy of Terence Brannigan, chair of the CBI here (and a native of East Belfast) and Betty Orr, school principal (pictured)

Edenderry is a beautiful old listed school with new sports facilities and caters for around 200 children from the upper Shankill area.

Around 70 per cent of children receive school meals — which means their parents are of meagre financial means. Educationally, the Shankill faces many challenges but most revolve around ambition and aspiration. One way to generate ambition is to work with the parents, though funding for a pioneering programme with parents has been axed.

There's also a need to celebrate success and give a leg-up to young people who want to follow an academic path. The annual Aisling bursaries go to young people heading off to university and obviously can't go to 11-year-olds entering secondary schools. However, Betty did give me an idea about providing bursaries to the parents of children.

Now there's a thought...and if I didn't have a glass of Guinness, I did have a sausage, an egg and a slice of potato bread.

Dála an scéil, beidh mé ar mo bhealach go Conamara Dé Máirt le bheith ar 7 Lá anocht.

Cúúúúúipéar!

Tá deis againn anois vóta a chaitheamh le Mairéad Cooper as foireann peil na mban Aontroma as an tsárchúl a scóráil sí sa chluiche ceannais i bPáirc an Chrócaigh. TG4 atá ag eagrú an chomórtais anseo.

Hartley's hour

When out tech genius John Ferris put this gallery together for the Aisling announcement of Tom Hartly as our person of the year, he had some music accompanying it.

The songs seem to have gone but some great pics in the gallery, some recent and others going back at least to 1980 and the H-Block proests.

Schools for scandal

I don't know which is worse, the Catholic grammar schools for introducing an alternative to the 11-Plus or the Bishops for letting them.

For many years, Catholic schools in the North boasted of their fidelity to the bishops and insisted the buck stopped in the Bishop's Palace. But apparently now, even though the bishops have branded the 11-Plus immoral, the grammars are imposing their own academic selection criteria on a new generation of children.

The evidence is clear: the current education system in the North is not (thanks) "the best in the world" or even the best in Ireland. It fails over half our young people and should be scrapped.

Hopefully, some parent will take a legal case against the grammars and bring this charade to a halt. The Belfast Media Group has launched a petition against any efforts to retain the failed 11-Plus. You can sign it here.

Finally, we had a slán abhaile dinner for Speaker Christine Quinn last night and she spoke of her hopes that the Irish Government will provide funding for the new Irish Arts Center in New York. It's an incredible facility in Speaker Quinn's 'Hell's Kitchen' constituency and New York has pledged $12m for a completely new building, similar to Belfast's cultúrlann. The Speaker is hopeful the Irish Government will make a contribution as it understands the importance of the Irish Arts Center in providing a showcase for artists from Ireland (as well as for Irish American artists). Of all the important things she achieved over her three days in Ireland, among the most impressive, in my view, is that she took time out to canvass financial support from Taoiseach Brian Cowen for a regenerative project in her own back yard. All politics is, indeed, local.

"I know it was in good shape when it left here, but"

A four-minute video by our photographer John Kelly of last night's Aisling Awards celebration.

"My heart hurts sore"

Christine Quinn spoke at lunchtime at a meeting of the gay community in Belfast where she told her audience that two new gay councillors have been elected to New York City Hall, appropriately (she joked) from Queen's.

Speaking for the gay community, in Irish and English, well-known community activist Marie Quiery said "coming out" was the bravest act of any gay person. She said "my heart hurts sore" for gay people who were living a double life, for fear of coming out.

Amazingly, the gay community groups in Belfast don't receive any support from Belfast City Council — though, in a sign of the changing times, Lord Mayor Naomi Long will open the group's new premises in Waring Street while last year Lord Mayor Tom Hartley took part in the annual Pride parade.

In this YouTube video from last night, Christine Quinn gives a quick summary of her thoughts for Belfast.

Daring to dream at Aisling drama

A line-up to remember at the Aisling Awards last night: Caitríona Ruane to read the education shortlist and announce St Patrick's College, Bearnageeha on the Antrim Road, under the tutelage of the indomitable PJ O'Grady as winner of the Education Award; Lord Mayor Naomi Long to introduce our Roll of Honour Recipient Alan McBride (who lost his wife Sharon and father-in-law Desmond in the 1993 Shankill bombing); and East Belfast unionist councillor Ian Adamson to introduce our Person of the Year, Cllr Tom Hartley, a Sinn Féin representative from West Belfast.

Our guest of honour Christine Quinn gave the speech of her life and Alan McBride, in a heartfelt and eloquent testimony summed up the entire purpose of Aisling: to bind the wounds of the city.

Minister Conor Murphy read out the sports shortlist, suggesting there was one of the three possible reasons why he had been given that honour:
1. He had run The Between the Bridges Race which raised £78,000 for the NI Hospice (to mark the opening of the new Westlink by his department);
2. Being from Armagh, he recognised sporting excellence (even I wouldn't believe that one);
3. He was free.

There'll be no comment except to say that the category was won by the magnificent Antrim Women's Football Team. Other winners were Féile an Phobail (Culture and Arts), St Malachy's Church (Belfast Brand Award), Féile an Droichead (Gaeilge), LORAG (Community), and the Park Avenue Hotel, East Belfast (Business).

Pictures as soon as, folks, our great photographers got some top-class snaps and I'm looking forward to bringing them to you...as well as a video report and some YouTube clips.

This just in: Speaker Quinn with Roll of Honour recipient Alan McBride, his daughter Zoe and wife Clare. The News Letter leads with Alan McBride.

On the move

Nice piece re visit of Speaker on BBC and this just up on Irish Echo site.

Shake on it!

Speaker Christine Quinn with First Minister Peter Robinson and deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness at Stormont this morning.

Hopefully, she will be still be going strong by 7:30pm tonight when she takes to the stage at the Europa.

At the Presidents' Club today, the Speaker promised to work with small business here....she suggested that if the Cathedral Quarter link with Tribeca, the Belfast side also goes to East Harlem or a similar emerging area of New York. Apples with apples as it were. 98 per cent of businesses in the North employ fewer than 25 people.

Speaker Quinn stressed the importance to New Yorkers of building the peace process. "Ireland is of enormous importance to New Yorkers," she said. "The impact of Ireland in New York is huge. New York feels an enormous connection to Ireland. The future of Belfast, the future of the peace process, is of enormous importance to us and we understand that the next leg of the peace process is economic development. And we want to feel that we played a part not only in stabilising the peace but building it further."

Paul McErlean made a full confession: he owes New York tax dollars. When in the Big Apple many summers ago playing for Co Tyrone, he worked for cash-in-hand at the United Nations Plaza Hotel. "We were up on the 18th floor every morning and there was a Japanese girl who would do her stretches at about 8am in an apartment block across the way so that's the side of the building, all the Irish guys would start working on."

Speaker Quinn said that type of tax confession goes well in church but the City of New York would be going after McErlean.

Presidents all

At the Presidents Club 'thought leadership' (no less) breakfast in the Presidents Club in the Cathedral Quarter this morning were Mark Finlay, founder Presidents Club, Speaker Christine Quinn, Bro McFerran, President of NI Chamber of Commerce and Denis Murphy of tech firm Anaeko.

The Speaker is now meeting with the team up in Stormont before she heads into East Belfast.

Normalú na teanga

Beidh deathionchar ag an Foinse nua ar léitheoirí an Irish Independent, agus bímis buíoch ar a shon sin nó más léitheoirí rialta iad den Irish Independent nó den nuachtán Domhnaigh sa stábla, bhí siad báite in aineolas maidir leis an Ghaeilge le blianta fada.

Tá cursíos anmhaith ag Concubhar Ó Liatháin ar an nuachtán ar a bhlag. Anois tá dhá nuachtán Gaeilge againn in Éirinn, Nuacht 7 ó Eoghan Ó Néill agus Nuacht 24, Foinse agus ceann eile ar na bacáin.

Fanann tú rith do shaoil le nuachtán Gaeilge agus tagannn trí chinn chugat as deis a chéile.

Moladh mór tuillte ag Eimear Ní Chéidigh as an bheartas seo is déanaí i saol na foilsitheoireachta Gaeilge.

Hurricane Quinn hits town

I know the Irish Echo, who gave her its Irish American of the Year accolade in 2008, has described her as irrepressible and unstoppable but watching the Speaker of New York City Council in action today, I'd say Hurricane would be a better description.

Flying overnight with father Larry and press aide Jamie McShane, the Speaker hit Dublin and rushed to the Dáil for a session with the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs. Then it was to Belfast to meet community activists in the offices of the West Belfast Partnership Board before she stepped across the road to meet victims of state violence with the Relatives for Justice Group. She's pictured outside the RFJ offices with civil rights veterans Clara Reilly and Mark Thompson.

By the way, she still hasn't checked into her hotel but has instead opted to enjoy the Ireland-France match in the Roddy's, Belfast's greatest hostelry and social club.

This could go on if Robbie Keane finds the net, she might just go direct from the celebrations to her 7:20am interview on Good Morning Ulster. She'll be on Talkback tomorrow and on BBC's Hearts and Minds at the very time when the Aisling gala is kicking off. (It'll be pre-recorded.) Did I mention that as well as those media dates, she also has a business breakfast at 8am with Mark Finlay's Presidents' Club, a scheduled meeting with the First Ministers at Stormont, a journey into East Belfast to meet community leaders including paramilitaries turned peacemakers, a reception with the Lord Mayor and then, finally, her guest speaker spot at the Aisling Awards.

Hurricane indeed.

Lull before the storm

Aisling time is also reunion time.

Regulars know all my jokes and even though they hear them once a year when Ivan Little, late of UTV, tells them from the Aisling podium in the Europa, they are polite enough to laugh.

I'm chief script-writer, chief-shoulder-to-cry and chief bottle-washer when the Aisling Gala rolls round honoring the very best of Belfast.

By the time I rise tomorrow morning, our guest of honour Christine Quinn will be in Ireland and heading for a meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen. I hope he doesn't let us down and tap her before she gets to Belfast.

Tomorrow afternoon, Speaker Quinn will meet with community leaders in West Belfast and with the families of the Ballymurphy Massacre while on Thursday she'll travel into the heart of the empire in East Belfast to meet community stalwarts there.

I've seen her itinerary on Thursday, it starts with a 7:20am radio interview and ends with the Aisling person of the year presentation. They say New York is hectic. Believe me, she'll want to return to the Big Apple for some peace and quiet by the time this whirlwind visit is over.

Hurler on the ditch

How to choose?

The toughest part about being a judge in the Aisling Awards is that you have four groups to visit but only one award (designed by Robert Ballagh) to present.

Thus it was for me today when I made the annual round of our shortlisted companies for the Aisling Award for Outstanding Achievement in Small Business — sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

We were blown away by the work of growing technology firm EG Information Consulting which is behind some of our best websites, including Belfast City Airport and the Ulster Museum. Then it was on to niavac in East Belfast, where James Conlon, who bought out what was once a pedestrian company 24 years ago and has transformed it into our pre-eminent presentation company in new £2m offices.

After that, we got the red carpet treatment from Mandy Martin, proprietor at the Park Avenue Hotel in the heart of East Belfast who is the grand-daughter of the hotel founder. Mandy (who is pictured above, righ, along with our independent adjudicator Jackie Darcy and Chris O'Hanlon from PwC) has just completed a £5m extension, employs 80 people and sees herself as being a stalwart of the local community. She's also a great ambassador for tourism and serves on the Tourism Ireland Board.

We rounded off the day in Twinbrook where Ciaran Sheehan (an entrepreneur who has given his time to the Colin Partnership) and former Lisburn councillor Annie Armstrong talked us through the life-changing work of Colin Care. A social entreprise which has made profit from month one, Colin Care delivers domiciliary care to the vulnerable and elderly in the Twinbrook-Poleglass area. But they do much more than that. They also target the long-term unemployed to try to bring them back to the world of work, thus changing their lives. And of course, it's a community-owned business which raises not only the self-esteem of its staff but the entire morale of the district. Ciaran Sheehan says much more could be done if government contracts insisted on using social enterprise businesses.

And there you are. We were humbled by the hard work put in by our nominees and gobsmacked at their determination and dedication — as well as by their devotion to quality.

Now pick a winner from those four.

Sense of humour

With a sense of humour, the BBC heads this news item about four battered Derry kids confessing to offences they didn't commit — battered and terrorised by men who deserve that appellation — 'Terrorist verdicts may be unsafe'. Indeed.

Readers of this blog will have noted previously how one of the four was forced to 'admit' to incidents which never took place — a Kafkaesque twist that Dostoyevsky would have been proud of (apologies for mixing my Eastern authors).

Here's the statement from one of the four Peter McDonald, who will, over 30 years later, be given a modicum of justice:

Having lived with the consequences of the convictions forced upon me over thirty years ago I have now moved on but could not forget the treatment meted out to myself and my friend Johnny Doherty, both by the British army and the RUC. Things have now changed drastically and are to be welcomed but Johnny’s death shortly after he left prison had always haunted me. Several years ago I decided that the time was right to challenge the old system, and with the help of other ex-prisoners I put in an application through the criminal cases review commission in the hope that I could obtain some form of justice, now I believe my name will once and for all be cleared giving me some form of closure to that dreadful period in our lives but most importantly making the steps towards clearing Johnny’s name as well.

I would also like to use this opportunity to appeal to anyone else out there who has found themselves in the same circumstances in the past to come forward now and challenge in a formal way the old Diplock system, the conveyor belt as it was known to many of us, by approaching groups like Tar Abhaile, Coiste or even their legal representatives for advice on how to formulate a proper application. I never thought I could get this far when I first made my application, the only thing you need to know is that it is right to do it and the legislation is there giving you the right.

Tthree convictions fom the 70' were successfully challenged this week, myself, Eric wright and James Browne's, I know there are many more out there. Let's learn the lessons of bad policing from the past.

New lease of life for gateway to West

Stephen Long of the West Belfast Taxi Association took me for a stroll around the changing Castle Street area last week to look at improvements to the district and to discuss plans to rejuvenate the gateway to West Belfast and link it to Bank Square.

There's been a makeover and a combined effort by the shopkeepers to make the street more welcoming, begging drinkers have been pushed back a street or two, abandoned shops covered with street paintings, new signage erected.

But it's a long way from the investment the area needs if it's to return to the dynamism of its past. Marquis Street, sadly, is bereft of even one functioning business unit while College Square, off Castle Street is now home to scores of these box-style apartment flats which will never be sold and, even then, won't work.

How about a sensitive student village, not a ghetto, linked to the University of Ulster coming into the city centre? Or a traditional music quarter combining Madden's, the Herc, Kelly's Cellars and the Mourne Seafood Restaurant. I'm told the Forum for an Alternative Belfast have plans for a retractable cover on Bank's Square to aid outdoor events.

If I get an image, you'll be first to see it. In the meantime, here's the bold Stephen, who has done so much to keep the black taxis at the very front of our transport network, in the deserted (for now) Marquis Street. There's an astonishing amount of 'footfall' around the taxi depot at King Street/Castle Street and it's essential that the taxi association is engaged fully in the plans to put a light transit service into the west. Why don't they run it?

Big week ahead for the Aisling hopefuls. Go n-éirí an t-ádh libh uilig.

Leath-am?

An rud is measa fá chluiche a fheiceáil beo nach bhfuil a fhios agat cad é mar táimid á dhéanamh gan tráchtaireacht na saineolaithe teilifíse.

Chonacthas dom nach go ró-mhaith a bhí muid a chruthú sa dara leath i bPáirc an Chrócaigh aréir ach ní go dtí gur labhair mé le daoine a chonaic an cluiché ar an teilifís go raibh mé sin deimhnithe. Mar sin féin, níl ann ach leath-am. Nach ea?

Ar aghaidh linn

Ar aghaidh linn go Baile Átha Cliath go ngreadfaimid na Franncaigh...I don't have anything green to wear in Croker tonight to cheer on the Irish other than a baseball hat but on a winter's night, that's just not going to cut it. But I do have hat knit for me by Martita Rice in the Ecuadorean national colours (yellow, red, blue) and it's warm so it'll have to do.

Voting has finished in the Aisling stakes but there are some truly impressive votes out there. Over 8,000 votes were cast for Féile and Phobail in the community category, over 4,000 for Colin Care, a social economy business in Poleglass-Twinbrook.

Of course, the online votes are only one small part of the judging criteria, panels have also been out around the shortlisted companies and individuals to decide on a winner. On Monday, I join John Hannaway, partner with sponsors PricewaterhouseCoopers and business trainer Jackie D'Arcy to visit our business nominees: Colin Care, EG Information Consulting, niavac and the Park Avenue Hotel in East Belfast (which also notched up almost 4,000 online votes).

Power of text messaging

With great power comes great responsiblity.

So it is with the power of text-messaging.

Last night, Orange and O2 made a fortune as angry but curiously English-speaking Gaels sent texts to all and sundry denouncing a city-centre busines for 'forbidding children from speaking Irish'. The text urged all right-thinking sons and daughters of the Gael to let the manager at this business know this type of thing wouldn't be tolerated.

One friend tells me a text arrived to him from Liverpool! International solidarity undoubtedly.

Orange and Vodafone and O2 doubled their bets five minutes after the first text with a second barrage, this time apologising profusely, stating that the story had no basis and referencing the principal of the school which was purportedly involved in the 'incident' as stating it had no foundation in the truth.

"Misunderstanding" is the kindest way to put it.

Osréalaíoch san Opera House

Pléisiúr atá ann sáraisteoir oilte ina cheird a fheiceáil ar stáitse agus b'amhlaidh a ba mhó an pléisiúr nuair a bhí an t-aisteoir sin, Donncha Crowley ag tabhairt An Béal Bocht clasaiceach chun beatha ar ardán i mBéal Feirste. Bhí muid mar bheadh páistí ag cóisir breithlá agus eisean mar dhraíodóir. Cad é mar a dhéanann sé sin? Níl a fhios agam ach tá áit éigin i ndúlaíocht Chorcha Dhorca ina dtagann an aisteoireacht agus an draíocht le chéile agus sin an áit a seasann Donncha cóir, bíodh sé ina mhúinteoir scoile nó ina Jams sóisireach.

Fuair foireann Aisling Ghéar greim sceadamáin ar fhíorscéal fíorGhaelach, fíorbhrónach Myles na gCopaleen ag Teach an Cheoldráma i mBéal Feirste agus thug léasadh dó. Bhí báisteach ann mar is dual do Chorca Dhorcha agus clann Bonaparte O'Coonasa ach bhí toirneach agus soilse ann fosta — le gléasraí fuaime gan amhras ach fosta i ngeatsaíocht Tony Devlin mar Bonaparte agus Mary Ryan, íobartaigh na fíorGhaeltachta.

Buaicphointí: An seomra ranga agus 'My Nam is Jams O'Donnell', lánmharcanna don mháistir scoile agus óráid iontach na feise ag Gael gealgháireach a bhí fíorGhaelach óna bhaithis go dtí a bonn, fíorGhaelach thoir, thuaidh, theas agus thoir.

Ar ndóigh ní Duck Soup atá sa Bhéal Bocht, an t-údar smaointeach as an tSraith Bán, scríobh sé sleachta fada fosta ina mháistirphíosa ach láimhsigh an stiúrthóir Bríd Ní Ghallchóir an cor casta i saol Bonaparte go healaíonta, ár stiúradh siar ar ais go dtí an t-aicsean chomh tiubh géar agus a b'fhéidir léi. Ar ndóigh, nuair atá tú ag obair le proifisiúnaithe solúbtha tallanacha ar nós Melanie Clarke Pullen (an raibh sí i bhfolach faoi néaltaí dorcha na Rosann go dtí seo?), bíonn jab an stiúrthóra ní b'fhusa.

Bravó Aisling Ghéar. Cé chreidfeadh é: Corca Dhorcha sa Baby Grand agus an ceoltóir tíre Hugo Duncan ("the Wee Man from Strabane") sa mhórhalla agus an dá sheó díolta amach. I cibé halla, dar leat, a raibh an oíche a b'osréalaí?

27,000 and counting

There have been 27,000 plus votes cast online (and each computer can only vote once the techie security guardians tell me) for the Aisling Award nominees.

The education award is creating a stir, 4,000 votes have now been cast.



The winners will be announced on 19 November at the Europa Hotel. Voting time still left online.

Bonded communities in search of bridges

I was at an inspiring breakfast event this morning to launch the joint Newington FC-Crusaders FC plan to build a £35m stadium in North Belfast.

Belfast Media Group sponsored the breakfast — much to my dismay soccer supporters require big nose-bags! — and it was great to see the Lord Mayor Naomi Long, North Belfast MP Nigel Dodds, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Adams and Sports Minister Nelson McCausland turn out behind the project.

Newington hails from the nationalist New Lodge area of North Belfast, Crusaders from the staunchly unionist Shore Road area but the teams have made common cause behind this effort. Mark Langhammer, the Crusaders supporter and former independent councillor behind this initiative, told how the Newington players arrived at Seaview, Crusaders Ground, for the first time to play a home game under a new arrangement to share the park.

"There was a band playing in a room above the changing room, and it wasn't an X-Factor band either," said Mark. "When the bandsmen who'd hired the room for a practice came down the stairs, the Newington lads thought they were going to be played onto the pitch."

I was struck by the comment of the Rev John Dunlop that North Belfast contains many communities which are strongly bonded but without any bridges to each other. This project presented such a bridge, he added.

Here's an opinion piece by North Belfast SDLP MLA Alban Maginness (who also attended) about the proposed development.

Pictured are Liam McStravick of Newington FC, Colin Coates of Crusaders, Lord Mayor Naomi Long, Thomas Duffy of Newington and Mark Langhammer of Crusaders.

McBride battle chronicled by McNamara

The former British Labour Party spokesman on Northern Ireland Kevin McNamara (pictured) has penned a history of the 25-year battle for the MacBride Principles on Fair Employment.

The tome will be published by Chicago University Press in the US and has a British publisher as well.

I like the sub-title: "Irish America Strikes Back" and am sure it will be a great read.

The Irish Echo plans to mark the 25th anniversary of the MacBride Principles in association with the law firm of O'Dwyer and Bernstien in New York. Firm founder Paul O'Dwyer was one of the great exponents of the MacBride Principles.

And we are lining up quite an interesting guest list, including the Comptroller-Elect John Liu and current comptrollers Bill Thompson (New York City) and Tom DiNapoli (New York State).

Foinse ar ais ó na mairbh

Tá an cat i measc na gcoiléar anois nó tá fógraithe ag Pádraic Ó Céide go mbeidh Foinse ar ais mar shaornuachtán taobh istigh den Indo gach Céadaoin.

Go n-éirí leis.

Cultúrlann moves closer to extension

The plans to add an iconic extension on to the Falls Road Cultúrlann moved a step closer today with news that the International Fund for Ireland has allocated £600,000 towards the costs. Now only Department of Culture to match that contribution and the work can start.

In a press release, the IFI says:


Culturlann McAdam Ó Fiaich: The Board approved grant assistance towards the refurbishment and extension of Culturlann Mc Adam Ó Fiach, Irish Language, Arts and Cultural Centre on the Falls Road, West Belfast, and an attempt to position the Irish language as accessible to all. The exact amount of assistance has not yet been finalised but it is likely to be in excess of £500,000. The centre will serve as a community hub for the ‘Gaeltacht Quarter Strategy’ which is working to meet the needs of the Irish Language/Cultural and wider community in order to maximise the social opportunities provided by a growing cluster of Irish language/cultural community based groups and enterprises in West Belfast.

Titanic town

A stroll along the emerging Titanic Quarter revealed a number of gems: not least the pumphouse visitor centre and cafe which stands beside the dry dock where the Titanic was built.

Of course when the new £93m Titanic Signature project is built, it will offer a much more impressive visitor experience but fair play to the Pump House for the job it does and the harbour walk outside. There is no reason why a West Belfast facility in the Gaeltacht Quarter couldn't offer a similar visitor experience by telling the story of the peace and justice process.

Surprisingly, there are some people already living in the apartment blocks at the entrance to Titanic Quarter — though the majority of the site is still a building site and I couldn't get as close as I wanted to the new £200,000 artpiece of a standing (or sinking) Titanic. A security man on site told me he expected some of the apartment blocks to be mothballed. Certainly, anyone who buys at the asking price would be crackers. (If you look closely in this Blackberry pic, you can just make out the new sculpture.)

The other picture is of the almost-completed Public Record Office for Northern Ireland which boasts a stylish Richard Serra-style burnished iron roof (anyone who knows the Periodic Table better than me can let me know what the material is). Expect the new £29m PRONI office to open next year and bring an influx of visitors to a part of town which is still largely bereft of people.

Iarsmalann Uladh

Finally made it to the Ulster Museum to check out the Sean Scully exhibition on Saturday and was greeted by a guide to the museum in Irish. Well done to all concerned.

The Troubles section wasn't as I had thought artworks but a history lesson covering the conflict.

As for Scully, full marks to the museum for honoring an Irish artist and Scully himself gets the thumbs-up for his introductory comments where he says Belfast is a bridge from conflict to peace with much to offer the world. His very words: "Art is the opposite of war."

There's at least six galleries of Scully's work over the past 35 years, much of it bright, bold and big. A Scully is more powerful on its own and sometimes best-enjoyed from the other side of the gallery as in this picture.

Vótáil me don Aonach Oibre — sin beirt againn

Tá ardmheas agam ar an Aonach Oibre a tionóladh i gColáiste Feirste an mhí seo chuaigh thart agus chaith mé mo vóta ar a shon. Tchím go bhfuil ar a laghad duine amháin eile ar aon intinn liom.

Website Polls Powered By MicroPoll

All change

There’s been plenty of change in the next parish over — New York — this week which will have a bearing on ourselves. Controller Bill Thompson — the man who invested $150m of pension funds in the North — ran against sitting Big Apple Mayor Michael Bloomberg and narrowly lost.

Meanwhile, winning the election for Controller was the fresh-faced John Liu, the first Asian-American to hold such a senior elected position in New York. Controller Liu will now have to look long and hard at those investments in the North of Ireland and decide what benefit, if any, they bring the people of New York (fact: none of the $150m has yet been spent).

The good news: Controller Liu has made two visits to the offices of our sister paper The Irish Echo in New York and has already expressed strong support for the MacBride Principles on Fair Employment and is a strong advocate of ethical investing and economic justice.

No doubt, these issues will be aired when the President of New York City Council Christine Quinn arrives in Belfast next week to address the Aisling Awards. Interestingly while we beat New York in many political milestones (for example, New York has never had a female mayor), the Big Apple beats us on one. Christine Quinn is the first openly gay President of the Council. To my knowledge, we have no openly gay political leaders.

I plumped for Presidents' Club

This is a geg. This link brings you to a chart and map of the US to see where the votes are coming from. The Presidents' Club is polling strong in California — all those Silicon Valley fans — while St Malachy's Church is riding high in....Colarado!.

Website Polls Powered By MicroPoll

Níos mó ná bealach amháin amach as an tsainn ina bhfuilimid

"If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."
George Bernard Shaw.

Bhí mé ag meabhrú ar chomhairle an drámadóra agus muid faoi léigear ag eacnamaithe ar RTÉ atá ag sárú a chéile lena mbagairtí maidir le gearradh seirbhísí agus teannadh ár gcrios.

Ach tá níos mó ná scoil amháin eacnamaíochta ann. Cad chuige nach dtugar seans d'eacnamaithe nach n-aontaíonn le polasaithe an rialtais labhairt amach?

Tá gá ach go háirithe le scrúdú a dhéanamh ar an pholasaí maidir le tithíocht agus maidir leis na bainc. Tá praghas na dtithe in Éirinn ró-ard ach níl na praghasanna ag teacht aníos mar tá an rialtas ag cosaint lucht a dtógtha agus an dream a thug amach na hiasachtaí le go dtógfaí iad — na bainc.

Bhí ar an phobal praghas ró-ard a íoc le linn an 'boom' ach níl seans acu margadh maith a fháil anios agus meathlú geilleagrach sa mhullach orainn.

Blast from the past

Our pal in Nua Eabharc Daithí Mac Lochlainn spotted the TUV u-turn on this one first: the party branded Irish a leprechaun language and then recanted with a simple bashing of Irish language.

The party has now apologised.

This BBC report notes that the term "leprechaun language" was first famously used by Sammy Wilson in the 1980s during a City Hall debate. It was actually used as part of a motion to throw me out of the council at my first meeting in November 1987 when I had spoken Irish.

Tale of two cities

And this is the editorial from this week's Andersonstown News which reflects on the fact that while East Belfast this week got £43.5m from the Executive for the Titanic Quarter signature project (good for them) and £10m from Belfast City Council for the same £93m project, West Belfast got....an architectural design competition for a building which has not yet been greenlighted for construction.

You can read the whole editorial, with a virtual appendix listing the Titanic Quarter projects, here in pdf form.

Large boxes which don't connect

So that's how the world works: last Friday I was apoplectic about the high-rise flats towering over the beautiful St Joseph's Church and this Friday I'm looking at a story in the North Belfast News castigating the development.

Though Mark Hackett of the Forum for an Alternative Belfast (i.e. one which people want to live in and which cherishes its people and neighbourhoods) isn't as scathing about the height of the empty apartment block, he thinks it's disgraceful that it has no ground floor activity.

Where there should be shops or a creche or a restaurant or an office even, there is car parking. Without that, there's no connection with the community, he says.

You can read his thoughts on this pdf. But he says: "These large boxes are being marketed as the European model but they lack the sophistication that those models have. I hear a lot of people in Belfast talking about 'tall buildings are good' and 'they create an image of the city that's vibrant', but not if it's a hollow vision because the ground floor activities and connectedness of the streets makes a city really vibrant and we don't have that."

Mark tells me he and his co-conspirators for a better Belfast, Declan Hill and Ciarán Mackel, are known as the three grumps but in this picture, he looks quite angry. Though unfortunately, the photo from this angle doesn't show St Joseph's Church.

Aisling countdown

Swimming From Under My Father

Our LA pal Michael O'Keefe, he of the Black Mountain Zen workshops and movieland, has turned his hand to poetry. Last time I saw Michael was in the Felons about three years ago and we sipped two cokes (one each). Haven't been back at the Felons since, either. (I was going to steal this pic from his website but turns out he got their first, it's a North Belfast News photo — only joking, we're given full credit).

He has his own website of course, I have no way of knowing if it's more truthful or more accurate than the Wiki reference above but you could have fun finding out.

This is what we love about Yanks. They decide they want to be something entirely different. They go to school (they have poetry school in the US, he went) and learn this new trade. And they emerge as their new selves.

So here's an offering from his first book of poetry, Swimming From Under My Father. It's called 'The List Of Lies I Told One Time Or Another'.

I didn't take the money
I will love you always
I have no idea where the Oreos are
Everything will be all right.

God won't give you anything you can't handle.
My defects of character have been removed.
No Sister Marie, I didn't put
the chocolate pudding down Millicent's dress.
Everything will be all right.

I never slept with anyone else.
I'm not sleeping with anyone else.
I don't want to sleep with anyone else.
Everything will be all right.

Why would I lie about that?
Of course it's the truth.
I think you need to take a long look at yourself.
Everything will be all right.

Heaven is where you go when you die,
If you've lived a good life.
Hell is where you go when
you die if you haven't.
God is Love.
Everything is all right.

Bloomberg back, but only just

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has held on to the Mayoral seat in New York City, but contender Bill Thompson, the outgoing comptroller, performed better than expected.

Read the New York Times analysis here.

Future planning

The Comptroller of New York City Bill Thompson (pictured) takes on the might of Michael Bloomberg today to see who will be the next mayor of New York.

I wish Bill Thompson well. He has been an exceptional friend of Ireland in an office where the bar had already been set very high by previous comptrollers.

You can read the Irish Echo editorial on the race here.

The polls have him trailing — after all Bloomberg is outspending him ten dollars to his every one, at least — but even if he doesn't get the key to Gracie Mansion, we can expect his life of public service to continue.

No doubt he holds with the view of Luis Valdez that "the future belongs to those who can imagine it".

Dancing days

A reader sends me this picture from Sailortown in the eighties when dancing priest Cornelius Horan was lending his 'support' to the annual blessing of pets and animals which takes place at St Joseph's.

Unfortunately, the same Fr Horan, then regarded as simply eccentric, went on to disrupt the Athens Olympic marathon and tried to storm a Formula 1 race before being charged with indecent assault.

It gets worse: Irish speaker Horan also danced for the children of one of our local Irish medium schools when he was "jigging his way round Ireland for peace".

Poor mouth in the baby Grand

I'm sure Flann O'Brien would be tickled by the fact that his Myles na gCopaleen creation An Béal Bocht will enjoy a run in the Baby Grand at the Opera House from 11-14 November.

Before that, the ultimate take on Gaeilgeoirsphere will premiere at An Chultúrlann on 6 November. There's more detail on this flyer.

There's a full translation service and here's the synopsis by our pre-eminent professional theatre company Aisling Ghéar:

The Poor Mouth/An Béal Bocht’ - is a two-fingered salute to all things ‘excessively, excessively and excessively ’ Gaelic!. It tells the story of one, Bonaparte O'Coonassa - ‘son of Michealangelo, son of Patrick, son of Owen, son of Sarah, son of Thomas, son of Maire’ !! who was born in a cabin in a fictitious village called Corkadoragha in western Ireland. From the front door of this ‘small lime-white house situated in the corner of the Glen’ you could (allegedly) see - Gweedore, Connemara, Galway, the island of Aran and The Great Blaskets!!! Famed as much for its beauty as the abject, relentless and ‘much prized’ poverty of its residents, the daily fare consists of potatoes, potatoes and yet more potatoes, which they shared with a horse called Charlie, a bunch of sheep ‘a slim thighed cow’, a clutch of chickens and Ambrose the pig!! You’re invited to discover buried treasure, underwater homes and the perils of marathon Irish dancing. A perfect marriage of satire and gazumping!!

There are great things happening in the Gaeltacht Quarter — and Aisling Ghéar is at the very heart of them. But there's no use preparing masterplans and reports if the Irish speaking community of Belfast doesn't support the living, breathing companies which make the Gaeltacht Quarter tick. See you in the Opera House.

Interest in Chomsky's Jewish parentage

On his blog, Nelson McCausland makes an interesting reference to Noam Chomsky's Jewish parentage in an article which excoriates the respected academic and activist.

Minister McCausland says: "Chomsky was born in Philadelphia to Jewish parents" before going on to list a series of McCarthyite style charges including "him he is a member of the revolutionary IWW" (for the uninitiated, the largely irrelevant International Workers of the World); he is "controversial"; he is "shunned by the mainstream media".

Chomsky was in town to give the annual Amnesty International lecture in Queen's and to speak at St Mary's College in West Belfast. He adds: "The choice of such a prominent figure from the far-left as their speaker must say something about the politics of Amnesty International and maybe even the Human Rights Centre at Queen's. For those who are not familiar with the HRC at Queen's, the director is Professor Brice Dickson, the first chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission."

However, what that "something" may be, we can only guess as the normally candid minister who won't attend any events which involve Catholic ceremony doesn't elucidate. Why not?

Micheál Ó Brolacháin ar lár

Brón orm cloisteáil inniu ar mo bhealach ar ais ón Oireachtas i Leitir Ceanainn go bhfuair Micheál Ó Brolacháin bás aréir.

49 mbliain d'aois a bhí sé agus i measc na leabhar a scríobh sé bhí Laochra, Sráid Sicín agus, do pháistí, Gréagóir Goraile. Bhí greann ar leith ann agus dúil mhór aige sa tsaol. Bhuail mé leis ar dtús agus muid ag plé le Conradh na Gaeilege agus na heagrais agóidíochta a d'eacair as, go háirithe Freagra.

Ba guth úr é i saol na litríochta Gaeilge sna hochtóidí agus is oth liom nár lean sé den scríbhneoireacht. Folisíodh Laochra i 1983, an bhliain chéanna inar fhoilsigh Séamus Mac Annaidh Cuaifeach Mo Londubh Buí. Ar ndóigh is beag aitheantas a bheir muid do scríbhneoirí na Gaeilge, ní iontas mar sin iad éirí as an scríbhneoireacht. Tchím ón idirlíon go raibh baint aige fosta le Shamrock Rovers.

Go raibh suaimhneas síoraí aige.

You are the one

American Indian leader Yvonne Swan sends me the YouTube link from Californnia to the song Floyd Westerman-Red Crow wrote for her. Chante Waste Win is Dakota for You Are the One.



Meanwhile, for my sins (and among Floyd's memorable songs performed in the Conway Mill in 1985 was 'Custer Died for Your Sins'), I attended the Polish MacBeth in the docks last night, complete with motorbikes and witches on stilts. I will kindly draw a veil of silence over that event.

What I was taken with however was the density of the apartment developments shadowing the beautiful St Joseph's Church in Pilot Street. Where once stood small terraced homes, there are now towering (and empty) apartment blocks of the sort of density you would see on 42nd Street in New York (city of eight million people). Some of the apartments have spectacular views across three metres to...the apartment block next door. Here's a prediction: these apartments will remain unoccupied for the next five years.

Hopefully, the government isn't so stupid that it will buy them up for 'social housing'. Much better to provide good quality houses for those in need of social housing than to condemn them to these high-rise monstrosities which deface the landscape.

Finally, fair dues to the parishioners of St Joseph's who fought like hell and held regular Sunday mass at the door of the chapel to prevent the church from demolishing this grand old building. Amidst the follies of mammon, it shines like a beacon to real values.

Final call

With only days to go before nominations close for this year's Aisling Awards gala, a partial shortlist has been released.

It includes in the community endeavour category, the West Belfast and Greater Shankill Enteprise Council for its Think Transformation masterplan and LORAG on the Lower Ormeau which is completing work on a massive renovation of the Shaftesbury Recreation Centre.

There's still time to nominate a business for the annual business accolade.

Guest speaker at this year's thirteenth annual celebration will the Speaker and President of New York City Council Christine Quinn. Speaker Quinn, a passionate Irish American and the first-openly gay President of the Council, will carry out a full range of appointments in Belfast before giving the main address at the Aisling Awards on 19 November in the Europa Hotel. As well as meeting with Lord Mayor Naomi Long, she'll attend a reception in West Belfast, be welcomed into East Belfast, enjoy a business breakfast at the Presidents Club and have lunch with the main gay and lesbian advocacy groups in the city.

Speaker Quinn is pictured with Pádraic White, chair of West Belfast and Shankill Enterprise Council and Cllr Michael Brown, then head of the Belfast City Council Economic Development Committee, in February 2008.

San Francisco steps up

Ciaran Scally sends me this press release:

San Francisco (October 28, 2009) - The San Francisco Board of
Supervisors have voted unanimously to adopt a resolution supporting the
reunification of Ireland by peaceful, electoral and diplomatic means.
The resolution was prepared by Supervisor Sean Elsbernd and first
introduced by Supervisor Chris Daly on October 20th. The Board acted on
the resolution at it's October 27 meeting.

The resolution was supported by several members of San Francisco's Irish
Community. Several of the speakers, who are immigrants, told the board
that they came to the United States because the circumstances created by
partition forced them out, citing discrimination in employment and
education as well as the unwarranted imprisonment of nationalists and
republicans under the corrupt policing and judicial systems.

"All we want for the people of Ireland are the same democratic rights
that people here in the United States enjoy," said Ciaran Scally.

Joan O'Neill, echoed those sentiments, saying, "I left because of the
discrimination that I faced there. Irish people should be given the same
opportunity for self-determination as every other people."

Another speaker, Regina Costa, pointed out that the language of the
resolution is consistent with the provisions in the Good Friday
Agreement, which provides for a referendum on reuniting the nation
should a majority of voters wish. "San Francisco has a long tradition of
supporting democratic rights in many lands, and supporting the same
rights in Ireland would mean a lot to Irish Americans in San Francisco,"
she said.

Support for Irish reunification is strong in San Francisco, as evidenced
by the decision of the United Irish Societies to adopt "Unite Ireland
Now" as the theme for the 2010 St. Patrick's Day Parade.

The Board's action follows hard on the heels of the passage of a similar
resolution by the Executive Board of the California Democratic Party on
July 19th, 2009, and the San Francisco Labor Council on September 28.

The resolution can be found on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Web site, under minutes of 27 October.

Aloofness and avoidance

Thanks to the tipper who alerted me to this Independent piece back in June, though its prediction of an extensive Troubles gallery at the Ulster Museum proved wrong.

In the lengthy piece, John Gray, former librarian at the Linen Hall Library is quoted: "The museum was guilty of aloofness and avoidance. It's fair to say a lot of institutions were."

Thank goodness those attitudes are all in the past.

Lost language

You can just imagine the anguished discussion at the Ulster Museum as they debated where to put the Fáilte sign at the reception.

The solution, as you see, was to put a number of languages in alphabetical order, with Fáilte and Fair Fae Ye coming with the 'f's.

I have seen many ingenious solutions to the language conundrum here (i.e. how do we accord respect to the Irish identity without pissing off the old guard) but this is the first time I've seen the alphabet deployed.

Nowhere else on these islands would the indigenous language(s) be relegated to the same level as non-indigenous languages but there's always a first.

A more telling commentary on the head-bowed approach of the Ulster Museum to its surrounds is the little sign directing visitors to 'The Troubles'. Like a mad aunt hidden in the attic, the inquisitive visitor wanting to find out what this conflict thing was all about is steered towards a box-room afterthought.

The bad news: I was in the museum for a farewell party for Marie-Thérèse McGivern who is leaving Belfast City Council in the smashing new atrium last night and the galleries were closed so I didn't manage to see the building in all its glory. Another day.

Slice of the old block

Sal Lupoli, who started his pizza empire from a converted mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts with Minister Conor Murphy and Mayor Michael Sullivan of Lawrence.

The trio are pictured during the minister's visit to Lawrence, the poorest city in Lawrence but also a city on the bounce back.

I came across Sal's self-promotional pizza site for Salvatore's today and thought it was a great template for anyone who wishes to really push their business. At the minute, nominations are coming in for this year's Aisling Award business accolade and a few more like Sal (who has also converted 1.2 million sq ft of mill buildings in Lawrence) would make life easy for the ajudication panel of the PwC-sponsored award.

You can nominate a business at the Aisling website.

Magic Johnston's 15-second movie show

I was down at Weaver's Court today as part of my odyssey into the emerging companies of Belfast.

Weaver's Court is Belfast's best-run business park which is under the tutelage of City councillor Tom Ekin. It has a series of exciting companies across several acres, including a company working for HBO which explains why Sean Bean was there last week. (Tom Ekin had to relocate from South Africa to Belfast to be threatened by racists, as you can see from our report.)

The park is in the heart of Sandy Row and you have to run a gauntlet of union jacks to reach its entrance but inside it's a world away from the poverty and joblessness of that loyalist estate. Hundreds of graduates work in a score of businesses in the park including Asidua and Anaeko.

On my way out of the park today, I was shanghaied into calling into the wackiest but potentially most profitable of them all: Philip 'Magic' Johnston's media zoo which includes this fine 15-second movie booth where I watched a series of shorts.

Philip, who once authored the alternative mag DV8 until he published a green, white and orange union jack on the front cover and found shops wouldn't stock it, is also a dab hand at ipod apps. His virtual 'I Snort Cocaine' joke app has turned over £26,000 this year. He swears it's a joke and certainly not as injurious to your person as the real thing.