Celebrating an Ghaeilge on the Barracks site

Dominic Loughran has come forward with his dramatic plan for a garden to be gifted the people of West Belfast on the Andersonstown Barracks site.

I will go one better: the Irish language development agency I chair, An Nasc Ltd, is working with Foras na Gaeilge, the Arts Council and local people to create the first-ever major piece of public art in Irland celebrating the Irish language.

To date, we have been looking at sites closer to the heart of the Ceathrú Gaeltachta around the Cultúrlann, but why not locate it right where the Barracks stood. What wonderful irony: an instituion which refused to recognise or acknowledge the culture of the community it repressed giving us the space to celebrate our shared future. I can think of no greater feat of reimaging than to go from a place of horror and hatred to place of beauty and celebration.

I got one of those new blackberrys with a camera (blackberries?) and as you can see haven't got the complete hang of it yet but pictured are Caitríona Nic Sheáin and Andrew Whitson who were taking park in today's Lá Mór Acht na Gaeilge (an Irish language day in support of the impending Irish Language Act). The pair were reading from their mythical story for children, Gaiscíoch na Béilte Uaine (the Green Belt Warrior)....it's hasn't been a bad week for the talented pair: on Thursday they were at Stormont to pick up a Top 50 accolade.

Tá mé ar shiúl go Nua Eabharc amárach le haghaidh Gradaim an Irish Echo ar Wall Street Déardaoin ach nuair a thiocfas mé ar ais tá súil agam gur féidir plé ceart a thosú ar an ról a imreoidh an Ciste Craoltóireachta (a bhfuil mé i mo bhall de) sa Cheathrú Gaeltachta. Is é mo mholadhsa gur chóir don Chiste staidéar a choimisiúniú a amharcfaidh ar na féidearthachtaí a bhaineann le áras a thógáil sa Cheathrú Ghaeltacht do lucht déanta scannánaíochta Gaeilge. Ní leor níos mó seiceanna a shíniú; caithfear bainistiú a dhéanamh ar an earnáil má tá sé le bláthú. Cruthú postanna, tógáil cnuasaí, ag mealladh infheisteoirí nua. Go díreach an rud atá ar bun sa Titanic Quarter ach sa cheantar den chathair ina bhfáiltítear roimh an Ghaeilge go fonnmhar.

Cornerstone of City Hall

I was in Belfast City Hall today for a ceremony to signal the two-year closure of the building for a £12m facelift.

When opened in 1906, Belfast City Hall set the City Fathers back £300,000. As Peter McNaney, Council chief executive observed, that sounds like a bargain but apparently it was about £140,000 more than the burghers had budgeted for and as a result they initiated a committee of enquiry.

The first thing that caught the eye of the chief scrutineer was that the cornerstone had cost £300. "Was it a precious stone?" he asked. The answer that was forthcoming was that in fact it cost £40 but the celebrations to mark the lying of the cornerstone cost £260.

Anyhow, if City Hall is going to be empty for the next two years, will the Union flag continue to fly from the dome in breach of fair employment legislation. Moreover, when the refurbished City Hall opens its doors in 2009, will the flag be there or will the Equality Commission pluck up the courage to face down the most egregious public contravention of fair employment legislation in the North?

Finally, a Friday night joke in the spirit of those who spent £260 on a knees-up to mark the lying of that cornerstone: Man brings woman home from disco and informs her, "I can give you super sex." "Thanks," says she, "I'll have the soup." They've been telling that joke since Pluto was a planet and it just keeps on getting better.

"Outrageous" threat condemned

Roy Greenslade at the Guardian picked up the loyalist death threat to Robin Livingstone.

And the NUJ in Ireland and Britain have responded forcefully and swiftly in face of this "outrageous" threat to the press.

The Irish American Information Service has also put its mailing list on alert over the threat.

But day two and still no call, no condemnation, no statement from any unionist representative that I have seen.

Unionists must rein in the dinosaurs

Interesting article here from DW-WORLD.DE Deutsche Welle 'Your Link To Germany' on the Irish language. Kind of stark the level of the discrimination when the facts are spelt out to a foreign audience, ten per cent of people here speak Irish but there's no legal protection for Irish.

Just back from Stormont at the fabulous Developing Belfast Top 50 event to find that Andersonstown News editor Robin Livingstone has received a bullet in the post from loyalist paramilitaries. The bullet was sent to UTV apparently, wrapped in a letter with his name, address and car registration.

A clear attack on free speech which will undoubtedly received a robust response from unionist politicians who have influence over there dinosaurs.

Our pictures from Stormont show, atop the Belfast Sightseeing Company tourbus (a company which won an outstanding endeavour award), are Sean Neeson MLA, Paul Maskey MLA, Sir George Quigley (who won an award for his leadership of the corporation tax campaign), Mark Durkan MLA MP, Connla Lawlor of the Belfast Media Group and (sitting) Tom Carson, Managing Director of Corporate and Government Solutions with premier sponsor of the Top 50, BT. Pictured outside the bus are Mark Durkan, Chair of the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee, Connla Lawlor and Tom Carson (GAA fans will recognise Tom from his days as a under-21 player with Co Meath).

Biggest thrill of the day came from meeting Daithí Ó hArgáin, aka Dave Horgan, ceo of Petrel Resources and one of Belfast's greatest entrepreneurs. I see Petrel Resources losses from its southern Iraq operations now stand at over €300,000. For some reason, reading this in the FT on Saturday, I thought he was €300m in the red, things not as bad as I thought and I can see why Daithí is still smiling. In the Top 50 magazine, he says one of the highs of his business career was coming to Belfast last year to address an audience of Irish speakers in the vernacular. Maith é! Daithí is pictured (left) with Sir George Quigley, Chairman of Bombardier, Alison Sweeney of the Belfast Media Group and Mark Durkan.
The last shall be first: Entrepreneur Barry Gilligan of Big Picture Development Ltd is pictured with Graham Davis of Invest NI and Kaitriona and Charles Sterrett of Sterrett's Auto in East Belfast which won the Go For It award.

Top 50 to be honoured at Stormont

Fifty of Belfast's most ambitious businesses will be acknowledged tomorrow at a Stormont luncheon to honour this year's Developing Belfast Top 50 organised by the Belfast Media Group.

You can see the celebratory magazine here and the admire the mix of young Turks, industry titans, start-ups and long-established businesses which make up the third annual list.

Mark Durkan, Chair of the Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee will lead the congratulations to our top 50, four of whom will receive an award for outstanding endeavour. He will be joined by Paul Maskey, Deputy Chair of the Committee and others including Alliance MLA Sean Neeson. Exasperated, I once asked Mark Durkan if he understood the problems faced by nationalists dealing with economic agencies in the North. "I'm a Derry Catholic," he replied.


Sir George Quigley will be honoured for his leadership of the campaign to reduce corporate taxation rates to the same level as the South of Ireland. There has been an effort by the great and the good in Whitehall to pour cold water on his efforts but to this credit, Sir George has stuck to his guns during the current Varney review of taxation commissioned by Gordon Browne. He will tell the 150-strong audience at the BT-sponsored Stormont event: “The case for aligning corporation tax throughout the island is powerful. To reject it, the Sir David Varney Review now nearing completion would have to fly in the face of a mass of authoritative opinion able to draw on a wealth of experience.

“I cannot recall a policy proposal around which such a powerful consensus has developed, thanks to the strong leadership provided by the political parties. Moreover, it is a consensus which extends to both parts of the island. All this is simply unprecedented.

“For years the government — rightly — encouraged the parties to take risks for peace. They did, and the benefits are plain for all to see. It is now government’s turn to deliver and to give the Executive the tools to do the job.”

Our photograph recognises the champion efforts of another group of pioneers altogether: the children of Bunscoil an tSléibhe Dhuibh in West Belfast, just of many centres of excellence of education where the teaching medium is Irish. Given recent, ill-informed and sectarian attacks on the Irish school movement, it's a treat to acknowledge the visit to the bunscoil by Big Lottery's John Gartside, Alison Magee, Paul Cavaney and Diana Whitworth with Schoolchildren Cherise Stilges and Odhrán O Coigligh. Also pictured are Community Sports Development Assistant Louise Murphy, Orla O'Hagan (Sports Development Officer) and Michelle Rodgers (Sports Development Coach). Maith sibh.

Now that's courage!

The Sinn Féin councillor Pat Rice had a favourite line from Shakespeare which he would hold in mind as he ran the gauntlet of hate and thuggery to represent Sinn Féin in the bleak and bigoted Hillsborough town hall in the eighties. And though I've searched a gazillion search engines tonight, I can't find it. Still it goes something like this, with apologies to the bard:“Cowards die many times before their death, the brave man tastes of death but once.”

That thought came to me today when I saw Harry Holland's feisty daughter Sorcha back in her father's shop carrying on his fruit and veg business. The six am morning run to the market has been taken on by his daughters now and I've no doubt the community will rally round these plucky entrepreneurs while they keep the faith with their father's vision of running a small business at the heart of the neighbourhood in which the live.

If there's a greater contrast between Sorcha, complete with big smile, bagging the organges and plums and those who took Harry Holland's life, then I've yet to see it. Is it any consolation that Harry tasted of death but once while they will suffer the coward's fate? (Wednesday 3.30pm, Andersonstown News carrying this wonderful picture of Gail Holland at her father's shop in tomorrow's editions.)

Meanwhile...Larry Kirwan of Black 47 tells the story of meeting a punter at a New York gig recently who swore blind that the US air force bombed the Dominican Republic on their way to Vietnam in the seventies. Larry tried a geography lesson but your man was having none of it. "I was there," says he.

Which got me thinking of the famed Belfast ballad, penned by Teresa Donnelly (who, sadly, passed away this year), 'I Was There'. Teresa's husband Jackie kindly dropped the words into me today. Here's a taster:
In 1968 civil rights were going great
One man one vote my banner did declare
At Burntollet we were met
By a mob we won't forget
It was raining bricks and bottles from the air.

I was there
I was there
With my little paper banner
I was there.

In August '69
I remember well the time
For Derry's skae to Hastings Street protest
They released the armoured squads
To wipe out the Lower Falls
They didn't reckon on the fact that I was there.

I was there
I was there
With my uncle Malachy's hurley
I was there

At Operation Motor Man
When the Brits devised a plan
To raid no go areas in the night
But we foiled their masquerade
And we manned the barricades
And we showed the British duck squads
How to fight

I was there
I was there
When they manned the barricades
I was there

For years we had been told, take your protest to the polls
This we did successfully, and made our choice
How naive we must have been
For we really should have seen
That in their democracy we'd have no voice

I was there
I was there
Whey they rendered my vote worthless
I was there

We got killed one night in Doagh
Were in heaven when we woke
And we asked St Peter, grant us just one prayer
Let us go back down again
To Belfast just to explain
That heaven still remains
Cause I was there.

Barracks site to host people's park

Landscape gardener Dominic Loughran, who hails from Andersonstown and has been spending some time recently with the Irish Township Challenge designing a new community garden in the slums of Cape Town, has come up with a use for the Andersonstown Barracks site which knocks the commercial plan being touted by the Minister for Social Development's flat plan into a cocked hat.

Dominic would transform the space into a tranquil oasis, bringing water ("nature's greatest gift") through the site and introducing a tower of reflection to replace the watchtower of war which once scarred the site.

"The proposal is made with the intention of bringing both an area of beauty to the community, increasing nature through wildlife, introducing the landscape to visitors, a place to look forward to the future without forgetting our past," he says.

"The Central feature of the garden is a watch tower, unlike the watch tower it replaces, the cedar clad watch tower has a stainless steel column and glass bordered stair case and deck. The stainless column is reflective, from any angle on the main deck of the watch tower you will be able to see a reflection of the city landscape."

The Reclaim the Site lobby group is back in action with their plans for a fun day at the site to highlight the hypocrisy of government in flogging off this site in the heart of Andersonstown to the highest bidder while in Derry, three former military sites were gifted to an urban regeneration company.

Dominic's proposal will go before the West Belfast Partnership Board which is carrying out a genuine consultation about the future of this evocative and important site.

I await the community's verdict but I'm sure every nationalist ill-treated in the barracks, every republican thrown down the barracks stairs or beaten to a pulp in its cells will join all those who lost loved ones in attacks planned on this site in raising a glass to Dominic's proposal.

Crisis? What krisis?

The photographs are so horrendous and the Basque Country so beautiful that I thought I'd treat you to them all courtesy of Berria. The majority are of a police attack (dubbed 'zero tolerance' by the Spanish press) on an 'illegal' march for peace in the resort town of Donostia-San Sebastian.

The others are from the village of Lizartza where the Spanish flag now flies — at the cost of daily demonstrations by the seething local populace and the arrest of a grandmother.

I'm also indebted to a friend who confirmed me in my view that we face a real policing and criminality crisis in West Belfast, not because of the severity of the problem but because in the original Greek a krisis was a situation where your next decision determines the future course of events. (From dictionary.com a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, esp. for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.) And that's where we are today.

Lá Nua published the full text of the Stormont debate on Irish language education on Friday. Anyone who thinks we're making progress fast enough should read it.