Worthy cause

I see that Celtic supporters have launched a special fund in aid of the family of slain Coleraine man Kevin McDaid, beaten to death when trying to defend his community. A worthy cause.

Clear path ahead

At the 'From Discussion to Delivery' breakfast in the Cultúrlann, hosted by Belfast Media Group and sponsorsed by Deloitte as part of Féile an Phobail, Gerry Adams gave a very clear account of progress made to date on creating a mechanism which can deliver results on the ground.

He recalled Fr Alex Reid asking him, as they walked through Turf Lodge, how people there would know peace had been won? And for too many at the bottom of the heap, there has yet to be a solid peace dividend (with the wonderful exception of an absence of violence).

The Sinn Féin President said deprived communities must materially benefit from the peace. "They must enjoy substantive outcomes," he said.

He said West Belfast had suffered from institutional discrimination which was unacceptable he had no wish to "live in the past". However, leaving the past behind meant government agencies had to collaborate in "genuine partnership" to deliver "an accelerated regeneration programme".

He said "an overarching local structure" should be created to ensure maximum investment and development in the areas of greatest disadvantage. This body would be "asset-backed" — a reference to it being responsible for idle lands now under the control of government. In the autumn, it was his hope that priorities, a timeline and sequencing for the delivery of this new area-based strategy could be put out to the local communities for consultation before being agreed by government.

He recalled that in the wake of the West Belfast and Shankill Task Force reports in 2002, 17 projects in West and Shankill were shortlisted for special funding. However, up to four years ago, only one had actually received money. Among those projects were St Comgall's School and the Cultúrlann. He was hopeful these issues were about to be resolved but said the slow pace of change was frustrating and intolerable.

"Three concerted efforts were aalso made (by government bodies) to collapse the Task Force recommendations even though they are in the Programme for Government," he added.

Our pics show the packed Cultúrlann — over 80 business, political and community leaders attended — and earlyrisers with the sharpest summer suits Terence Brannigan, Chair of Resource which employs 13,000 people and Gerry McKernan of United Optical Ltd. (Gerry tells me at his table were three go-getters, himself Pádraig Mackel and Seán Mistéil, who were in the same class, in fact the same row, at school. Pity the teacher.)

Spring and the cherry tree

Big Concubhar is on the warpath I see, questioning the worth of our pal John Burton (as opposed to John Bruton) and his pronouncements on a United Ireland. One presumes Peter Robinson thinks it's important since he's written to Hillary about it....

But anyway, still trying to get time to give you a proper account of our breakfast, From Discussion to Delivery, but in the meantime, I give you this offering:

Marie-Thérèse McGivern (pictured), Director of Development at Belfast City Council, a great champion of Belfast and a strong advocate for West Belfast (and a child of the west, of course), quoted the poet Pablo Neruda and his sensual poem, What Spring Does with the Cherry Trees. It ends:

My words rained over you, stroking you.
A long time I have loved the sunned mother-of-pearl of your body.
I go so far as to think that you own the universe.
I will bring you happy flowers from the mountains, bluebells,
dark hazels, and rustic baskets of kisses.
I want
to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.

She only gave us the last line (you can read it all here) but her wish was that the Gaeltacht Quarter plans would have the same effect on the city of Belfast and its people. Great poem, great quote.

"Too long a wait"

I'm told Peter Robinson, first minister, responded somewhat testily to the suggestion by California State Democratic Party leader John Burton (pictured) that a United Ireland should be realised sooner rather than later.

I interviewed John Burton, himself quite a feisty character, at his San Francisco office last month where he said there had been "too long a wait" for a United Ireland. He followed up by having the state Democratic Party pass a motion backing the unification of the island.

You can read the interview here.

It's great to see Robinson's response and I look forward to more debate on this crucial issue. The First Minister has written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to ask her to rein in the Californians! In the meantime, let's stop the discussion about whether Hillary will or won't be the peace/political envoy here and get on with the business of delivering on the campaign promise of an envoy appointment and delivery of the added promise of a business envoy (and of course that business envoy must realise that any economic progress has to make a real difference to those who have suffered the most during the years of conflict).

This morning, I was hosting a business breakfast for over 80 of our top business and community leaders — and the odd politician was there too, inlcluding Bairbre de Brún MEP and Cllr Ian Adamson — and I hope to bring you up to date with how we tackled our theme — From Discussion to Delivery — later today.

Fined £3 for rebuilding Bombay Street

There should of course be a caption competition for this one: The President telling Gerry Adams, "don't run for the Áras, Gerry, it's a slog" and him retorting, "I swear I'm not interested in that position, anyhow, that's the yellow press talking". I'm sure, dear reader, you could do much better.

President McAleese and hubbie Martin were in West Belfast last night to deliver the annual PJ McCrory lecture which this year, appropriately enough, focused on the great lawyer himself. A fellow-North Belfast resident, PJ McCrory represented the families of the Gibraltar Three (Sean Savage, Mairead Farrell and Dan McCan) at what passed for an inquest into those 1988 executions. Not a bad idea to remember that no-one was every charged with any offence related to those extra-judicial killings — not a bad thing to remember when the unionists start ranting about escapees from Brixton jail evading the long arm of the law.

I was on the either side of the road during President McAleese's impressive address to a full house at St Mary's. In the Cultúrlann, Seán Mistéil was launching his new book about the burning of Bombay Street which focuses on the role of Belfast Irish speakers — led by Críostóir de Napier (RIP), Séamus Mac Seáin, Seán Mac Goill, Ciarán Ó Catháin (RIP) and Seán Mac Seáin.

Both Seán Mac Goill and Seán Mac Seáin spoke at the launch, recalling that the authorities hounded the young Irish speakers when they decided to immediately rebuild the houses torched in the RUC-loyalist mob attacks of 15 August 1969. Ultimately, they fined Séamus Mac Seáin the princely sum of £3 (plus £8 costs) for building without the appropriate planning permission (subsequently obtained). Amazingly, the first houses were handed over in June 1970 — the perfect response to thuggery.

I'm not sure if Seán Mistéil will put the book up on the web to be downloaded — I'll keep you posted — but the bilingual Ón Luaith Go Dti An Aisling — From Ashes to Aisling, Belfast Gaels and the Rebuilding of Bombay Street is a major work with an undeniable proposition: that from the burning of Bombay Street came a community response, led by Irish speakers, which put people first. That same verve and determination is, of course, evidenced in the current proposals to use Irish as an economic driver in the fledgling Gaeltacht Quarter (plans for which will be discussed at a business breakfast tomorrow at 8am in the Cultúlann, hosted by Belfast Media Group, sponsored by Deloitte and featuring Gerry Adams and Marie Thérèse McGivern, Director of Development at Belfast City Council. Robert Ballagh will also attend to give an update on the artpiece An Ceiliúradh.)

After-Slavery Project

Interesting academic project here about the 10 million Africans removed from their homelands to serve as slaves in the Americas, which is being co-ordinated from Queen's University in Belfast.

The After Slavery Project states: "If the study of the past has any value in helping us to understand the present, or in guiding us in trying to shape the future, then there can be few chapters in the American experience that speak to us more powerfully than the crucial years during which four million former slaves tried to make something out of freedom."

Our photograph shows black slaves celebrating empancipation on Edisto Island.

And I see a new comic book publisher Rí Rá has emerged in Co Clare of all places, go n-éirí leo.

Way out of war on drugs cul-de-sac?

David Simon's Homicide (the year of 1988 spent with the homicide detectives of Baltimore) and The Corner (the year of 1993 spent with 'dope fiends' of the same city) are among the greatest works of reportage from those two decades.

No wonder Simon went to to write The Wire, often regarded as the best show on TV.

The latter book gives a disturbing insight into the life of drug addicts, themselves often sellers of the drugs they use, living on the very margins of society, hustling for the next fix and repeating the cycle endlessly with the next generation.

Simon argues that the war on drugs is a nonsense because it the silver bullet hasn't been invented which can stop the constant demand for the drug products available on the Corner.

Every device, every strategy, every harsh law, every jailing has the effect of heaping even further misery on those at the very bottom of the pack in West Baltimore but as each dealer is removed from the streets another takes his or her place, 'slinging' drugs until their early death from ill-health, bullet or until their incarceration. They live on the very edge of the world; as anyone who has passed through West Baltimore can tell you, it's as far from Baltimore Harbour and its glitzy waterfront developments as Belfast is from Bangalore.

Interestingly, at the weekend in the Financial Times magazine, Matthew Engel also argues that it's time to 'legalise the lot'. He quotes the director of public health for Cumbria, England, Professor John Ashton: "The war on drugs has failed. We need to think differently." Prof Ashton argues that heroin and everything else now banned should be availalbe over the counter in chemists' shops.

Engaement with the community on the way back

After yesterday's exhibitions' opening at Féile, it was up to Andersonstown for the Belfast Media Group fun day — backed by local traders — where I was delighted to meet the new manager of the Andersonstown branch of the Ulster Bank, Dawn Murray. The Andersonstown branch is the second busiest Ulster Bank branch in the North and is housed in a unit linked to the Andersonstown Leisure Centre, which in turn boasts some of the first public artworks in Belfast and was, if memory serves me right, designed by a local architect PW McRandle (I'm open to correction on this one.)

Dawn kindly opened the branch to provide tea, coffee and refreshments (courtesy of her hardworking staff) to punters seeking shelter from the (all-too-frequent) showers. The car park in front of the leisure centre makes a wonderful public space but yet is never used in the way Custom House Square in the city centre, or Smithfield in Dublin, is. Perhaps we can make our fun day a regular event at Féile and ramp up use of this

The idea of bank managers engaging with the community went out of fashion during the Celtic Tiger profit-chasing bonanza. Let's hope it's on the way back.

Féile fever

I've caught it: that Féile fever. I always approach Féile week nonchalantly, working my way, marker in hand, through the programme, noting only a few events to attend.

And then I attend the first — this morning's opening of the exhibition and dramas by Gerry Adams, focusing on the wonderful pictures of Bombay Street after the '69 pogroms — event and am hooked.

After the launch of the exhibitions, I got to (eventually) present Gerry with the wonderful portrait of him by Conrad Atkinson. And I was delighted to note that there was a representative of the Ulster Museum in the audience, all this must be increasing Conrad's chances of getting onto the invitation list for the Ulster Museum opening (where his work, subsequently sold to Wolverhampton Art Gallery for a small fortune, was cruelly banned in 1978).

There's also an excellent, if small, collection of photographs from the Andersonstown News files. The one I really liked was of trade unionists gathered round the defunct fountain at Dunville to be addressed by a shop steward during a strike at the nearby Royal Victoria Hospital. Check out the old Falls streets in the background and note how few cars there are in this 1980 picture by Basil McLaughlin.

If you click on Gerry's portrait, you can study the words and birds from the Book of Kells which make up this astonishing study.