Ar mo bhealach go Bostún

Ar dtús: comhghairdeas le mná Aontroma atá i gcluiche ceannais peil na mban ar 27 Meán Fómhair — roinn na sóisear. Is iontach Aontroim a bheith i gcluiche ceannais náisiúnta d'aon chineál i mbliana agus comhartha go bhfuil na seoltaí in airde againn.

Tá mé anois san aerphort i Newark ar mo bhealach go Bostún, áit a bhfuil cruinnithe agam amárach maidir leis an chomhdháil atá beartaithe againn do 7-8 Deireadh Fómhair le nasc nua a chothú idir Bostún agus Doire agus an iarthuaisceart. Cúis áthais domh go mbeidh Liam Ó Cuinneagáin, Cathaoirleach an Údaráis, agus Mihceal Ó hÉanaigh as Comhairle Dhún na nGall linn ar an ócáid thábhachtach seo mar in aimsir seo na héigeandála, is gá an rud a ghní an ceantar seo meallacach a bhéimniú.

Dóibh siúd as Bostún atá ag smaoineamh ar ghnó a lonnú in Éirinn, is cinnte nach bhfuighfeadh siad an caighdeán beatha idir gnéasán pobail, córas oideachais, imshaol agus caithimh aimsire, in aon áit a bheadh inchurtha leis an cheantar ó Dhoire go Dún Géibheann.

Idir amanna, guím gach rath orthu sin uilig a chuir isteach don chomórtas le haghaidh nuachtáin Ghaeilge. Tá spéis ar leith agam san iarratas ag lucht Foinse agus ag lucht Ghleann na mBard (más fíor na tuairiscí) ach tá mó bhá le Nuacht 24 i mBéal Feirste — Tomaí Ó Conghaile agus Eoghan Ó Néill — agus tá súil agam go mbíonn an lá leo. Chaill Grúpa Meán Bhéal Feirste £250,000 thar dheich mbliana ar Lá idir eagrán seachtainiúil agus eagrán laethúil ach dearcaim air sin mar infheistiú fiúntach sa Ghaeilge agus go háirithe i bpobal na Gaeilge i mBéal Feirste. Bhí mé sa Chultúrlann tráthnóna beag ar an tSatharn agus bhi triúr ógánach in aice leis an doras agus comhrá casta ar bun acu ar cheisteanna ollscoile agus eile...i nGaeilge. Sin ráite ní dóigh liom gur féidir nuachtán brábúsúil a fhoilsiú ar an airgead atá á thairscint ag an Fhoras ach beidh le feiceáil. Súil agam go bhfuil dul amú orm. (Seans gurb é atá de dhíth na an fear atá taobh liom anseo a bheith mar chomhairleoir. Tá sé ag léamh nuachtán na gcapall, ag amharc ar rásaí ar an idirlíon ar a ríomhaire glúine agus ag déanamh suimeanna matamatice le geallta a chur!)

Sin an toradh a bíos ar infheistiú sa Ghaeilge...sa chás seo san oideachas dara léibhéal. Agus sin an fáth a bhfuil sé riachtanach Coláiste Ghaeilge (chan meánscoil..ní maith liom an bhéim ar second, 'second rate', 'second place' srl. is fear i bhfad Coláiste a shamhlú) a bhunú arís i nDoire. Agus sin an mórdhifear a mhothaím idir Doire agus Béal Feirste, tá níos mó Gaeilgeoirí óga i mBéal Feirste, a bhuí sin le Coláiste Feirste.

Who takes crime seriously (other than those of us who have no power)?

The Andersonstown News will reveal tomorrow morning that vicious rapist Michael Quinn (pictured) has not been electronically tagged, though the courts acknowledge he's all but certain to offend again.

Quinn was released from prison last month after serving four years of an eight year sentence for the double rape of a 15-year-old schoolgirl in West Belfast. After the attack, Quinn rang the girl's mother to boast about the rape.

Similarities there to the murderer of Harry Holland who texted a pal to say that he'd killed a man and ended with the text shorthand LOL (Laughing Out Loud).

The conclusion from all these stories is that the courts, the prisons, the police and the Probation Service, all answerable to London, don't take the issue of crime as seriously as the ordinary people of areas like West Belfast believe they should.

Chicken in every pot and a cultúrlann in every town

Pictured at the opening of the Cultúrlann in Derry last night, are Minister Caitríona Ruane, Martina Anderson MLA, dep First Minister Martin McGuinness and Gearóid Ó hEara — he to whom the credit goes for the new landmark £5m development.

I met quite a few old hands last night — more than a handful who would fall into the category of "old cranks" so beloved of the Irish language movement. The person I was looking out for but missed was artist Lockey Morris, who created a wooden wall plaque bearing Éamon Ó Cuív's name to mark the opening.

In his speech, Gerry Ó hEara thanked those non-speakers of Irish who had contributed so readily to the new Cultúrlann, singling out for special praise the Arts Council. His hope was that those who might be wary of working with the Irish language sector would understand from this partnership that, "yes, we are passionated about the Irish language but we are also passionate about the arts, about education, about economic development and about the built heritage".

Éamon O Cuív paid tribute to the rich physical heritage of Ireland — Giant's Causeway, Cliffs of Moher and Brú na Bóinne — but noted that all those together don't match the heritage which is the living Irish language.

He also urged parents to give their children the gift of the Irish language. I'm all for that, but in fact those who chose to speak Irish to their children and send them to Irish schools are also giving the Irish language community and movement the gift of their children and that's something for which we should be eternally grateful.

(Picture by our Derry stringer Charlie McMenamin who I met for the first time last night.)

Gifts galore

First, I accidentally rejected a comment from West of the Bann, mo leithscéal and could he/she please submit again and I will post.

Second, I started off the day standing up to the waist in an ice bath — a treatment which allegedly will ease the pain in my knackered knees, and ended it in the spectacular new Waterfoot Hotel in Derry (enterpreneur Garvan O'Doherty's new baby).

In between, I went to a top class management training course at Galgorm Castle, just yards from the centre of Ballymena, which, judging by the flags is the bull's eye of the Empire. What did I find out at this training seminar: that if I was a Simpsons' character, I would be Krusty the Clown. The other insights didn't rise to just that level, but believe me, it was the best day out I've had in a long time.

That's probably because at one point, they gave us all laser rifles and told us to shoot the bejesus out of one another. It's all fun, taking part is more important than winning, it's really so you can take out a greater life lesson from the 'game' etc. etc. But let's get this on the record: WE WON. I'm pictured above with the invincible Belfast Media Group management team: Michelle, Connla, Maria, Jacqueline, Linda, Gavin, Kevin, Robin, and Alison.

Then it was back to Belfast from Ballymena, then up to Derry for the opening of the new Cultúrlann. Ar fheabhas. Tuilleadh fá sin amárach.

Flagging support and tenth anniversary for All Souls

What a treat to see this huge banner outside Crumlin Road Jail to publicise Eoin Mac Lochlainn's exhibition of haunting portraits Elegies.

Eoin's father was the first curator of Kilmainham Jail so he's familiar with the concept of a jail as art forum and in fact had a major selection of work Áiséirí in Kilmainham Jail a few years back.

There are about eight works in the exhibition, all occupying one of the murderously tiny cells in the Crum. The pieces are at their most powerful when viewed from the opposite cell on the wing....I've pictured Eoin in one of the cells with a work as viewed from the opposite cell.

Full credit to Tim Losty, who heads up the Crumlin Road Jail transformation project for his work in organising this exhibition as soon as I introduced him to Eoin. As I left the Crum tonight, a full tour group was coming in as part of a city tour of art galleries. Almost like a modern European city.

And speaking of modernity, I also was at the official opening tonight of the Ormo Bakery development. The apartment makeover for the old bakery was pioneered by businessman Barry Gilligan and to get the project over the line is some accomplishment in these turbulent times. The South Belfast News this week reported on vendors now trying to back out of the deals they signed up for as the prices of the apartments have tumbled since those first deals were signed.

As I left the impressive development (pictured from its first floor inner courtyard), a gang of loyalists was outside taking down 'Ulster flags' from the lampposts outside the bakery. I didn't stop to ask them — they were drinking, after all, and I hate to interrrupt a man at his sup — how they felt about the latest development. One thing's for sure, there'll be no Union flags flying from the balconies of the Ormo swish apartments.

Finally, I'm delighted that Michael Patrick MacDonald is going to join us at the Black and the Green in New York next Thursday night — our joint celebration of Irish America and African-Americans hosted by the Irish Echo and Amsterdam News — as his book All Souls is one of the most powerful and redemptive literary indictments of racism you're ever likely to have the good fortune to read (and it's ten years since All Souls was launched at the end of this month, an anniversary which will be marked in Boston where it's set).

Who would have thought?

If you were asked where the inspiration would come from for the next big push for the promotion of the Irish language, you'd hardly have pointed to supermarket giant Sainsbury's.

But in fact it's commitment to bilingual signage in its new 65,000 sq ft store in West Belfast (which will also host its internet shopping hub for all of Ireland) — where 350 people are employed, many former workers at the Curley's supermarket it took over — is a milestone in the development of the Irish language.

Belfast has a proud bilingual community and it's great to see that respected and acknowledged in this way for it means that Sainsbury's believes it makes commercial sense to use Irish in this way. And where commerce leads, society often follows.

How sad then for me to see that 27 years after Whiterock Leisure Centre opened — we organised a people's opening and unveiled a plaque in Irish — there is still no signage as Gaeilge due to the Council's shortsighted hostility to the language. No surprise then that Irish is also being given third-class status in the offical reopening ceremonies at City Hall.

Cutting the ribbon at the opening of the £30m store were Belfast Lord Mayor Naomi Long and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams.

The 'ceapairí' sign is in the Sainsbury's garage, pic taken with my Blackberry, the other signs are in the main store, pics of opening by Mark Jones of Belfast Media Group.

Let's lobby the next guy

Bill Thompson, Comptroller of New York City (he holds the purse strings), plans to be Mayor of New York City come the November election battle with Mayor Bloomberg.

Comptroller Thompson will join us next Thursday in New York for the Black and the Green celebration as he's certainly been exemplary in his work building bridges between the Irish and African American communities — and of course in backing fair employment and investment in the north of Ireland.

But what of the next Comptroller? The frontrunner seems to be John Liu.

I presume he's being lobbied on these issues and look forward to an Irish Echo interview with him next week.

In the meantime, even though he's up against the massive and superbly funded Bloomberg campaign, Bill's been out on the streets campaigning as you can see from this video.

Bridget recognised

A couple of years back, my chum Art McCabe brought me to Lazarus House Ministries in Lawrence, Massachusetts, which provides accommodation to homeless families and a few times a week provides food parcels to the poor.

When I was there, the line for the food parcels stretched out of Lazarus House and around the corner. And that's before the economic crash.

Running the hostel was Bridget Shaheen, who has a strong Belfast connection though she's American-born. I'm pleased that we'll be honoring Bridget with the first Dave Burke Memorial Award at the Golden Bridges luncheon in Boston on 8 October.

There's a wonderful interview with Bridget in the most recent edition of the Boston Irish Reporter which is well worth reading.

If you wait long enough...

It's wonderful the things that happen to you if you wait long enough. Today, redirected from the Cultúrlann, I received an invitation from my old pal Ian Adamson to attend the Presentation of the Ullans Academy Awards on 10 February 2009. Hopefully next year, I'll get better notice.

In the meantime, to correct the cranks and conspiracy theorists, most of them regular readers of this blog, I post here the Sinn Féin report on the visit of the Ros Dumhach campaigners to Derry.

Billy Boys and Rasharkin tolerance

Just what is the Parades Commission playing at?

And how come an idea, good originally, of getting a group of people together to decide on the Orange urge to march through Catholic areas, has gone so wrong.

Instead of taking decisions to ban coat-trailing, anti-Catholic parades which revel in rubbing nationalist noses in the dirt, we have ended up with a Parades Commission of Alliance types who will accommodate even the worst Orange kick-the-Pope excesses.

Don't agree? Then see these pictures of a recent, Parades Commission-sanctioned march through republican Rasharkin which have been posted by local Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay.