Andersonstown News 11/7/97 2 of 2 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source: Beananti@aol.com Part 2 of 2 -- Executive 'turning its back' on ill children -- #2.5m BOOST TO WEST BELFAST FROM FESTIVAL -- In God's name, stop! is Butler's plea to vandals -- McAleese triumph 'an act of respect to nationalists' - Attwood -- KEANE FOR A RETURN -- straight-talking by MAIRTMN S MUILLEOIR ************************************************ Andersonstown News - Thursday, 7 November 1997 ************************************************ Executive 'turning its back' on ill children In his angriest broadside yet against the Housing Executive, West Belfast MP Gerry Adams has accused housing bosses of "turning their backs" on two seriously ill Clonard youngsters. The Sinn Fiin President's outspoken attack on the Executive comes as cystic fibrosis sufferers Paula and David Murphy have once again been told they can't have the controversial solid fuel heating system in their home replaced. And Gerry Adams says that "rigid bureaucratic response" flies in the face of warnings by Children's Hospital specialists that the condition of eight-year-old Paula and seven-year-old David will be "exacerbated by dust and fumes". Cystic fibrosis is a debilitating illness which requires regular hospitalisation and a rigorous, time-consuming programme of medical care and physiotherapy. "The Housing Executive's cruel stance is dictated by a narrow definition of disability which is based on whether a disabled person can operate the heating system," Gerry Adams told the Andersonstown News. "Sadly, it ignores entirely the impact of a particular heating system on some illnesses and disabilities. The fact that the dust and fumes produced by this system are clearly a source of great danger for these children has been set to one side by the Housing Executive. In my book, that means the Executive is turning &bull Fume fears: West Belfast MP Gerry Adams backing Constance Murphy and cystic fibrosis-stricken children Paula and David. In his angriest broadside yet against the Housing Executive, West Belfast MP Gerry Adams has accused housing bosses of "turning their backs" on two seriously ill Clonard youngsters. ******************************************************** #2.5m BOOST TO WEST BELFAST FROM FESTIVAL August celebration is a financial windfall The West Belfast Festival has become the largest event of its kind in Ireland and attracted a total audience of 80,000 people this year - 41 per cent of them from outside the area. Those are two of the key findings of a survey into the economic impact that Feile is having on the local community. The survey - The Art of Regeneration: The Economic Impact of Feile an Phobail - was launched last week at Teach na Feile, the Festival's new headquarters at the junction of the Falls and Donegall roads. The study, commissioned by Feile and carried out by Dr Maura Sheehan with funding from Making Belfast Work, confirms that the ever-growing festival has become a central part of life in many facets of the life of West Belfast. Feile Director Caitriona Ruane said at the launch that while the benefits of the festival were there for all to see, it was her job to make sure that Feile went from strength to strength and that the positive benefits were increased year by year. "This is a very significant study," she told the audience at the launch, "and shows that Feile an Phobail has a vital and pivotal role to play in the economic, social and cultural regeneration of West Belfast. Feile is getting bigger every year and is only beginning to reach its potential." The main findings of the festival study are: Feile an Phobail is the largest community festival in Ireland and one of the largest community festivals in Europe. Events sponsored directly by Feile in 1997 attracted a total audience of 80,000, 41 per cent of which came from outside the area. The total income generated by the August Feile in one week was between #1.7-#1.9 million. It is estimated that Feile an Phobail as a whole generates between #2-#2.5 million per annum. Local businesses report that Feile has significant positive effects on them and the West Belfast community generally. Business people increased turnover, extended opening hours, hired additional staff and increased overtime of existing staff. Feile needs to be not only sustained but also expanded. This will require imagination, creativity and, of course, finance. ********************************************************* In God's name, stop! is Butler's plea to vandals Young hoodlums are making life a misery for a small congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses based in the Poleglass area. But now local councillor Paul Butler is calling for a halt to the nightly attacks on the Jehovahs' Kingdom Hall at Upper Dunmurry Lane. "There's a sickening campaign of harassment being carried out by a small gang of morons who are well aware of the sectarian undertones of their actions," Cllr Butler told the Andersonstown News yesterday. "One of the great qualities of the people of West Belfast is their willingness to respect their neighbour, regardless of their religion, and this hooligan element is only bringing shame on the wider community of Poleglass and Twinbrook." The Jehovah Witness community in the Dunmurry area - who built the impressive Kingdom Hall in one weekend of furious activity involving over 300 of their co-religionists - decided to go public on their plight after a spate of vandalism fears that their premises would be torched by hoodlums. "Windows have been broken, roof tiles damaged, drain pipes torn down, and fencing and lights destroyed," said the Sinn Fein man. "More worrying is the fact that on two separate occasions recently, vandals have broken into the Kingdom Hall and set fires. "If we can't put a stop to the wrecking activities of these young people, we're going to end up with the Kingdom Hall being razed to the ground. There's no doubt that the youths responsible for this spate of vandalism are locals and I would appeal to parents to ensure they know where their children are at nights. We have to get the problem in perspective and I would stress that only a small number of people are involved in these attacks but they are blackening the good name of the rest of us and I would appeal to everyone to use their influence to end this vandalism." A strong community of Jehovah's Witnesses, some Catholic converts, now live in the Twinbrook, Poleglass and Dunmurry areas and hold regular meetings at the Dunmurry Lane Kingdom Hall. Abner Peel, Jehovah's Witness Chairman of the Elders, told the Andersonstown News that there had been "constant harassment from local youngsters since the Kingdom Hall was built". "They used to climb in and play football and smash plants in the garden," he said. "Then it expanded into youngsters coming in with bottles of cider and smashing the bottles when they were empty. Now what they do is kick in the doors which means that you are constantly driving up to the hall because the alarm has gone off." And Abner Peel called for local support to end the campaign of hate. "I would also appeal to these youngsters to stop harassing the church goers because it is particularly unnerving for the women folk who have to walk past these louts loitering outside. "In God's name, stop! is Butler's plea to vandals Study author Dr Maura Sheehan lectures in economics at the Queen's University of Belfast. She has published widely on industrial development policy in Ireland, Northern Ireland productivity, the Irish political economy, discrimination, unemployment and the International Fund for Ireland. She is currently a visiting research fellow at St Catharine's College and the Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge. The 107-page report and summary was launched by Gerry Adams MP. ********************************************************* McAleese triumph 'an act of respect to nationalists' - Attwood A leading Belfast SDLP councillor has given the election of Mary McAleese as Irish President the thumbs-up, writes Hannah Hayes. And Cllr Alex Attwood also sent warm congratulations to the former Ardoyne woman, thus effectively dispelling any reports of a rift between his party and the new Uachtaran na hIireann. The Upper Falls councillor hailed Mary McAleese's election as the "flowering and evolution of the inclusive vision represented by Mary Robinson". "This was a very important election for the people in the North," Cllr Attwood told the Andersonstown News. "The election of a Northerner is, in a way, an act of respect and reconciliation by voters of the South to all - and particularly nationalists - in the North. They are acknowledging, accepting and even applauding our position as part of the nation." Cllr Attwood also praised the election result as a continuation of the legacy of former President Mary Robinson's inclusive political policies. "Under Mary Robinson, Ireland became international, European, inclusive, pluralist, prosperous and progressive," he said. "As a consequence, the Irish, whether at home or abroad, had a new understanding of what their role was and what the Irish stood for, and Mary Robinson was a very positive expression of that. Mary McAleese will help develop that inclusive political culture." The significance of this election's outcome should not be overlooked, says Alex Attwood, "despite a campaign that focussed on media leaks, accusations and denials". "In this campaign all we heard was who leaked what, when the important thing is what the Irish nation was trying to say about themselves. Those who voted for her made a statement: by including her, they included us in the North." The SDLP negotiator also spoke of the "core human values" represented by McAleese. "By these I mean defence of human rights, political persuasion, inclusive politics, conserving what is best and changing all that needs to be changed. A democratic process. with people being treated on the basis of equality regardless of race, politics and gender. "After 30 years of our conflict, at the end of a deeply troubled century, this affirmation of core values is the signpost towards the next century and away from the cul-de-sac of the last," he added. "The unionist leadership needs to see the deeper cultural changes happening in our society and see that it creates an opportunity and not a threat. They should be prepared to exploit those opportunities and get the job done. Anyone who ignores these changing times does so at their own political peril." A row broke out during the Presidential election when it was revealed that SLDP spokeswoman Brmd Rodgers had accused Mary McAleese and the Redemptorist peace mission of "pushing a pro-Sinn Fiin agenda". ********************************************************* KEANE FOR A RETURN Robert McMillen talks to the woman they call 'the voice of Ireland' It was Sunday morning and I was talking to Dolores Keane - yes the Dolores Keane, she of the velvet voice that would have inspired poetry in a bygone age. The flame-haired songstress talked of her current tour and of the beautiful weather as she looked out from the window of her Killarney hotel. The whole conversation gelled as the beauty of the Kerry landscape, the unseasonal kindness of the weather and the heart-soaring beauty of Dolores singing Teddy O'Neill came together in a holy trinity of Irish blessings. "I think she's the voice of Ireland." said Nanci Griffith of the woman from Caherlistrane in the Conamara Gaeltacht. "As long as Dolores Keane is walking around the earth, I won't call myself a singer. I want the world to hear her voice" Well, Belfast will get the chance to hear that glorious voice once again when she makes a welcome return to the city with her band and Mick Hanley. Of course, Dolores has had lots of practice. She made her first recording for Raidio Eireann at the age of five. It was somewhat later that she became a founder member of one of the great traditional groups of all time, De Danann. After moving to England, she worked with her husband John Faulkner on a number of film scores and formed two very successful bands, Reel Union and Kinvara, before embarking on a solo career which has brought her great success through the albums Dolores Keane, Solid Ground, Lion in a Cage and, of course, her songs on the mega-selling A Woman's Heart album. For Belfast fans the two-hour show at the Waterfront Hall will be a treat. "It is quite a long show with the band opening things up. Then we have the brilliant Mick Hanley and I come in and finish the show off. It is great value for money," she laughs. "A lot of the songs will be from The Best Of Dolores Keane album, so people will know most of the material." So far the tour has been marked with full houses and standing ovations. But it has been a long journey to success for Dolores since she went to live with her legendary aunts Rita and Sarah Keane, two of the finest sean-nss singers in the country. "I suppose it was fate that I should end up a singer. With Rita and Sarah being such fine singers, you would never know who would visit the house for a night's singing, so that whole atmosphere was with me from a very early age." But the journey has taken her away from the strictly traditional roots to a more pop and country type of music, which has disappointed some of the purists on the one hand but which has brought her voice to an ever-increasing audience. "It is not that I have found the type of songs I am most comfortable with. If I like a particular song I will sing it whether it is sean-nss or country or whatever. There is some great contemporary stuff coming from Irish songwriters that added to the great old songs . We are really lucky as a nation to have such wonderful songs to sing." This, of course, is not the first time Dolores has graced a Belfast stage. The last time I saw her was at the Ardoyne Fleadh and she is happy to return to what she sees as one of the best audiences in the country "I always get a warm welcome in Belfast. I really enjoyed the Ardoyne show but I must admit I am a little bit nervous about playing in a place like the Waterfront." However, gigs in the Waterfront and her virtual deification by other singers has not gone to the Connaughtwoman's head. At home Dolores is happy just to raise her two children and live the quiet life. But when those theatre lights go down and that unmistakable voice glides into The Island or Caledonia, she soars onto a different plane. Just ask Nanci Griffith. ******************************************************* straight-talking by MAIRTMN S MUILLEOIR River deep, mountain-high The porter flowed like the Colin River in the Europa Hotel on Saturday night as bar staff battled to quench the thirst of the legions of Gaeilgeoiri gathered in Belfast for the All-Ireland sean-nss singing finals. It was as much a toast to new nationalism and a benediction to Mary McAleese's stunning triumph as it was a celebration of Gaeldom. Certainly it put the seal on the new agenda we've seen transforming Belfast - at times imperceptibly but always inexorably - from a puritanical, bigoted backwater ruled over by Bible-bashing men in Orange sashes into an epicentre of ebullient nationalism. These are people led by a team of ignoramuses at Stormont; politicians who if you asked them the difference between ignorance and arrogance would reply: "we don't know and we don't care." For years forced to hide their identity behind the frowning men in bowler-hats who sported not one, of course, but two blood red poppies, the nationalists of Belfast have outed themselves. And black is indeed beautiful. Or should that be green is gorgeous. First political control was wrenched from the claw-like grasp of the men who had made City Hall their own Jurassic Park. Savour the change in two short years: cringing in 1995 at Bible-bashing bigot Eric Smyth's unintelligible welcome to Bill Clinton (and if unionism was a swimming pool, Eric is certainly the shallow end); and last week swelling with pride as Alban Maginness welcomed, in Gaeilge bhriste, 600 visitors to the Centennial Oireachtas. A New Agenda is being ushered in and Mary McAleese's election is another milestone passed for all of us who are proud to be Irish. This is our ceasefire dividend because, let there be no doubt, during the IRA campaign, the mud slung by John Bruton, Dick Spring and co would have stuck. But not today when, as a rueful Fergus Finlay realises, an endorsement from Gerry Adams - one of Ireland's most popular politicians - is an asset in a presidential race. The Old Agenda pen pushers are still with us, of course. They were even there lurking on the fringes of the Oireachtas celebrations; trying desperately to justify their allegiance to the - often bloody - British assault on those who held dearly to their Irishness in the blackest of the black days. These are the Orwellian thought police, who doled out grants and largesse to anyone who showed devotion to the British agenda while blocking funds to those who were entitled to support on merit. When the British chanted, two legs bad, four legs good, they were leading the chorus. When the new call came, two legs good, four legs bad, they were once again at the fore, obeying their master's voice. They were our Vichy French, aping the British line on the evils of nationalism at their quango-land cocktail parties, and doing their 'bit' to defeat the indomitable Free French. One day, loyalists would murder an elected representative of the risen people, the next day the fifth columnists would block a grant to a community group which included other representatives of the "unclean". (I remember one cerebrally-challenged poltroon threaten a community group I was associated with that they would never get money for anything more than a table and chairs as long as I remained on their committee.) But the Vichy French are now in disarray. Like King Canute, they are trying to hold back the high tide of Irish nationalism. But now it's permissible - damn it, it's popular - to be a nationalist and, for good measure, a Catholic. And instead of dealing with the yes-men who depended on the war against Britain for their very livelihood, our representatives in Sinn Fein and the SDLP are now dealing with their bosses. The monkeys on the Community Relations gravy train are getting restless as they see the organ-grinder prepare to cut a deal with the nationalists they tried to do down for 30 years. For as they crunch on their nuts, they know that the nationalist community took all the British and their fellow- travellers could throw at them and emerged stronger, more determined and, cue the Europa, singing. But they shouldn't worry. There'll always be a need for someone to hold our score sheets while we sing and our coats while we fight. And they'll find it's fun to be Irish. In the words of the Padraig Pearse song bellowed out lustily by the men and women of Ireland in the Europa as the sun rose over the Castlereagh Hills on Sunday morning: "O Ro, se do bheatha abhaile anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh". Wecome Home, Ireland, now that summer's coming. Let Mary McAleese be her own woman. Let her invite queens to Ireland and wear poppies if she wishes for she has the confidence, the self-possession and the pride in her Irishness to understand that it's only the moral midgets of the Irish Independent who have denounced President McAleese's nationalism as a "virus" and the only political grouping on earth with less friends than Saddam Hussein, the Ulster unionists, who don't realise that compromise is a sign of strength. Let's put our gifted young people to work in order to build an economic infrastructure which will consolidate new nationalism. For a small nation of five million people, we have made an enormous impact on the world of literature and music, the task now is to mirror that performance by making ourselves the economic, arts and cultural powerhouse of Europe. If a schoolgirl from Ardoyne can make it to the Aras, there's no mountain our people can't climb. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-11.14.97-23:19:24-20292