Defend Neutrality If truth be told the long standing claim of neutrality by the southern Irish state is not all its made out to be. It is a fact that successive Irish governments have turned a blind eye to American war planes using Shannon as a stopping off point for attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as carrying munitions to Israel for its genocidal war against the people of Palestine. US planes carrying political prisoners to interrogation and detention sites, where they were tortured, stopped at Shannon to refuel. A breach of international law. The government did nothing. In recent months a significant and increasing number of articles have been published in the mainstream Dublin based media claiming that neutrality was fine in the past but is not fit for purpose in the world today. It is ‘morally degenerate’ wrote one writer. Getting rid of neutrality would make the Irish state appear more ‘grown-up’ said another. The language has become increasingly belligere...
Na Mná Abú. I have been a life-long supporter of Antrim’s footballers and hurlers. And the Camógs as well. Colette played county back in the day. Back in another day I had a dream that I too might make the grade. But wee boy dreams faded into reality and alas it was not to be. I sometimes reflect on how different my Gaelic sporting life might have been in a different political dispensation. If only? So, I have followed our county’s fortunes and misfortunes from the side-lines for over seventy years now. That’s a long time. I am one among many. Not all of us can be county stars. But we kept the faith on tough days out as well as on heady days in Casement and other county grounds and occasionally in Croke. In recent years the totally unacceptable delays on building the New Casement has infuriated us all. I am thinking especially of a generation of young Gaels who have been robbed of the opportunity to play in our county ground. Some of the s...