Léargas

The political institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 hang by a thread. The historic agreement which internationally stands as a beacon of hope for efforts to advance conflict resolution processes in other trouble spots around the world, is now at the point of collapse. Of the many crises faced since the Agreement was achieved over 17 years ago this is probably the most dangerous, both because of its contrived nature and because the issues at its core should not be matters for the politicians and political institutions but for the police. It is now clear after the arrest and then release of Bobby Storey last week that the grave concerns Sinn Féin has expressed about recent events; how they occurred, and how they were subsequently handled, are entirely justified. As Bobby pointed out in his press conference on Sunday; “The PSNI had no basis for arresting me. At no time during my detention did the police present a shred of evidence or intelligence, which i...

There are some images that have seared their way into the collective consciousness of humanity. Most are traumatic. In my lifetime the screaming face of a naked young girl – Kim Phuc – badly burned from a napalm attack, running down a road, as US troops in Vietnam looked on, is one. Fr. Edward Daly frantically waving a blood stained handerchief as a group of frightened men pass British soldiers carrying the body of another who was shot during the British Paras assault in Derry on Bloody Sunday is another. Soweto in 1976 and school children taking on the military might of the apartheid south African regime. Four little babies, in blood splattered white shrouds, lying in an ice-cream freezer in Gaza last summer. The rubble of the Shankill as dust covered men and women desperately scramble through rubble trying to find survivors. We each have our own memories of these and other events. Where we were when we saw them. The emotional jolt. The sadness, the shock, mixed with anger, wh...

In my weekly column for the Andersonstown News I wrote last week about the current political crisis. Today the talks begin. This week 21 years ago the IRA announced its “ complete cessation of military operations” . It was a momentous decision that came after many years of intense and difficult hard work. It provided, as Seamus Heaney insightfully put it at the time, a “space in which hope can grow.” But the process that followed proved torturously slow. At times it collapsed. Hope was often in short supply. The British conservative government under John Major were reluctant participants who erected one hurdle after another in an attempt to stymie progress. Ian Paisley claimed the IRA cessation was the worst crisis in the history of the northern state and Jim Molyneaux, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party – then the biggest of the unionist parties – described it as one of the most destabilising events for unionism and the Orange state since Partition. These attitudes have ...

Dr. Garrett O’Connor was a world renowned psychiatrist. Last week dh died peacefully in his sleep at home in Aughrim, Co. Wicklow. Garrett was married to the equally well known actress Fionnula Flanagan. He was recognised for work in the field of alcohol addiction and was the president and CEO of the Betty Ford Institute. Garrett was originally from Dublin. His funeral took place on Saturday and I was one of those who spoke at the ceremony. Below is my oration. Oration for Garrett O Connor: Ba mhaith liom mo chombhrón agus bá a dhéanamh le Fionnuala, Mathew, Turlough, Mary Lee, Julie and Mary. Agus do clan uilig O Connor, do na cairde’s leathbhádóiri or fadh trasna an Domhan. It was my great privilege to know Garrett, not as well as his close family who will feel his loss in a special intimate way, especially his beloved Fionnuala. But I am glad I knew him. It is an honour to say a few inadequate words about this insightful, articulate, creative, honest, cour...

A section of the huge crowd For a brief period the rain eased as we walked through Dundalk on Sunday but for most of the time it lashed. Thousands of brave souls, many soaked to the skin despite all kinds and sizes of umbrellas and coats, and led by relatives of the hunger strikers, walked the two miles from the assembly point to the centre of Dundalk where this year’s National Hunger Strike march and rally where held. The talk of many was of similar marches in the past, often in similar cold and inclement weather, during the long years of the blanket protest in the H-Blocks and in Armagh Women’s prison. Along the route the County Louth organisers of the event had arranged for some street theatre to remind us of other days. At one place there were women holding posters shouting slogans in support of the blanket men and the Armagh women prisoners; at another spot a group was shouting slogans against strip searching; at yet another a group of women were vigorously bashing th...