Léargas

ONE FLU OVER? I have the flu. It’s a sign of my loyalty to you dear reader, that I write this column in my sick bed. Bathed in sweat. I’ve changed my T shirt four times since Saint Stephen’s Day. I ran out of paper hankies and turned to kitchen roll for nose cleaning duties. The snatters are tripping me. I’ve changed my sheets as well. Three times. Everyone else is away so I phoned Richard.  ‘I’ve got the flu’ I told him. ‘This could be my last call to you’. ‘I would be so lucky,’ he retorted. ‘Try a hot whisky’.  ‘I still haven’t done my weekly column.’ I told him.  ‘You have until Saturday,’ he consoled me. ‘By the way, be careful you don’t have Covid’.  ‘I got my Covid injection,’ I replied.  ‘And your flu one also,’ he countered.  That was true. Richard is usually the most helpful person I know but he has had a few days off. He seems to have forgotten that we are friends. A friend in need is a friend indeed and all that. Or maybe he was just being ...

  Release Leonard Peltier Last week I posted a Christmas card to Leonard Peltier. I dont know if he will receive it.  Or the numerous other notes and cards I have sent over the years. At 80 years of age Leonard, a native American rights activist and victim of a miscarriage of justice; has been imprisoned for 48 years. This makes him one of the longest serving political prisoners in the world. Like so often before there was a lobby for President Biden to use his Presidential power to include Leonard among those to be pardoned as he leaves office. On 12 December the White House announced that 39 people were to be granted pardons and almost 1500 others had their sentences commuted. Leonard was not on the list. The native American activist was convicted in 1977 of the killing of 2 FBI agents at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota. He has always protested his innocence. A few years ago James H. Reynolds the former US Attorney General whose office prosecuted...

  Protecting our environment Last week the Northern Executive took welcome and decisive action to protect our environment, our health and jobs by committing to a ban on all forms of onshore petroleum exploration and production, including fracking. This decision is part of the Executive’s commitment to tackle our dependence on fossil fuels. Conor Murphy, the Economy Minister announced that, following drafting and consultation, he will be introducing legislation next year to block licensing applications. Ten years ago I travelled through the border counties of Sligo, Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh. It was part of a visit culminating in a speaking engagement at an anti- fracking conference in the Lough Erne Hotel in Fermanagh. At the time there were efforts underway to promote fracking in the region. An Australian shale gas exploration company was planning to drive a bore hole over 700 feet into the underground rock. Local people were rightly angry at this threat to thei...

  The Numbers Game. As I pen these lines it is too soon to attempt a deep analysis of the Leinster House election. Not all the counts have concluded although there is enough to form general impressions of the outcome. I outline them in no particular order. It is clear is that the mould has been broken in Irish politics – there are now three main parties. Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin. But while Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have their own separate histories and cultures and are likely for the foreseeable future to jealously retain these they are now one electoral political block. This gives them a decided advantage in the efforts to form a coalition government because they start off with 40 percent of the vote and the equivalent of this in seats. For its part Sinn Féin has consolidated our position as the main party of opposition and with a mandate to form a government at this time. Getting partners will be a considerable challenge. It’s a numbers game. Notwithstanding thi...