Léargas

Cage Eleven.  This coming weekend O’Brien Press are republishing my book – Cage 11 - about my experience of life in Long Kesh between August 1975 and February 1977. Cage 11 was first published in 1990. By that time the Cages of Long Kesh were empty of political prisoners. In their place the British had built the H-Blocks and embarked on a ruthless prison policy that resulted in the 1981 hunger strike. The stories contained in Cage 11 reflect the trials and tribulations, as well as the escapades that were then a part of our lives, of our families lives and of our community. Get a couple of ex-POWs together and they will joke and backstab, laugh and reflect on the meaning of life while talking politics. And so it was within the barbed wire Cages of Long Kesh. The bulk of Cage 11 is drawn from articles which were smuggled out of the cages and published, under the pen-name “Brownie". I was one of a small number of Long Kesh POWs who contributed to the weekly column in wh...

  Glór na Móna Abú Last Saturday night I was privileged to attend the oíche mhór Ghlór na Móna in Belfast’s City Hall. The event was to celebrate twenty years of this amazing Irish language initiative made up mostly of and aimed at young people in the Upper Springfield area.  It was a great night. Packed out with young Gaeilgeoirí. But there was also a good clatter of veteran campaigners. The pioneers who gave us the Shaw’s Road Gaeltacht, An Cultúrlann, Lá, Raidió Fáilte, An Meanscoil now Coláiste Feirste, An  Cheathrú  Ghaeltachta and many other wonderful cultural and communal creations, including a thriving Irish medium education sector. It was right that such a multi-generational gathering was assembled in the City Hall and the strength of the language movement was evident but the buzz in the hall came from the brilliant, positive, multi-talented young people – mainly ‘graduates’ of Glór na Móna.  This was their ni...

  Ethel Kennedy It was with sadness I heard last week of the death of Ethel Kennedy, the wife of assassinated US Senator Robert Kennedy. She was aged 96. Ethel Kennedy was with her husband in Los Angeles in 1968 when he was shot and killed. She was left to rear 11 children. It was a huge blow to her and to the family. Ethel’s response was to found the Robert F. Kennedy Centre for Justice and Human Rights, along with her brother-in-law Sen. Teddy Kennedy. The Centre advocates for gun control and human rights. She was also active in the Special Olympics, and in her eighties she took part in 2016 in a demonstration in support of higher pay for farmworkers in Florida. The Kennedy family have had a long and enduring relationship with Ireland and in more recent decades with the Irish peace process. Over the years I have had the good fortune to meet many of them and to appreciate their commitment to Ireland.  Jean Kennedy Smith, US Ambassador to Ireland between 199...

  Leo’s unity words are welcome Irish Unity is the big idea that will positively transform society on this island. Its popularity is growing and the economic, political, and social arguments in support of it are advancing each day. The recent interventions by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar are an example of this. In June at the Ireland’s Future event in Belfast he said that the goal of a united Ireland had to be more than a “political aspiration.” It needed to become a “political objective.” Two weeks ago he addressed students in Derry where he spoke of the need for all political parties to include within their election manifestos, as a clear objective, a definitive commitment to Irish Unity. Leo Varadkar also proposed the establishment of a body, similar to the New Ireland Forum of 1983, at which future constitutional arrangements can discussed and agreed. Mr. Varadkar’s very welcome remarks reflect the views of many others, including the SDLP, the civic group Ireland’s Future...