Léargas

  Up Antrim!   24 years ago  I wrote a short piece for  Antrim 2000 . I discovered it this week when I was  clearing out three decades of accumulated books, newspaper clippings and assorted  pamphlets. The 2000 reflection on Gaelic games is reproduced below. Since then much has changed in the  Gaeldom. The most important change is probably the growth of womens football. Until recent times women were confined to Camogie. Now Ladies Football is the fastest growing Gaelic game.  I look forward to the outworkings of the Steering Committee for Integration chaired by Mary McAleese. 2027 has been revealed as the year that the GAA , the Camogie Association and The Ladies Gaelic Football Association will come together as one.  More needs  done in the meantime to give women Gaels parity with their male contemporaries.  2027 will also see the emergence of  the new Casement stadium. Another pos...

  Al Quds hospital 2009 Special Rapporteur criticises Irish government on Gaza Fifteen years ago this month I led a Sinn Féin delegation on a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories. Our visit took place seven weeks after Israel’s assault on Gaza between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009. In that attack Israeli forces killed 1400 Palestinians, including more than 400 children and injured thousands more. Schools and hospitals and infrastructure were also targeted.  Our delegation was impressed by the resilience of those we met and especially by the medical staff who were working hard to provide a health service, despite Israeli restrictions on medicines and spare parts for radiation and other medical equipment. Fifteen years later and all of those places we visited then, from the Islamic University, to the Al Quds hospital, to the Al Shifa hospital, to the local Council offices, to schools, factories and homes have been obliterated by Israeli force...

  S lán Leo Leo Varadkar’s resignation from the office of An Taoiseach  and as leader of Fine Gael  caught observers by surprise. On reflection however it is very much in keeping with his personality. A bit petulant. Awkward. Impulsive.  He had done his best by his own lights. And his best had not been good enough, by his own admission. So in fairness he probably did the right thing. Better to get out on his own terms.  Most  people will have very little sympathy for senior politicians and the wear and tear they and their families endure as a  result of the long hours, relentless pressure,  the  grinding nature of parliamentary work and ongoing public scrutiny. You have to believe in what you are doing. Especially when things are not going well. So I think Leo just got a sickner of it all, particularly after the recent referendum results. He was cheesed off and seems not to have the stomach for  con...

International Women’s Day Last Friday was  International Women’s Day – a day when around the world humankind  celebrates the work of women who are active in their communities, in trade unions, voluntary organisations, business, politics, their families and across every facet of our society. It is also a time to reflect on the long history of struggle by women for equality and fairness. In many aspects of life today women remain second class citizens - in pay and employment rights, conditions of work, in access to education and health and in protection before the law. Hardly a week passes without evidence emerging of the extent to which women continue to face violence in the home, in the workplace and within communities.  A fortnight ago the northern Assembly endorsed a motion calling on the Executive to urgently implement a strategy   and framework to end violence against women and girls. During the debate it was revealed that since 2021 the North has the joint ...