ANNUAL WOLFE TONE COMMEMORATION : Sunday , June 11 , 2006 , Sallins , Co. Kildare .
A bus for this Commemoration , which is organised each year by the Republican Movement , will leave from outside the old McBirneys/Virgin Megastore site on Dublin's Aston Quay at 12.45PM on the day : the Commemoration itself starts at 2.30PM .
The same bus will leave Bodenstown at 5.30PM that afternoon on its return to Dublin city centre . The fare is ten Euro per person .
For information on the death of Wolfe Tone , scroll through this piece (article starts on March 9 on that page) which was published on this blog last year .
" From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Great Britain and Ireland as the curse of the Irish nation , and felt convinced that , while it lasted , this country could never be free nor happy . My mind has been confirmed in this opinion by the experience of every succeeding year , and the conclusions which I have drawn from every fact before my eyes . In consequence , I was determined to employ all the powers which my individual efforts could move , in order to separate the two countries .
That Ireland was not able of herself to throw off the yoke , I knew ; I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found . In honourable poverty I rejected offers which , to a man in my circumstances , might be considered highly advantageous . I remained faithful to what I thought the cause of my country , and sought in the French Republic an ally to rescue three millions of my countrymen " . -Theobald Wolfe Tone .
THE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT : INSIDE THE NORTHERN IRELAND (sic) PEACE TALKS (sic).......From 'MAGILL' magazine , November 1997 .
By Fionnuala O' Connor .
David Trimble has made considerable effort to calm himself down , flattening out an erratic voice , controlling to some degree his tendency to flush bright red when angry : but the strain on an undecided man of leading unenthusiastic followers is bound to show , something he occasionally comes close to acknowledging -
" We could , perhaps , have collapsed the talks by leaving , " Trimble said to his party conference , " I know that all of you , like me , were faced with a difficult decision . For many of us our hearts led one way and our heads the other . " The body language is disjointed as ever , presentation curt and defensive . Starting his keynote speech , he rubbed crossed hands swiftly up and down his forearms as though cold .
The speech included the Ulster Unionist Party submission delivered to Stormont during the pre-conference week , on the 'constitutional issues' in Strands two and Three - meant to find mutual accommodation on cross-border and British-Irish relations . Trimble then read that submission to his party's delegates : it was a short submission , and one which prompted a young party assistant , a Mr. Stephen King , to comment on Trimble "...getting it all wrong ..".......
(MORE LATER).
THE YOUNGER BREED : ANDY CALLAGHAN.......From 'The Phoenix' magazine , April 1986 .
No By-Line .
Andy Callaghan's introduction to more 'usual' politics came with his involvement , along with barrister friends Jerry Danaher and Adrian Hardiman , in Sile De Valera's campaigns in Dublin South and subsequently in her search for a seat in Clare .
Brought up in Crumlin , Dublin , Andy Callaghan joined the local Wolfe Tone Cumann of Fianna Fail after the re-organisation of the Dublin South-Central constituency as part of Fianna Fail's 'Operation Dublin' back in 1983 : he failed to get a nomination for the local elections in the constituency but , being the pushy type of lad he is , he persuaded Fianna Fail Head Office in Mount Street , Dublin , to add his name to the ticket . After a ' blitzkreig'- like campaign (' Andy Callaghan challenges Fine Gael' posters etc) the bould Andy pulled in 1,421 first preference votes and , riding on the swing to Fianna Fail , was elected to Dublin Corporation .
Not the least surprised at this result was Adele Ramsey , young Andy's eighteen-year-old running mate , who felt the brunt of his campaign and whose 1,000 or so transfers ironically enough elected him . Personalised canvassing was rife , and young Andy's large hoardings adorned almost every house facing each of the six polling-stations until Fianna Fail Director of Elections , Dorrine Kelly , intervened.......
(MORE LATER).
THE RIGHT TO SILENCE.......Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act has just been renewed for another year by State Communications Minister Jim Mitchell , despite increasing protests and lobbying by the NUJ .
HELEN O'CONNOR examines the results of a recent NIHE survey of the attitudes of Dublin people on the issue and GERRY LAVERY looks back to the roots of Section 31 .
From 'IN DUBLIN' magazine , February 1987 .
The supporters of the Progressive Democrats did not approve of Section 31 censorship by the narrowest of margins - 40 per cent approval , 46.7 per cent disapproval , but Stephen O' Byrnes was adament that those figures did not accurately reflect PD party policy on the matter : " We are in favour of the retention of Section 31 , " he said .
Also , Stephen O' Byrnes would not accept the figures of seven to three who were in favour of allowing Sinn Fein on RTE , as Sinn Fein were 'the unarmed wing of the IRA' as far as the PD party was concerned , and had ' ruled themselves out' because they were 'part time democrats' . He did put one 'rider' to this statement , however , because of a statement made recently by Progressive Democrat leader Dessie O' Malley : where Sinn Fein were actually elected to Local Authorities and had been voted into Office they should then be given the opportunity to discuss "...purely local.." issues on RTE . Arguably , this policy might extend to representatives of Sinn Fein who might find themselves elected to Leinster House at some future date ....... ('1169....' Comment : no 'representative of Sinn Fein
[proper]' would ever stand for election , as a sitting member , to Leinster House , as presently constituted .)
(MORE LATER).
