North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Cutting Edge

It's that time of year, when farmers try to clear off the last of last year's turf. Rather them than me. Photo taken last weekend near Cloghermore, Co. Galway.

Nobody loves you when you're down and out.

The Fianna Fáil party are set to expel Mayo TD Beverly Cooper Flynn from the party after she lost her appeal in the Supreme Court against RTE in a libel case today. The expulsion is not as dramatic as it sounds (it's not like they'll fire her out of a cannon over the ramparts of Dublin Castle or anything. Mind you…).

The original case came about after RTE ran a story claiming that, when working as a tax advisor for a bank, she advised a farmer not to take advantage of one of the Tax Amnesties to declare some 'hot' money. She sued for libel, and though the court found that the farmer's story was not proved, RTE produced four other witnesses that testified that she had helped them evade taxes, and she lost the case. Saddled with a two million euro legal bill, she appealed to the Supreme Court. Her appeal was based on a narrow legal point (that the trial judge misdirected the jury) that was accepted by the Supreme Court. However, the judges dismissed her appeal on the basis that it didn't amount to a miscarriage of justice. What's worse, the chief Justice observed that

a decision of the English law lords in the Grobbelaar case which stated that defamation 'affords little or no protection to those who have, or deserve to have, no reputation deserving of legal protection.' He was satisfied that the same considerations applied in the Cooper-Flynn case.

Ouch.

Now, even if Beverly was expelled from the party, she could still run as an independent. However, it is not possible for a person who is bankrupt to remain a TD, so the legal bill might prove a problem. But would she even want to support Fianna Fáil if they expelled her ?Well, this evening, after the verdict was announced (and she heard of FF's planned expulsion move) she went back to the Dail to vote on an opposition proposal. She voted with the government. Now that's party loyalty.

Nigella (was Sweetpea)

This weekend gave us all a tantilising glimpse of the summer ahead. Temperatures of 18-20 degrees and sunny - what more could you ask for? It was also an opportunity to get into the garden and start planning for the year ahead. this year, I'm planting crowd-pleasers only this year; sweetpea, cornflowers, poppies, etc. I orginally thought that the seedpod (above) was of a sweetpea, but it is actually of a Nigella Damascena, "Love in a Mist", which is a much nicer name (Thanks to Julie for the correction). Photo taken of the seedpod, which formed after the flowers died away (around November last year). (Entry updated April 29th 2004)

Never make passes at women with glasses…unless it's a pint glass

Thank God we don't have to listen to any more whinging from publicans over the smoking ban - they have gone very quiet since they discovered that smokers are drinking far more since the ban, as well as consuming far more crisps and other snacks. I'm not sure if that was quite the health dividend that we were all hoping for, but at least it's a start.

The Connacht Tribune had a hilarious article about how smokers, forced to congregate outside for a puff, are discovering romance.

"It is a marvellous social occasion", opined one Tuam smoker who declined to be named."I was out for two fags. Then I just left the bar altogether. The craic outside was brilliant - as long as it's not pissing rain," he added.

The silver-tongued devil - he must be beating them off with a stick. It got better. A 33-year old Mayo woman could hardly contain herself.

I've been chatted up at least three times tonight [outside]…I've been asked for my number twice and met some really nice fellas. Three years in Dublin and they'd hardly look at you. This is excellent for the love life.

The article didn't mention if the pub had any lights on outside.

The smoking ban has really taken hold. "Somebody I know" found themselves in a bar recently 'after hours' for a few drinks. There was the usual routine of making sure that the shutters were tightly closed and the noise kept to a minimum. Yet, when anyone wanted a smoke, they dutifully went out the back. Some laws are easier to obey than others.

I came across a sure sign that the new law has been almost universally excepted last weekend. I was driving through Carna (not the most populous spot) and stopped to ask directions. It was a typical April day - both showers and sunshine in equal measure. It was looking a bit showery when I got out of the car at a country pub - outside was sitting an old man smoking a cigarette. It was lunchtime and he was probably the only fellow in the place. Nevertheless, he had gone outside for his smoke. Before the ban took effect, the publicans dolefully predicted that auld fellas, whose only reason for living was to go down to the pub for a pint and a smoke, would be forced to stay at home. Not a bit of it.

Environmentally friendly?

If you step outside of the Radisson hotel in Galway city and look east, you can see nine small white crosses dominating a distant mountain ridge. They are the first nine wind turbines at Derrybrien, and work is about to resume to erect the remaining sixty or so.

The construction company have promised to follow all the measures outlined in the Galway county council report issued after the landslide. They are also planning to fell over 600 trees so that the turbines will be more exposed to the wind. The locals aren't too happy with this plan. The trees are plantation pine trees, so they were due to be cut down at some stage anyway. However, there is a danger that cutting so many at once might affect drainage and water run-off in the area. It seems ironic that a supposedly environmentally friendly project has already caused a huge landslide and now will remove a forest.

What I cannot understand is how much improvement will be caused by the tree felling. The turbines that are standing already are erected in a forested area, but they are so tall that the blades are tens of metres above the tree line. Plus, they are on top of a mountain and facing the full might of the onshore wind from the Atlantic. It's hard to see how the trees would make much difference.

Meanwhile, the people of Pollathomish, Co. Mayo are threatening to object to the revised plan for the onshore oil terminal nearby if the county council don't erect landslide barriers for houses that were in the catchment area of the landslide last year. There are plenty of people living at the foot of the hill that gave way last year, and they want the council to erect barriers that work in a similar manner to avalanche barriers in the Alps.

Kill Bill

When Keanu Reeves strode into the first scene of the second Matrix movie dressed like a Christian Brother, I knew someone was going to get a hiding. And verily, were hidings doth handed out. I was reminded of the movie while watching Kill Bill, Pt.1 the other night - there's an almost identical scene in both movies where Keanu/Uma meets an army of black-suited assailants and beats the daylights out of them. Well, actually Uma slices them up with a samurai sword. Kill Bill is a diverting enough piece of entertainment, though, unforgivably for a Tarantino movie, it drags a bit near the end. It has been criticised for being over-violent, but I guess that depends on your frame of reference.

The Connacht Tribune reported a court case last week where a man had required nine stitches and an overnight stay in hospital after receiving a blow to the head from a blunt instrument. The incident happened during a Galway club hurling match - a bad tackle led to a melee involving about 25 people, during which the victim picked up his injury. And the aftermath? No inquiry by the County Board because no-one was booked during the match. The referee (a retired Garda) had tried to book one player (the accused in the court case) but when he asked for the player's name, he was told to 'fuck off'. When he asked again, the player's brother (also playing) gave him the same advice, waving his hurley for effect.

I wonder how long Uma would last in a camogie match?

April optimism

Droplets of water suspended like diamonds in the fronds of a lupin leaf is a familiar April sight. This photo is an image of the negative, or rather it would be if the photo had been taken with film. Those of you who have no truck with digital trickery can see the original here. Picture taken this afternoon.

April is always a crazy month, weatherwise, and this one is no different. But by the middle of April, the last of the spring flowers are still with us, particularly the tulips (the ones that survived the last week of rain and sleet). But this is also the time that the first of the early summer flowers begin to take shape. I always view the massed, technicolour columns of lupins as the real beginning of summer, so the sight of the lupin leaves beginning to unfurl already is a cause for optimism (it's alright, a good shower of sleet should cure it).

The delicate blue flower of the forget-me-not is another sure sign of the approaching summer.

I've added a few new galleries, of Eochy's Cairn, the Clapper Bridge in Bunlahinch and the old church ruins on Inishmicatreer island on Lough Corrib.

Greater than thou

The two morning DJs on Galway Bay FM were having what can only be described as a right auld sneer last Friday at the prospect of the European Foreign Ministers summit in Tullamore. Lads, it's not long since the Dublin media made much the same remarks about the EU summit in Galway a few months ago. Having been at a wedding in the Tullamore Court hotel last year, it was kinda funny to see Jack Straw, Javier Solana and co. wandering around the same place. The morning before, I was waiting at a departure gate in Arlanda airport in Sweden waiting for a flight home when a very flustered looking Robin Cook rushed up, glanced at the display screen and rushed off again (if he had bothered to ask, he'd have discovered that the subsequent flight was to London, where I presume he was headed). Of course, if he'd been able to hold onto his old job, he could have been looking forward to a weekend in Tullamore too. Funny old world.

Deus Ex Machina

I was out of the country for a few days last week so I completely (and mercifully) missed the entire media frenzy over Roy Keane's return to the Irish soccer team. All I'll say is that I don't think it's any coincidence that he returned at Easter. Anyway, I got a chance to try out the Aer Lingus automatic check-in machines.

They work pretty well overall. The machine didn't recognize my TAB (Aer Lingus air miles programme), though Aer Lingus are so stingy with their points that I don't know why I even bother collect them. The non-recognition meant that I had to go to a desk to get them keyed in - that can be done at the departure gate , so no biggie.

It did recognise my passport, and then I had to key in my flight number to bring up my booking on screen. Like the SAS machine, you can choose your seat. The cool thing about the Aer Lingus system is that it shows the actual layout of the plane, so I was able to choose a seat at an emergency exit (more legroom and less screaming fellow passengers to clamber across if things go pear-shaped). I wonder if the system works for all models of planes in the Aer Lingus fleet (the location of the emergency exits obviously depend on the plane model).

The SAS machine prints the seat number on the ticket (if it is a paper ticket) - the Aer Lingus machine issues a separate boarding pass which means that you must also produce your ticket at boarding - one of the security checks at Heathrow told me that they hadn't seen this sort of card before. So kudos to Aer Lingus - so far so good.

You've got to go there to get back

Arthur Beesley has an opinion piece in Saturday's Irish Times on the government's Civil Service decentralisation plan.

The Minister of Finance is also insisting that the programme [of decentralisation to outside of Dublin] will be voluntary. But Mr. McCreevy has already turned his back on [this] commitment. Until this September at least, offers for all posts be conditional in the bodies to move from Dublin will be conditional on agreement by the appointee to relocate. You won't get the job if you don't want to move.

Now, there are plenty of grounds on which you could criticize the impending decentralization plan, not least the way the government are using it as a blatant election ploy. But McCreevy has not done a U-turn on the voluntary aspect of the move. No-one will be forced to move in order to remain in their current role, which is not always an option when companies in the private sector move location. What Beesley doesn't seem to realize is that relocation has always been part of the life of a civil servant, at least the ones who want to be promoted.

Say you join the Civil Service in Westport at the lowest grade. Periodically, there are competitions for promotion to the next grade, consisting of either an exam, interview or both. Everyone's score is listed in ascending orders and offers are made to the highest scorers. However, like most of the competitions, the vacancies are filled on a national basis. That means that you might get offered a promotion in Letterkenny or Cork. If you're working in a small office, chances are that very few vacancies will arise in your own office. Now, you do have an opportunity to refuse the first couple of offers, in the hope that you'll get an offer of a promotion in your own county or even the same province, but usually, the choice is to move, or stay at the same grade.

Since all the government departments are based in Dublin, it's difficult to progress more than a few steps up the promotional ladder without facing a move to Dublin. If you're living on a civil service salary, the only way you can afford a house is if you bought it a very long time ago - this is not an option open to anyone offered a promotion in Dublin in the last few years.

True, there are some Dublin-based civil servants unhappy at the prospect of having to move. But there are also many civil servants living in Dublin that have moved from other offices, and can't wait to move out of Dublin again. For the first time, civil servants working outside of Dublin can advance through the ranks and have some chance of living in a location that they want to live in, rather than where they have to (i.e. an overpriced starter home in Meath or Kildare, followed by a soul-sapping commute). Happier civil servants ? Got to be worth something.

Missing the point

In an article of Northern Ireland today, the Sunday Times mentioned that an IRA-backed outfit are churning out good quality copies of "The Passion of the Christ" on DVD and doing good business with them. Maybe it's just me, but if you're prepared to buy an illegal copy of the movie from a paramilitary gang, what friggin' message do you hope to learn from the movie ?

Mind you, the ST ran a two page article on religious movies in their magazine - half a page of text, the other half of the page was a picture of Monica Belluci (a still from "The Passion...") and the other was a full page of...Monica Belluci, from The Matrix. Far be it from me to complain about seeing too much of the fair Ms Belluci, but... Religious movie ? The Matrix? Mind you, the second one was full of mumbo-jumbo and did seem like a bloody eternity to sit through...

The Rising

Pearse's cottage, Rosmuck, Co. Galway. The cottage is only open during the summer, apart from the Easter weekend, to facilitate various republican commemorations. There was a few curious tourists and myself wandering about in the spring sunshine. there isn't much to see - just two sparsely decorated bedrooms.

There's been a lot of talk about what is genuine and what is fake during the Easter week. The Bishop of Kerry fired a broadside at ersatz Catholics in his Easter message, complaining about people who never show up at church from one end of the year to another but expect to have a full church wedding and all the other sacraments when it suits them. Naturally the media had a great time, with every columnist having their say (including some that probably never troubled a pew themselves, but what the hey). One gets the impression that the bishop fired off his missive after giving yet another carefully-crafted sermon to a near-empty church.

Meanwhile, Michael McDowell's Easter message was also about the genuine versus the false; that Sinn Féin are not real republicans, mainly because of their alleged connection to criminal activity on both sides of the border. The Minister for Justice has been giving variations on this sermon for quite a while, and I'm sure that there are many people in the country who, while not in any way supportive of Sinn Fein, are wondering when McDowell will stop talking the talk and start walking the walk. The reason that the Minister was expressing an opinion at all is because, eighty eight years ago today, 1,600 republicans staged an armed rebellion in Dublin against British rule that became known as the Easter Rising. It was a short bloody battle - by the end of the week, five hundred people were killed and two and a half thousand were injured. Most were civilians - the rebels had seized buildings in the city centre such as the General Post Office on O'Connell Street, and the fighting between the rebels and the British Army took place in the heavily-populated city centre.

Commemorating the Rising has always been a bit problematic for political parties in the Republic - Sinn Fein and the IRA have long justified their campaign in Northern Ireland as a continuation of the 1916 ideals, which causes a problem for most of the other parties in the Republic, who seek to draw a line between the 'good' rebels on yesteryear and the 'bad' rebels of today. In truth, there are as many uncomfortable similarities as there are differences and McDowell's argument (which can be heard here) were no more or less convincing than others offered in previous years.

View from the front door. Most of the Republican commemorations take place on easter Monday - Republican Sinn Fein were having a ceremony here today. By coincidence, the ashes of Proinsias Mac Aonghusa, broadcaster and Irish language enthusiast, were being scattered at the cottage today. He grew up in Rosmuck.

One place of pilgrimage at this time is the home of Padraig Pearse in Rosmuc, Co. Galway. Pearse was a teacher who was also a member of the IRB (Irish Republican Brotherhood). Pearse, Thomas Clarke, Thomas McDonagh and later James Connolly were also part of the Irish Volunteers, a volunteer militia that numbered almost 200,000 by the beginning of WWI. Many of the Volunteers joined the British Army at the behest of the Irish/National Party to fight in the Great War (on the understanding that Home Rule would be granted after the war was over - it had been agreed but suspended on the outbreak of war). About 11,000 of the Volunteers organized under Eoin MacNeill who did not support the war. The IRB leadership were determined to stage a national rebellion during WWI and planned for Easter Sunday 1916, without telling MacNeill. The plans for the rebellion went quickly awry. Roger Casement attempted to return secretly to Ireland via German U-boat but was arrested in Kerry on Good Friday. A German ship, the Aud, carrying weapons for the rebels was intercepted and was scuttled in Cork on Easter Sunday morning. MacNeill, having finally discovered the plot, issued orders that the rebellion was cancelled. His orders were ignored by the IRB and the rebellion in Dublin went ahead. Pearse served as Commander-in-Chief of the rebels, a role that included reading the Proclamation of Independence outside the GPO to largely bemused passers-by on Easter Monday morning. He was also declared the President of the Provisional Irish Government. He was shot by firing squad on May 3 - one of fifteen rebels executed. Many of the surviving rebels, including Michael Collins and Eamonn de Valera (who had his death sentence commuted) played key roles in the War of Independence three years later. The execution of so many rebels in 1916 caused the Irish citizenry to be far more sympathetic to the Republican cause a few years later.

The Progressive Democrats, of which Michael McDowell is a prominent member, have always taken a strong line against the 'modern' republican movement (i.e. Sinn Fein and the IRA) - a line established by the PD founder, Des O'Malley (who was Minister for Justice during the Arms Crisis of 1970 when Fianna Fail ministers Charles Haughey and Neil Blaney were accused of trying ship weapons to republicans in Northern Ireland). Ironically, McDowell is a grandson of Eoin MacNeill, who was sentenced to penal servitude for life for his 'part' in the Rising. MacNeill was released the following year, and became a minister for Education in the first Free State government after Independence.

More on this issue over at Slugger...

Mention of a 1916 re-enactment over at Crooked timber - not much detail though...

sunshine

Last year, we spent Good Friday in Cong and it was so warm and sunny, that we went into the Quiet Man cafe as much for a bit of shade as for their fabulous rhubarb tart. This year wasn't so warm, but it was still sunny and mild, and when you're sitting in O'Dowds in Roundstone munching absolutely fabulous prawns cooked in butter, and looking out across the harbour, it doesn't feel like much of a Lenten sacrifice.

The Long Good Friday

It was a cold day in April, and a million heads were striking thirteen. The combination of a four-day Easter weekend, and the fact that none of the pubs will be open today, means that, all over Ireland, there'll be plenty of sick heads this morning. Ah yes, the prospect of a full day without access to pubs has a funny effect on people - the tradition of late has been to organise house-parties on the day, leading to mass stock-piling of drink the day before.

Of course, the original point of the holiday was to have time for the Easter devotions. As a kid, the benefit of a week off school during Easter was always balanced by the prospect of sitting on a hard pew in a cold chapel, wading through what seemed like interminable readings. To be sure, the Easter story is a gripping narrative and, unless you were rooting for Judas, has a happy ending, but after about ten years, there's not many surprises left.

Which is why I just can't understand the fuss of "The Passion of the Christ" (Note: I haven't a notion of going to see it myself - Mel Gibson still owes me two hours of my life back for What Women Want, and a letter of apology for Lethal Weapon Four, and…well, it's a long list). Have any of the people who went to see it ever darkened the door of a church at Easter, or did they just sleep thorough all the readings? If they needed a movie to realize that crucifixion is painful, then ..I don't know. And as for asking the pope for his opinion ? You might as well ask him for his opinion of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Bruce Almighty. Actually, if I was to ask the pope any movie-related question, it would be for an explanation of Adam Sandler's movie career that didn't involve divine intervention, Roswell or a secret world-wide conspiracy.

By the way, Archbishop Martin was interviewed on the radio this morning (he's Cardinal Desmond Connell's second in command). When he was asked how he felt to get the promotion, he described how he had received an encrypted email, and he only knew of his appointement when he descrambled it. Secret email codes? The Vatican ? The Holy Server? Does this mean that Bill Gates knows of an appointment before the bishop or cardinal in question? Someone needs to investigate - Karlin ? Bernie? Anyone?

Sky High

The CEO of Aer Lingus, Willie Walsh, was on the radio on Tuesday afternoon, and he was very excited indeed. Aer Lingus are introducing automatic check-in machines in order to cut down on queueing time, improve the customer user experience and build on the innovative approach of blah blah blah…

You’d swear Aer Lingus had invented the things. If Willie had walked around Dublin airport any time in, oh the last two years, he might have noticed that SAS have the very same machines (they have been in Scandinavian airports for yonks). In Stockholm, anyone with a lick of sense doesn’t queue at a desk – they just go to one of the twenty or so machines in the foyer, slide their ticket into the slot and away they go. You can pick your seat, get your air miles registered and print off your luggage tickets (you just leave your labelled bags at the baggage drop desk). And yes, it can handle connecting flights, as long as they are part of the Star Alliance.

In Stockholm, there are still plenty of check-in desks – less frequent flyers, particularly those with kids, usually queue (kids + queueing, now there’s a lose-lose situation) without realising that they don't need to – and there are some types of tickets that cannot be used in the machines. I never use the desks in Dublin anymore, and it never takes more than a minute to check in. I should also add that the ladies at the SAS desks are far more friendly and helpful than their Aer lingus counterparts.

The Aer Lingus machines seem to have more gadgets – it can read your passport using a scanner – and you don’t actually need a physical ticket to get a boarding card – a booking reference will do. Maybe I’m mistaken, but I seem to remember a short-lived Aer Lingus automatic check-in machine in Dublin a few years ago – it didn’t last long. Perhaps the company found that an inanimate lump of electronics and tin could not quite deliver the same level of sullen indifference as their human operatives.

Come back in the summer

April has begun in a typical manner. Sunshine, bitterly cold winds and hailstones - all in the same day. The fat clusters of cherry blossoms always remind me on snow-covered branches, and some days in April, you can be assured of the odd pile of hail if not snow.

I passed through Killaloe last Saturday. If you have ever gone boating on the Shannon, Killaloe is the last stop as you head south, as it sits on the point where Lough Derg drains into the Shannon. Actually, Killaloe is the village on the western bank - the village on the eastern side is Ballina (not to be confused with the one in Mayo). I had seen a sign earlier for the Brian Boru interpretative centre so I decided to call in. It is located on the western side of the river bridge, alongside the old canal (until the late 1920s, the rapids prevented boats from sailing through Killaloe except via the canal, but the engineering required to build the Ardnacrusha hydro-electric station raised the level of the river sufficiently to render the canal unnecessary). There was a hand-written sign on the door,"Closed until May 1, 2004". I can't say I was surprised but the three French tourists ahead of me were not too impressed. I can accept that not all tourist offices can remain open 12 months a year (though Bord Fáilte encourage tourists to visit all year around) so why not give an incentive to one of the pubs in the town to provide some tourist information during the off-season?

You can see a bigger version of this photo here.

The connection between Killaloe and Brian Ború can be found a few miles outside of town, as you drive north along the side of the lake. The ring fort of Béal Ború is supposed to have been the seat of power of Brian Ború from 1002 until his death at the battle of Clontarf *. Coins found on the site date from the 11th century, which is a bit ironic, given that it was the Vikings that introduced coinage to Ireland- for those of you who have never heard of Brian Ború, he was a High King of Ireland who, having united other clans under his leadership, fought a battle against a Viking army in Clontarf, Dublin in 1014 that effectively ended the overt Viking influence on Ireland. The battle cost Ború his life, and the Vikings who remained after the battle became assimilated, becoming 'more Irish than the Irish themselves' (e.g. not turning up to meetings on time anymore, not combing their hair, stopped using forks at dinnertime, etc., etc.).

The Annals of the Four Masters records the destruction of the ringfort in 1127*. What remains today is a large, ring-shaped structure right on the edge of the lake, covered in tall beech and Scots pine trees. The dyke was the result of twelfth-century building, possibly an attempt by Normans to build a motte in 1207. Many of the ring forts around the country are marked by growths of mature trees, such as beech. I'm only guessing, but I guess that many landowners planted them a couple of centuries ago to maintain the shape and definition of the ancient sites. It's a nice symmetry, since the Normans would have used the timber to fortify their forts, and in the internal buildings within the forts - since beech is not indigenous to Ireland, it's not known if beech was planted in any quantity before the Normans' arrival in Ireland.

You can see another panoramic picture here.

Number One in a field of one

Carrie Crowley interviewed Booker prize winning author D. B. Pierre this morning on Snapshots in his home in Leitrim. Among the songs he nominated (the interviewee gets to choose his top five during the hour-long show) was Big Tom's rendition of Lovely Leitrim. I suppose someone's got to like it.

All's fair in...

I was driving through Tipperary over the weekend (it's OK, I didn't stop) when I passed an odd looking forest plantation. A second glance confirmed that it was a stand of young ash trees, presumably grown to meet the demand in the county for hurley sticks. A small part of me was tempted to 'get the retaliation in early' and destroy them all but I resisted. Plus, I didn't have a saw in the boot of the car.

But at least now I know where it is.

Stop the press

I mentioned before about the habit of local newspapers randomly scattering photographs across their pages without much thought as to how they are juxtaposed with the surrounding stories. The Connacht Tribune last week carried a front page headline "Don't let our mum have died in vain, is plea by family to local Coroner" in relation to a story about a traffic accident. And the picture underneath? A young chap smiling, with his arm around a skeleton (from the opening of a school science lab).

Very sensitive, guys…