by Bill O'Donnell
The Fat Lady Hasn’t Sung Last Note Yet At BC—Those working to quash the Northern Ireland Police/US Justice Department subpoenas against Boston College’s “Belfast Project” oral history interviews took a hit last month when a federal judge supported the Police Service/Justice view of things. On Dec. 27, Judge William Young ordered BC to turn over the tapes of recorded interviews with a former IRA member, Dolours Price, to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston for a transfer to the police in Northern Ireland who are continuing their probes of the killing times in the North during the Troubles. Young gave the university a deadline of Dec. 30 and BC said it would not appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, the judge still has in hand for his own review scores of interviews with numerous other IRA figures.

There is another key player in this drama, though: the increasingly active Ed Moloney, a journalist, author and coordinator of BC’s oral history IRA interviews whose bid to become involved in the case as resisting the subpoenas has already been rebuffed by Young. Moloney and an associate, Anthony McIntyre, are appealing that decision, their lawyer told the Boston Globe in late December. The pair is charging that the subpoena request is flawed and that in processing it the US attorney in Boston, Carmen Ortiz, relied on assumptions that were “bogus.”
Moloney said Ortiz was in error as to the origin and source of information she used to support the subpoena demand and he challenged the presumption that the BC archives were the source, offering an alternative origin for her “unjustified and unwarranted” action against Boston College. He alleges that the basis for the subpoenas was “the result of an atrocious piece of dishonesty by two journalists in Belfast” — Allison Morris of the Irish News and Ciaran Barnes of Sunday Life. Moloney further asserts that the Boston College archives and the “Belfast Project” interviews consist of one copy and are held under conditions of great security in Boston and that no one but Moloney, the researcher, and a small group of people at the college know what is contained in the interviews. No seal of confidentiality has been breached, says Moloney, and no outside journalists have had access to the files.
The scenario that Moloney alleges has driven the involvement of the US attorney and the ongoing litigation regarding Boston College is the following: an interview of a former IRA activist about a series of IRA disappearances in 1972 by Morris of the Irish News was passed on to Barnes of Sunday Life. After it was published, Barnes, in turn, suggested that the interview was taken from the “Belfast Project” tapes at Boston College and this claim, which Moloney terms bogus, ultimately underlined the US attorney’s rationale for its subpoena to BC. Stay tuned.

A Christmas Moment In Ardoyne—There is perhaps no more troubled neighborhood in Northern Ireland than the Ardoyne interface in north Belfast where sits the Holy Cross elementary school that unionists besieged for weeks. You can tell when you slip from a unionist street (the curbs adorned with British flag colors) into Catholic territory (an occasional Tricolor fluttering). And the raucous twelfth of July parades past shop fronts that punctuate the tremulous summer calm.
But in mid-December, less than two weeks before Christmas, outside the Ardoyne ambulance station, there stood, people shoulder to shoulder, a community carol service that belied the turmoil so often associated with the area. The event was organized by local churches and the small crowd projections were overtaken by the unusually large attendance that proclaimed a seasonal truce with voices raised in song that might just become a hymn to a more positive and hopeful future.
Save Moore Street Campaign Continues—Frankly, I thought the Irish government had already taken a few precious Dail moments to protect the area and whatever buildings still exist in the historic Moore Street locale. It seems that the faithful, in the form of Descendants of the Leaders of the Rising, are still at it, calling on the government to create a cultural and historic quarter to be situated between 14 and 17 Moore Street. This is the location where some leaders of the 1916 Rising met for the last time.
The delay in formalizing the Moore Street quarter (the area was designated as a national monument in 2007) has prompted some to call for the state to take ownership from the developer-owner and create a heritage area in the city centre. Sounds about right. We can’t demolish everything and it could be a central tourist focus leading up to the centenary in 2016.
Sinn Fein Brings Prosperity To US—The Independent newspaper, which keeps track of such things, is reporting that Gerry and Martin’s Sinn Fein Party is on a sublime mission to help the ailing American economy. According to documents on file at the US Department of Justice, party leaders McGuinness and Adams and entourage have been spreading the wealth around stateside bistros and upscale pubs at the end of the Atlantic corridor.
The lads in green are regular customers at some of Manhattan’s chic hotels, ranging from the Affinia and Sheraton to the Surrey on East 76th Street, where you can lay your sweat-soaked brow for $686 to $1,424 a night. Mr. Adams’s favorite restaurant is the relatively reasonable Bobby Van’s, where you can enjoy a $50 steak. A couple of the boyos marked the Hunger Strike by attending a dinner at the lush Manhattan Club off Central Park. Of course.
It has been duly noted that the taoiseach, Enda Kenny, flew cheapo Ryanair to a recent Brussels summit. Gerry and his friends, however, continue to fly in club class across the Atlantic to perform their arduous stateside duties. Note: Sinn Fein, which leads all Irish political parties in US fund-raising, has collected somewhat over $1.5 million from their wealth-sharing allies here in the past three years.
Immigration Dilemma Still Rattles America—Nobody is happy with the current state of the immigration issue; it has become in recent years a hot political football. States like Arizona (in an uncomfortable catbird seat), Alabama (the Confederacy rides again) and others are busy passing legislation that attempts to answer fears, real and imagined.
Alabama’s new extremist immigration law reads like South Africa, deja vu. The law, which the state attorney general admits he would have trouble defending in court, essentially curtails civil rights for all residents, criminalizes routine business deals, exploits racial profiling, and targets children’s constitutional rights while making it a crime if immigrants do not have their papers with them, which is illegal under federal law. Arizona has new extreme legislation regarding immigrants (translation: anybody of color) that has been passed and placed on the books but has been stalled by the actions of wary federal officials. The governor there is a wingnut who pandered for uber-tough, exclusionary immigration laws as she was trying to get elected.
On a more reasonable scale affecting just a single segment of the population is the Immigration Fairness Bill introduced by Senators Scott Brown (R-Mass) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill). This legislation adds the Republic of Ireland to the E-3 visa program that provides 10,500 two-year visas for speciality jobs in the US. The tide, however, has turned on relief legislation that impacts just a slice of the population, but maybe good will and a need to fill special employment niches might get it passed. And for Brown, it’s not a bad addition to his campaign literature, pass or fail.
A small victory of right over might: Arizona’s notorious Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio (who loves chain gangs and putting innocent Latinos in his hotel at $5 a night) finally drew the overdue attention of the federales, who are putting together a grand jury to take the measure of the Southwest’s highest ranking public bigot, who is, incidentally, a native of Springfield, Massachusetts. Civil rights abuses lead the list of concerns about him but some fancy footwork on the county books might also be a cause of some discomfort for “da sheriff.”
Living Standards Elevate Dear Old Dublin—There’s something called the Mercer Quality of Living survey and they like Dublin. Ireland’s capital city ranks 26th, higher than Paris, London, or New York but south of datelines like Vienna, which topped the poll, followed by Zurich, Auckland, Munich, Dusseldorf and Vancouver (tied for fifth), Frankfurt, Geneva, Copenhagen, and Bern in the top ten. To nobody’s surprise, Iraqi capital Baghdad came in dead last (# 221) for both living standards and personal safety. Bye, Bye, Baghdad.
Recession Hits Ireland Hard—While Ireland and other Euro-zone countries await word on the fate of the euro, the coin of the realm in sixteen zone countries, the recession continues to batter the Irish Republic. New figures out in these last days of 2011 show a heartbreaking decline in the number of viable companies, with 47,000 having gone out of business since 2008. That represents an average of five Irish companies closing their doors every day in a country of 4.6 million people.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is urging the Irish government to quickly reassess the job creation strategy, a cry heard often these days in the Obama White House. The latest unemployment number for Ireland is a dismal 14.4 percent, almost 75 percent steeper than the US national jobless rate and among the highest in the EU.
Another complaint that mirrors troubled economic conditions here and in Ireland is the answer many small- and medium-sized Irish firms get when seeking loans: a resounding “no.” In addition, in Ireland not only have many of these smaller business owners failed to secure bank loans, but more than half have also had an increase in bank charges or interest rates.
Some light At End Of Church Tunnel—Michael Kelly is the deputy editor of the Irish Catholic newspaper and he believes that changes in the Irish church, and new attitudes among church officials are at last evident. A close observer of the Irish church, Kelley gives much of the credit for the changes to Ian Elliot, the head of the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church. Elliot and his relatively new organization led the audit of six troubled dioceses in Ireland that provided clear evidence of widespread clerical abuse of children.
The professional audits unearthed horrendous neglect and abuse and hierarchy-enabling among the targeted dioceses and the results in all cases were made public swiftly. The same hard-line approach and post-report transparency has unfortunately not yet been widely in evidence here.
A more practical aspect of the shifting fortunes of the Irish Catholic Church is the admission by Dublin Archbishop Diarmud Martin that his archdiocese “is facing its greatest crisis in almost two centuries.” The number of available priests to minister to Dublin-area churches is in decline, church attendance is down significantly, and, of course, so is giving. And a widening trend in understaffed Irish communities is the growth of “cluster” churches, where priests minister to several churches and/or parishes. That concept was recently introduced as a possibility in Massachusetts and appears to be in prospect for Rhode Island and other New England states.
Jim Beam Buys Border Distillery—The Cooley Spirits Company is the only independent Irish whiskey producer in Ireland and it makes a superb Irish whiskey, Tyrconnell, which I can recommend from personal experience. They also make Kilbeggan, Connemara, and Greenore brands. Friends in the Dundalk area who have been longtime owners of the first rate Ballymascanlon Hotel there have also been shareholders in the Cooley Company, which is located just south of the border. Several years ago I was gifted with a bottle of Tyrconnell and I thought at the time all it needed was a wide-scope marketing plan. And Jim Bean should be able to furnish that.
Congratulations to BITA And The Quinlins—In Boston we don’t have an army of good will ambassadors to spread the word about the wonders of the city, especially the depth of the wonders that an Irishman or Irishwoman would find here. However, we do have a dynamic tandem that is on the job 24/7 strengthening and expanding the tourism ties between the Green Isle and New England.
A richly-deserved “Well Done” to Mike and Colette Quinlin, founders of the Boston Irish Tourism Association (BITA) and the most energetic Town Criers a small big town like Boston could ask for. Mike and Colette were winners this year of an Irish Echo tourism award and Massachusetts was again selected as a key member of the “Irish Hospitality Top 50.”
A Quiet Word About A Brave Lady—Nuala Kerr is a mother who lost a son in a senseless, sectarian murder simply because some thugs believe that Catholics should not serve in the PSNI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Despite carrying a load of grief that would cripple a giant, she spoke out eloquently, urging Catholic young people to continue joining the police service. She stood tall, just a few yards from the GAA and the PSNI, who gathered shoulder to shoulder at her son Ronan’s service, alongside Protestant Stormont ministers. In all, a powerful, inescapable reminder of a new and emerging Northern Ireland.
The Belfast Telegraph, Northern Ireland’s main unionist newspaper, named Nuala Kerr as the winner of its Woman of the Year honors. That’s a powerful message in itself.
RANDOM CLIPPINGS
Amidst all the talk about the Boston College “Belfast Project” oral histories, it should be noted that the GAA, marking the 125th anniversary of its founding, is working with BC on an oral history of the league. … The Bob Kraft-Steve Wynn walk-around and so-called press conference was one of the worst events ever staged by two business heavyweights. Two billionaires, a mini Q&A session cut short, and inconsequential chatter about a “bucolic Foxborough, a casino that will be hidden from view and more jobs than the Big Dig had. Please! … The original “Quiet Man” cottage, a down-at-the-heels pile of stones owned by another quiet man who can’t be found to make an offer, is the hope of the Connemara faithful who look to a resurgent tourism crush that will return the area to its 1950s glory. … Best news of a so-so year: As of mid-December, the West Roxbury-based Irish Social Club has over 900 members, more than three times its last membership count in April. … Irish engineers are likely to agree with their US counterparts that “fracking,” a controversial gas extraction method, is harmful to neighbors and their water. … The Titanic Museum, set for a completion in March, will need 300,000 visitors a year to break even. They’ll need some luck, too. … A driver who was stopped in Dublin for drunken driving stole the police cruiser and drove all the way to Armagh. Drunken driving charge dismissed; auto theft charges brought. … News reports have Ryanair set to charge $130 for checking in a bag at the terminal. Air travel today is no bargain, and comfortless, to boot. … Cardinal Bernard Law has retired from his Roman sinecure at St. Mary Major Basilica. Does that mean absolution now for all his former Boston priestly enablers?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is so rampant in the North of Ireland that it could be affecting more people there than any place else in the world. … The British government and David Cameron will be legally challenged by Pat Finucane’s family for running away from an open, public investigation of Pat’s 1989 murder. … Someone who is obviously unbalanced recently tried to enter Dail Eireann by charging the main entrance. Has not the poor soul ever heard a typical Dail debate. It’s out, you want, my man. … The trio of Northern Irish clergymen known as “The Priests” scrapped their fall US tour and have rescheduled it for next April and May, including a stop in Boston. … Experts are still saying that outside forces in the EU cannot unilaterally raise Ireland’s low 12.5 percent corporate tax. … In October, following passage of an aggressive anti-begging legislation, the garda were making hundreds of arrests in Dublin of down-and-outers asking for money on the streets. … The new papal nuncio to Ireland as the Vatican and Enda Kenny try to make up, is an Irish American, Monsignor Charles Brown, a well-placed Vatican insider, an indication that the pope’s people want a cease-fire. … A final leftover Christmas tale is the story of dozens of volunteers in Limavady staying late filling 6,000 boxes filled with Christmas presents for needy and homeless children in Haiti. Ireland simply doesn’t stop giving. And a Happy New Year to All.