Derry Shows The World – The good people of Derry – victims all in so many ways of the murders on January 30, 1972 -- showed a face to the world that will be hard to forget. It was the patience, civility, and loyalty of the citizens of Derry, with an enormous helping of dignity thrown in, that were easily the equal of the graceful words of the Tory Prime Minister when he described the events of 38 years ago as “unjustified and unjustifiable.”

Looking at the photographs of the Bloody Sunday victims, the faces jump out at you: Seven of the thirteen who died that day were eighteen or younger, their faces carefree, painfully young, full of hope, and each with a life yet to live. And many of the other victims, ranging in age from 20 to 59: were from large families while still others were fathers of large families. They were factory workers, trainees, menswear clerks, supermarket retailers, mechanics, dock workers, studio sound men, and a bartender.
The Saville Inquiry was the longest and most expensive public investigation in British history. It lasted twelve years, interviewed 2,500 witnesses, compiled evidence files of 30 million words, totaled 5,000 pages when finally completed, and cost close to $300 million. But Saville didn’t have to be. The establishment whitewash orchestrated by Britain’s Lord Chief Justice Widgery was a disgrace to the men who died that January day —and to justice everywhere. To preserve the solidarity of “Empire” and the fiction of a disciplined crack regiment, Widgery imagined and posited guns and explosives into the hands of innocent men with nary a thought about the reputation of those slain or the memories of their loved ones who knew the truth of that day.
Some say that Bloody Sunday was the result of hubris on the part of the Paras and their leaders. Paul O’Connell of the Pat Finucane Centre cites the case just before Bloody Sunday of William McGreanery, an innocent man shot dead by a British soldier on the streets of Derry. The RUC police had correctly recommended the soldier be prosecuted but he was not charged. O’Connell says that if the soldier had been charged, the local military commanders would have been ordered to act with greater control. No such order was ever given and six weeks later on Bloody Sunday, the British troops shot 27 innocent civilians.
The Derry Journal newspaper has published a superb special report on Bloody Sunday, replete with photographs, biographies, and histories of the victims. The Derry paper, and other sources, have the full text of the Saville Report. Both were available at the time of our deadline.
A personal note to anyone who wants to learn more about those who died that Sunday and their lives before January 30, 1972: I recommend Jennifer Faus’s “Before Sunday, The Life Stories of the Bloody Sunday Victims,” published in 2007 by Nonsuch Publishing, Dublin 2. Ireland.
DERRY QUOTE BOARD
“Now is the time to ensure the word Widgery (like boycott) will get its rightful place in theEnglish dictionary. Suggested meaning: white-washing an evil deed.”
– Finbar Slattery, Killarney, Co. Kerry
“Healing is kind of a corny word but it’s particularly appropriate here; wounds don’t easily heal if they are not out in the open. The Saville Report brought openness -- clarity -- because at its core, it accorded all the people involved in the calamity their proper role.”
– Bono, U2 lead singer
“It’s a wonderful blessing to see this day. I think of the many people who did not live to experience the truth being told.”
– Retired Derry Bishop Edward Daly
“You have to remember that we were effectively used as troubleshooters and we were sent from Belfast that day because trouble was feared at an illegal march. Many of us were just armed with batons when we went on the streets — surely if, as suggested, we had gone on to the streets wishing to teach people a lesson, we would have been armed.”
– Unidentified ex-Paratrooper who was in Derry on Bloody Sunday
“I was looking at the RTE archives of the day and I was struck by the interview of Col. Derek Wilford [Para Commander] who basically called the key witnesses, including our future Bishop of Derry, “liars.” This man later received an OBE which was presented to him in the aftermath of the Bloody Sunday massacre.”
Ann, a Derry native now resident in the US, who was home for the Saville Report announcement.
“The relatives’ long and courageous crusade for the truth is at an end.”
– Editorial, Belfast Telegraph
“Lord Widgery’s justice was elastic, cynical, and porous. This week the truth was served and Widgery was finally overturned. Even when running late, Lady Justice is beautiful to behold.”
– Martina Devlin, Irish Independent newspaper
“It can now be proclaimed to the world that the dead and the wounded of Bloody Sunday, civil rights marchers, one and all, were innocent, one and all gunned down on their own streets by soldiers who had been given to believe that they could kill with perfect immunity.”
– Tony Doherty, whose father Paddy was shot and killed on Bloody Sunday
If the [soldiers] did something wrong, they should be prosecuted. But in the climate that we live in, in the place that we live in, with lots of people out on license, jail isn’t something I can see happening.”
– Jean Hegarty, sister of victim Kevin McElhinney
“The facts of what happened on Bloody Sunday are clear —the British Paras came to Derry and murdered 14 civil rights marchers and injured 13 others. The [marchers] were unarmed, they posed no threat, and they were completely innocent.”
– Gerry Adams, Sinn Fein president
“It had to be remembered that we were in Northern Ireland fighting not only a military war but the propaganda war.”
– Then Prime Minister Edward Heath, quoted in notes taken at a meeting with Lord Widgery and the then Lord Chancellor on Feb. 1, 1972
Waterford Crystal Fires Up – The Waterford Crystal company, known and respected for centuries, went into receivership last year and many thought that was the death knell for that proud firm. But a downsized yet vibrant crystal manufacturing facility has opened and some two tons of molten crystal will be produced daily, and master glass blowers will produce roughly 40,000 hand-crafted luxury pieces annually. The retail and factory site will employ 79 full-time and 33 part-time staff and tourists are welcome to stop in and witness first hand the ancient craft from the furnace to engraving. It is a far cry from the 3,500 workers Waterford once employed, but the operation in Waterford City is the beginning of a second phase of the company and one that the city and its residents have warmly welcomed back. Good luck to all.
Immigration Reform Likely Dead This Year – Despite the best intentions of key Democratic senators on Capital Hill and the desire of the Obama administration —not to mention thousands of undocumented in the US -- it’s highly unlikely that an immigration bill will get through both houses before the end of this Congress. If there was uncertainty as to the fate of a 2010 immigration bill, the recent move by the Obama White House and the Justice Department to legally contest the draconian Arizona law that is scheduled to go into effect on July 29 has effectively killed any chance of legislation. In addition, while there remain six months of this Congress, in reality, given reduced weekly sessions, the summer recess, and likely October adjournment, the time is short. There is the Elena Kagan nomination to the Court, energy legislation and Wall Street reform, all a step ahead of any immigration bill.
Irish Remember Their Own – The Kennedy family, led by Ted Kennedy’s widow Vickie and his sister, Jean Kennedy Smith, were welcomed to Tipperary and Dublin in ceremonies to honor Jean and Ted. The Tipperary International Peace Award went to the late senator from Massachusetts and Jean, the former US ambassador to Ireland, for their work in helping bring peace to Ireland.
In Dublin the Kennedys were greeted by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who announced that a new center for conflict intervention is being established at the National University at Maynooth that will bear Ted Kennedy’s name. Among those on hand for the event were former Taoiseaches Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern, historian and journalist Tim Pat Coogan, and veteran actress Maureen O’Hara.
On a personal aside, NUI Maynooth might want to invite another noted Bay State resident, UMass-Boston’s senior fellow, Padraig O’Malley, to play a role in the Kennedy Centre considering O’Malley’s growing international reputation for conflict resolution.
Inishowen Fears End Of An Era -- It could be happening soon on the oil-ravaged Gulf Coast, and our New England fisherman like those in Gloucester, are constantly at odds with government fishing regulators about the dwindling supply of cod and other table fish. Now it appears that’s the case with salmon in the once prosperous Lough Foyle fishing community. 
The fishing season on the peninsula has traditionally been three months long, from May to the end of August. But lower yields and reduced supply of salmon have shortened the season to six weeks and that is under threat to be phased out until salmon numbers increase. Many locals in Donegal are being forced to give up their livelihood and dock their boats. 
Many of the fisherman who have been working the Foyle concede with sadness the dwindling number of salmon in the sea. They attribute the decline to inland pollution and the increasing wild seal population. Not unlike those along the New England coastal fishing areas, the Inishowen fisherman are looking now to the Irish government to provide compensation for the likely end of their way of life. I don’t know how feasible it is, but it may be worth exploring farm fishing if the wild salmon are no longer there.
Better Days Slow In Coming -- The Irish government recently saw its social welfare system, the Dole, run dry for the first time since the beginning of the Celtic Tiger some thirteen years ago. During the halcyon days of the healthy Tiger there was $4.5 billion surplus built into the fund. That ran out in May and new borrowing was necessary. The social welfare fund is expected to be in deficit until sometime in 2012.
The KFC company in Galway is expanding and put out the word that the Colonel Sanders chicken restaurants were looking to hire 55 new employees. A sign of the times in what not too long ago was called the “fastest growing city in Europe”: Almost 5,000 applications were received, nearly a hundred job seekers for each available job at Galway’s KFC. 
A panel of former IMF officials investigating the early days of the crash and the vanishing Celtic Tiger said the Irish government’s budget left the country “vulnerable.” The report, a serious effort to investigate the crash, said in a stark and damning indictment that “Ireland’s banking crisis bears the clear imprint of global influences, yet it was in crucial ways ‘home-made’.”
Irish Politics In An Uproar -- The political scene in the 26-county state, as Sinn Fein/IRA irritatingly persists in calling the Republic of Ireland, is in a spiral of barely controlled chaos. Surveys taken in the second week of last month ushered in an earthquake-like poll and continue with a series of rattling after-shocks. The stunning poll result had erstwhile bronze finisher, The Irish Labour Party, topping the survey with 32 percent, changing places with the newest third-place finisher, Fianna Fail, which tumbled to a historic low of 17 percent. Fine Gael came in second to Labour with 28 percent, although showing some slippage from its previous first-place numbers. 
Not long after that poll came out, Fine Gael’s leader Enda Kenny was challenged by his deputy leader, Richard Bruton, who yearns to replace Kenny, whose sole virtue is that he isn’t Brian Cowen. Cowen, who had the misfortune to be Bertie Ahern’s Finance Minister and later his successor, is trying to tap-dance his way through that ugly report that said Ireland’s economic woes were “home-made.”
The Irish electorate, asked to sacrifice and limp along on less, are (not unlike the US) virulently anti-incumbent and over half want an election this year so they can vent their rage at Brian, Enda and seemingly everyone except Labour and its leader, Eamon Gilmore.
It likely will not happen, but there is a long-shot possibility that either or both Cowen and Kenny could be replaced by internal revolt and new leaders of the two major Irish parties could be in place before the next election. Don’t call Powers on it.
Passport Imbroglio Ends In Mild Rebuke – It was a headline grabbing revelation when the news broke that fake Irish passports, with reported real names & numbers, were used by what the Irish government termed an “Israeli government agency.” in the assassination of a Hamas official in Dubai in January. The outcome of Ireland’s offended sovereignty has wilted somewhat and the penalty exacted by the Foreign Affairs lads at Iveagh House has been to ask Israel to withdraw a member of the Israeli Embassy staff in Dublin. The name and function of the exiled Israeli diplomat, as is usually the case, will not be revealed. That’ll teach them!
RANDOM JOTTINGS
The Gardai in County Louth have pinpointed the local Continuity IRA leader there as the mastermind of the trafficking and enslavement of young women for the purposes of prostitution. I guess cigarettes and petrol were not revenue-friendly enough. … Yes, Libya and its leader, Colonel Gaddafi, have agreed to pay a $2 billion compensation package to the families of IRA victims directly linked to Libyan munitions or support. … Bertie Ahern, God love the mark, has “agreed” to accept a $286,000 special allowance on top of his current take-home pay of $270,000. In a vote of empathy, Brian Cowen, looking ahead no doubt, has defended Ahern’s payment. … How in the world could anybody by surprised by the big, breaking story that Ted Kennedy’s life was “constantly threatened. Of course it was. The wingnuts on the right used him as a target and fundraiser and Ted, of course, knew all about it but courageously soldiered on. … Aer Lingus, come the first of next year, is set to suspend flights between Boston and  New York and Shannon for almost three months to cut their losses on that route. … It seems to me that oral histories were created with the likes of the late Globe reporter and editor Bob Healy firmly in mind. … Will Ian Paisley be looking at cottages for sale in the wee county or was his visit with the missus to Aras an Uachtarain for lunch with President McAleese just a flirtation. … Paisley’s former Free Presbyterian Church and its leaders are protesting the planned visit to the United Kingdom in September by Pope Benedict, but only in Wales and Scotland, not the North. … A tug of war is going on in Kerry where tourism types want to see the Queen of England visit, while Irish republicans with long memories want Elizabeth to stay home. … The Westmeath estate where the late pop star Michael Jackson stayed and considered buying as a getaway home is available as a weekend tourist retreat for $1,800 a week.
If surfing is your thing, here are the top spots on the island of Ireland: Causeway Coast, Antrim, Bundoran, Donegal, Lahinch, Clare; Tramore, Waterford, and County Cork. … A reminder that the Irish census records for 1901 went online at the beginning of last month at www.census.nationalarchives.ie. … Gregory Campbell, the scowling face of loyalism and an elected official in Derry, dislikes the Saville Report, its cost and what he terms “rewriting history.” Hey, Greg, get mad at Lord Widgery and the British government at the time for cooking the books back then. … Is US Open golf champ Graeme McDowell Irish or British? McDowell calls himself a “Northern Irishman.” That about says it. Good man. … Someone –a judge in this case – finally caught up with the bad-tempered bully Michael O’Leary and his low-cost Ryanair airline, labeling the fanciful airline and the truth “uncomfortable bedfellows.” … And before I forget, there should never be compensation to firefighters or others for showing up on the job sober and unimpaired. End of story!