BY BILL O’DONNELL
Breakaways/Dissidents Buoyed By IRA Veterans -- The rules of engagement and the identity of those leading the anti-government assault in the six counties is changing and the threat to peace and stability in the North is presently at a high-water mark. The booby-trapped bomb murder of a Catholic member of the Northern police (PSNI), Ronan Kerr, has publicly highlighted what security forces have known for some time: old line, veteran members of the provisional IRA have been defecting from the Adams-McGuinness political operation and are now playing an increasingly major role in the campaign of violence.

It had been thought that the leadership and bulk of the republican physical force opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and the presence of British forces in Ireland had been made up of young people, many frustrated by the economy, and some middle and lower ranking Provos who opposed Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein policy. However, the alleged access to decommissioned IRA bomb material, fresh public statements by Kerr’s killers claiming responsibility for the police attack, and the assertion by the dissidents that they constitute the reinvigorated Irish Republican Army have created a new and dangerous dynamic.
The belief among dissidents in the North is growing that not only the Omagh police officers, but also other security elements and the British queen herself, who will be visiting Ireland this month, are legitimate targets and will continue to be until “British occupation” is over. All of this, of course, intensifies the threat not only to the island of Ireland but also to the British mainland. And it clearly complicates the situation facing Sinn Fein and Adams. If, as charged, the dissident leadership is now at least partially made up of former senior colleagues of Adams and he has information that could be helpful to tracking those paramilitaries down, things could get dicey and deal a blow to Sinn Fein’s all-Ireland political ambitions.
July Kicks Off Irish Festival Time -- The best way to help Ireland through the bruising economic crisis is to book a family trip to the Green Isle. Once there, tourists will find breathtaking scenery, English-speaking new friends, a warm welcome, and some of the cheapest hotel rates in the EU. Also on tap is a summer full of that unique Gaelic treasure, the Irish festival. The season includes the Galway Arts Festival (July 11-24), the West Cork Literary Festival in Bantry (July 3-9), Punchtown Races in Kildare ((July 8-10), Kinsale Arts Week (July 9-17), Earagail Arts Festival in Donegal (July 9 -24), Kilkenny Arts Festival (Aug. 5-14) and wrapping it up in late summer, the Dublin Horse Shoe at the RDS (Aug.3-7).
Linehan Charges On Bailout Self-Serving -- The Finance Minister under Brian Cowen in the previous Irish government, Brian Linehan, is a good and decent man who was faced with the worst task a political leader can face: Going hat in hand to the European Union and the IMF looking for a bailout to avoid national insolvency. Linehan has an impressive political pedigree. His father was a much beloved minister and Taniste under Charlie Haughey, and his aunt, Mary O’Rourke, a feisty veteran Fianna Fail TD and minister.
Add to all that the fact that Linehan was struggling with an economy that was essentially doomed by a lack of bank regulations and a development boom that fed on greed and instant paper millionaires while at the same time dealing with a diagnosis of cancer, and you have a perfect, personal storm.
Having said that, it remains that Brian Lenihan’s ill-considered interview in the Irish Times (April 23) didn’t do anything to rehabilitate his reputation or Fainna Fail’s and may well have ended up making the former minister sound like a whiner and revisionist. Linehan’s claim is that the European Central Bank “forced” Ireland into taking a bailout and that the bank’s actions hurt Ireland and constituted a “betrayal.” This assessment by Lenihan flies in the face of mistakes in judgment that he and Taoiseach Brian Cowen made, chief among them the 100 percent guarantee to make whole any and all Irish banks and their bondholders.
Enda Kenny and the Fine Gael-led coalition government sharply dismissed Lenihan’s claims and others described the Linehan charges as trying to “revise history.” EU officials charged Lenihan with “trying to shift the blame on to any organization.”
Did You Know … that one of the unsung heroes of the American Civil War, begun 150 years ago last month, is Father Peter Whelan, an Irish Catholic priest who was born in 1802 in County Wexford? Ordained in 1830, Father Whelan served as a pastor and chaplain exclusively to Confederate soldiers in Raleigh and other parishes in North Carolina, in Savannah and throughout Georgia, in South Carolina and across the South during the war. Later, as a 62-year-old veteran priest, he was asked and agreed to serve as chaplain at notorious Andersonville Prison and minister to Union Catholic troops who were confined in the Georgia hell hole.
For months Father Whelan was the only humane contact for the starving and dying prisoners there. His only access to many was by crawling on his hands and knees to reach prisoners in shebangs, on dirt floors, as they lay dying from malnutrition, heat stroke, disease, and ill-treatment, He heard confessions, administered Last Rites, and provided whatever meager comfort he could to the Union soldiers for long hours every day. Of the 45,000 Union prisoners quartered at Andersonville, 13,000 died.
His kindness to the enemy soldiers over long months became the stuff of legend and he was widely referred to as the “Angel of Andersonville.”
Philadelphia Latest Scene of Clerical Abuse Charges --With each passing lawsuit or criminal prosecution of child sexual abuse by priests and religious, I think “maybe this is the end of it; maybe we have reached bottom.” But that quiet hope is more often than not defeated by the reality of events in Europe, Ireland, Belgium, and the United States. The latest accusations involving Catholic clergy in Philadelphia have seen charges brought against five people: an active monsignor, two active priests, one former priest and a parochial school teacher. All have been charged with conspiracy, some with rape, and the monsignor with covering up and child endangerment. All are, of course, presumed innocent and await trial.
In looking into the details of the Pennsylvania case, it dawned on me ( I later confirmed it), that the monsignor being charged, William Lynn, 60, is the highest ranking Catholic clergyman ever accused of a crime in the 30-year-long abuse scandal in the United States. Can we say that again? A monsignor -- not a bishop, archbishop, or cardinal — is the highest ranking person ever to be officially charged for clerical abuse, enabling abuse, or conspiracy, or any abuse-related crime.
A number of good people, many of them priests or members of the Catholic Church hierarchy, might look to that simple fact when trying to understand or make sense of why so many ordinary Catholics remain angry and alienated. One sad, sorry monsignor is booked, the rest all skated and some have even been richly rewarded with dioceses to run and special Vatican sinecures.
A May to Remember – There’s the good news that former President of Ireland Mary Robinson will be the Eire Society of Boston’s Gold Medal recipient at the World Trade Center Harbor View Ballroom on Fri., May 13, from 3 to 9 p.m. Mary Robinson is one of the most honored women in the world, the first female Irish President, UN Commissioner for Human Rights, the recipient of the US Medal of Freedom, and a world renowned activist. This is a woman who deserves our attention, a person whom you will be talking about seeing and listening to for decades to come, something to tell your children and grandchildren about. For tickets ($150 each) contact Kathleen Lawlor, 172 Adams St., Milton, MA 02186, or check the Eire Society web site.
EU Air Travelers Have Rights If Bumped, Delayed --Regulations formulated by the European Parliament (EC 261/2004) mandate that if you are bumped, delayed, or your EU flight is cancelled, you have specific minimum rights that cover you. If your flight is cancelled the airline has to offer you a choice between a refund, a re-routing at the earliest opportunity (with hotel and meals when overnight stays are necessary). If a flight is delayed entailing a wait of more than 2 hours, you are entitled to hotel, meals, etc. if necessary. A delay of 5 hours or more calls for a complete refund and possible flights back to your original departure point.
The regulations call for the airline to provide an explanation of the traveler’s options.
If EU airlines are not cooperative, keep a log with dates, time and employee names if possible and remember also to contact EUclaim.com, a Dutch firm that fights airlines on consumers’ behalf. It’s a new ball game in the air travel world. If it’s the airlines fault that you are delayed or bumped or your flight cancelled you have incontestable rights and they have to deal with you fairly and expeditiously.
The Ireland We Know -- Irish President Mary McAleese met recently with organizers of the Chernobyl Children International to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster. The children of Chernobyl have been a special charity close to the heart of the Irish. Since 1986 more than $120 million has been donated by the Irish people to medical, housing and educational programs in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.
After a hiatus of several years the Irish parliament has newly authorized Irish Army personnel to serve again as peacekeepers in the United Nations force in the Middle East. In all a total of 440 soldiers will be ready to patrol and keep the peace in southern Lebanon stretching to the Israeli border, 87 square miles of Hezbollah-controlled territory. The deployment is initially for 12 months and subject to renewal. Since the first deployment of Irish soldiers by the UN as observers to the Middle East in1958, a total of 47 Irish troops have lost their lives in UN service.
Correction: In this space last time I was taking New York Congressman Peter King to task for holding committee hearings that impugned the character and patriotism of Muslims living in the United States. I haven’t changed my mind on the opportunistic King but my old pal and mentor on all things New Yorkish (his ties to Columbia & Fordham give him standing) tells me from Belfast that King, who represents Long Island, cannot run for New York mayor (as I suggested) because to run a candidate must be from one of the five boroughs, which Long Island very definitely is not.
Fianna Fail Defeat, Let Me Count The Ways -- If anyone is still baffled by the totality of the defeat at the polls that the Soldiers of Destiny suffered three months ago, consider these last-minute political schemes by Fianna Fail as the party tried desperately to keep loyalists away from the dreaded private sector. The exiting Fianna Fail leadership in its final hours in office appointed almost 200 supporters, councillors, former TDs, etc. who were facing political extinction to whatever state board or agency that had an unfilled seat. The virtual no-show annual fees for serving on these boards is $8,000 to $20,000.
Another Fianna Fail gift that keeps on giving is the huge pay raises for semi-state agency directors granted by the departing government. These ranged from hikes for Bord Gais and ESB honchos of $45,000 and more, and generalized pay raises of 26 percent for other executives. Meanwhile, to balance the books, Cowen-Linehan and company imposed pay cuts on working stiffs across the public and private sector.
But the final, cringe-provoking irony is that Fianna Fail, which, under the 13 years of Ahern-Cowen, never saw a contribution too small or too heavy not to tuck away for safe-keeping until the tent at the Galway races opened for business, has proposed (one hopes with a straight face) a ban on corporate donations to political parties and politicians. You can’t make this stuff up!
The Eight Year Itch -- In Ireland every seven or eight years there is a hue and cry about the possibilities of locating and extracting millions of euros worth of oil that enthusiasts claim could change the face and fortune of Ireland. Most often something interferes: low fuel prices, non-commercial small finds, drilling costs, etc. and nothing comes of it.
However, beginning almost immediately in the Celtic Sea, there will be extensive and concerted drilling in what preliminary studies suggest could be a trillion dollars worth of oil. Energy and fuel prices are currently high, which makes drilling a good proposition. This could be the itch Ireland scratches.
RANDOM CLIPPINGS
Bad news for Ireland’s senior citizens. Since early in April seniors who have been receiving passports for free now will have to pay for them due to the austerity budget. … British Prime Minister David Cameron is saying that royal succession rules barring Catholics from succeeding to the throne should be canned. David, leave well enough alone. … The Ulster Unionist Party, which is featured on milk bottle for the lost, is battling the Democratic Unionist Party for unionist votes by using campaign posters showing Chuckle Brothers 2, with McGuinness and Peter Robinson featured. … Peter Meade, new to the BRA, is bright, knows Boston and its politics, is well wired, and has a mind of his own. But I’m still betting on Mayor-for-Life Tom Menino to make the decisions on Boston development.
St. Patrick’s Catholic College in North Belfast awarded its inaugural reconciliation & Peace Award to an Orangeman. … Two senior members of the Presbyterian Church founded by Ian Paisley have accused Unionist political leaders Peter Robinson and Tom Ellliot of “idolatry” for attending a Catholic funeral Mass for slain police officer Ronan Kerr. Still a way to go, I guess. … Pop star Justin Bieber has been caught hailing Charlie Sheen as “the most influential person in the world.” Wow, wouldn’t you like a glimpse at Master Bieber’s reading list. …Things are tough all over. The stunning and historic Lahinch Golf Club had to ask members for a 17 percent increase in annual dues following a two-year loss of $1.3 million. … Al Jazeera should have a spot on national TV cable network. I watched Mubarak’s downfall in Egypt on Al Jazeera on the internet. Best, straightest coverage, it says here.
The list of candidates so far for the Irish Presidency is better than the US Republican roster of stretcher cases and crazies, and Fine Gael candidates seem on the early line to have the upper hand given the scope of Enda Kenny’s victory. … London will host the 30th anniversary of the Hunger strikes with a major conference at the Irish Centre on June 18. … Galway city had such a smashing success as host city for the 2009 Volvo Ocean Race that it will be doing it once again in 2012. Some 600,000 spectators and 50,000 corporate sponsors are hoped for in Galway in July next year. … It happened back in March when two gay gals became parents of quints, 2 boys and 3 girls, with some help for Australian Melissa Keevers ,who was inseminated by a donor from the United States. Her partner is Waterford-born Rosemary Nolan and the multiple births beat 60 million to 1 odds. … This year’s ICC Irish Festival is slated for the Cultural Centre grounds on Father’s Day weekend, June 17-19. … Jameson is flying high these days. The Irish whiskey firm is making a $135 million investment in its east Cork facility. Sales have increased from 450,000 cases in 1989 to over 3 million cases last year.
Finally, following last winter’s severe snow and icy weather, Irish insurance companies are paying out close to $300 million to home and business owners. Combined damage over the past three severe Irish winters since has passed the $1 billion mark.