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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0829/1224253466061.html
DAN KEENAN, Northern News Editor
Sat, Aug 29, 2009
THREE MOBILE classrooms at an Irish-medium school in Co Down have been destroyed in a suspected arson attack.
PSNI officers and forensic experts are inspecting the remains of the temporary accommodation at the Bunscoil Beanna Boirche in Castlewellan.
The school was reported to be alight in the early hours of yesterday. Fire crews attended the scene, but were unable to save the classrooms used by the 60 pupils.
It is the latest in a spate of suspected and confirmed arson attacks on schools throughout the summer. The bulk of schools targeted to date have been in Co Antrim and Belfast.
School principal Aedin Geary said the destruction was “just heartbreaking”.
She said the fire had coincided with the granting of planning permission for a new school.
Replacement temporary classrooms have been identified and will be in place in time for the commencement of the new school term on Tuesday.
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane condemned the incident and the others over the summer months.
“These attacks are an affront to everyone in the community as they disrupt the education and wellbeing of our young people.”
She added: “These attacks result in scarce public resources having to be spent on repairs and rebuilding instead of being used for other programmes benefiting everyone.”
Her Assembly colleague Willie Clarke, whose daughter is a pupil at the school, said: “This arson attack has destroyed this school and has shocked the community, the teachers and those who attend the school.”
SDLP councillor Eamonn O’Neill said he believed those responsible had pushed a supermarket trolley filled with burning material close to a classroom. “As a member of the management committee I know at first-hand the amount of hard work that has gone into this school . . . Let me make this clear, that hard work will continue.”
He added: “Unfortunately lots of records and reports and the labours of years of hard work by both teachers and pupils have been destroyed but thankfully, over time, these can be replaced.”
Arson attacks on schools, churches, Orange halls and GAA clubs have been mounted since early summer.
The Co Armagh home of Sinn Féin Minister for Regional Development Conor Murphy has also been targeted.
© 2009 The Irish Times
http://u.tv/News/Ballymoney-family-forced-to-move/2d969d90-17a5-400a-89c5-3b49659d0180
A Catholic family has moved out of Ballymoney, after their home was targeted in a sectarian attack.
Friday, 28 August 2009
The couple in their sixties had lived on Trinity Drive for 40 years.
The windscreen of their car was broken.
Graffiti, referring to last week's contentious loyalist band parade in nearby Rasharkin, was also daubed on their house.
Shortly after the attack they received a threat and decided to move out.
'Sinister'
Sinn Fein has claimed the UDA was behind the threat.
"I mean, it's quite clear to me that the threat has come from the UDA," Sinn Fein Councillor Philip McGuigan told UTV.
"The UDA need to wise up and stop harassing people because of their religion and let them get on with their lives. This is a very sinister threat which the family, quite rightly, have taken seriously," he added.
The family have told UTV they were too distressed to speak to the media.
"I would certainly condemn any violence that makes people who have been established and live in the town, lived in that area for 40 years to have to move out. I would certainly condemn any violence towards that family," the Mayor of Ballymoney, DUP Councillor Frank Campbell, said.
Graffiti was also daubed on the Ancient Order of Hibernian hall at Rosnashane and on a nearby Gaelic club.
The police have confirmed they were treating the incident in Ballymoney as sectarian.
© UTV News
http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/38754
By Peadar Whelan
Rasharkin is a small predominantly nationalist village in the heart of County Antrim that became the venue for a Nuremburg style rally last Friday night 21 August. 41 loyalist bands strutted along the village’s main street beating out their message with the venom of Aryans letting those they deem to be sub-human know who is the master race.
That this so-called band parade was allowed go ahead by the Parades Commission, with no restrictions, added to the sense of injustice and frustration that Antrim nationalists feel.
Before the march Sinn Féin’s Seán Murray, chair of the party’s Cúige Uladh, addressed the 130 nationalist protesters who unlike the loyalists were restricted in numbers and movement.
He told them to “be prepared to hear ‘The Sash’ 82 times”. It was a stab at humour in a highly charged atmosphere. However as band after band passed the protesters, corralled behind crush barriers, they beat their drums louder and blew harder on their flutes. The loyalists were only doing what we knew they would do.
They were flaunting their arrogant triumphalism through tunes that are steeped in the sectarianism of centuries. The names of the bands and their uniforms – styled mostly on old British Army dress uniforms – reflect a mindset that sees these loyalists ape British imperialism and its militarist culture. Crown Defenders, Rising Sons of Ulster, Loyal Sons of Ulster and the Ballymaconnelly Sons of Conquerers are names that echo the pogroms of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The band regalia, honouring the UVF, should tell the Parades Commission that these so-called band parades are little more than a celebration of unionist paramilitarism. It may in some cases be dressed up in ‘Old UVF’ glories but the Freeman Memorial Band that was in Rasharkin on Friday is named in memory of UVF bomber Andrew Freeman who was killed in 1975 with three other UVF men.
The four died on the outskirts of Coleraine, when a bomb they were arming exploded. The UVF was responsible for killing 12 people on 2 October 1975, the day Freeman died. Most of them were Catholics or in the case of Irene Nicholson a Protestant who was killed in Killyleagh, County Down when the UVF attacked a Catholic-owned bar. On its website the band describes itself as, “a loyalist blood and thunder flute band”.
Speaking to An Phoblacht in the wake of Friday’s march North Antrim Sinn Féin MLA Daithí McKay outlined how loyalists attending the parade attacked a number of Catholic-owned houses in the village as well as assaulting a Catholic man.
Said McKay: “Before the parade we warned the PSNI that supporters of the parade should not be allowed near Rhencullen Park or Churchfields after residents there were threatened by loyalists last year.
“Unfortunately they did not hold supporters back and as a direct result a young man was assaulted toward the end of the procession. The PSNI also failed to stop loyalists damaging Catholic houses in Churchfields were they even knocked the bricks off garden walls.
“Such intimidation and violence was bound to happen given the Parades Commission decision and this could have been avoided if the police had followed our advice and kept loyalists out of this area.
“What we saw here last night was a large-scale attempt to intimidate Catholics in this village and the Parades Commission decision to accommodate this was disgusting.”
http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/38783
“We will not tolerate any cutbacks in the education sector. We will not stand idly by while the Government foolishly destroys our education infrastructure,” pledged Senator Pearse Doherty as he launched the party’s fight against cuts that are set to severely damage the education of children in the 26 Counties.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign entitled ‘Leave our Schools Alone’ Senator Doherty said the education budget should be exempt from Government cutbacks as it is crucial to our long-term economic recovery.
He said the Government was slow to react to the recession and is now implementing short-sighted measures which target our children and which are ultimately detrimental to our economic recovery.
Senator Doherty said: “While we all know that we are in dire economic circumstances, we believe that our education budget must be exempt from Government cutbacks. In fact it makes no economic sense to be cutting the education budget as it is crucial to our long term economic recovery.
“We are launching the ‘Leave our Schools Alone’ campaign to fight these cutbacks and to highlight the harsh realities faced by families as a result of the Government’s reckless policy.
“We will be highlighting cuts faced by schools right across the state and bringing to the people’s attention just what this incompetent government has done to our education system and to our children.
“We are demanding a first class education system that enables future generations to reach their potential and that is properly funded through a fair and progressive taxation system rather than the current situation where under-resourced schools are increasingly dependent through parents’ contributions and fundraising efforts.
“As a father of young children I am utterly appalled at the cuts which will now come into affect as our children return to school.
“Class sizes are set to increase, resources will be slashed, book grants are abolished and children will continue to be educated in dilapidated, overcrowded buildings and prefabs even though building new schools would create employment.
“I, and countless other parents and teachers have had enough. Our children did not cause this recession. They should not foot the bill for this government’s incompetence. Now is the time to fight back.
“I am urging all parents, teachers and all those who will not stand for attacks on our schools to join us in our campaign. Our message to the government is clear – LEAVE OUR SCHOOLS ALONE!”
Louth Sinn Féin County Councillor Tomás Sharkey described the Government’s attack on Special Needs children as shameful and also slammed the cut of 500 language support teachers.
He went on to call on Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe to clarify the situation regarding the extra teachers allocated to schools in disadvantaged areas after it was revealed that these posts are to be cut despite a commitment given by the Minister on the floor of the Dáil that they were safe. Cllr. Sharkey said:
“As pupils head back to school after their summer break the cuts that have been so talked of over the last number of months will now come into force in a very real way. Pupils will find themselves in larger classes, with limited resources in the same prefab that has been there for years.
“Parents will now find themselves under even more pressure to raise funds for the upkeep of their children’s school as money for school buildings is cut. The reality is that many parents simply cannot afford to do this. Parents are losing back to school allowances and cuts in Child Benefit are looming. Many constituents I have spoken to have paid upwards of €800 on uniforms, books etc.
“This September some 119 classes for children with special educational needs will be abolished. This shameful and disgraceful measure will prove detrimental for children with mild general learning difficulties who will now be moved into an already overcrowded mainstream classroom where their needs will almost certainly be overlooked.
“The decision was a purely financial one and did not take into account the terrible effect it will have on vulnerable children. This is a callous decision and one which must be overturned without delay. McCarthy’s cruel call to cut a further 2000 special needs teachers is an attack on vulnerable children. This cannot and must not happen.
“500 English language support teachers are also due to be cut this year due to government decisions to cap the number of these teachers at two per school. The cut will yield savings of €34 million per year and will have profound effects on children whose first language is not English. This is a short-sighted measure and has not taken into account the consequences of such an action.
“I want to take this opportunity to call on Minister O’Keeffe to come clean in relation to the extra teaching posts for schools in disadvantaged areas. The Minister has given a commitment on the floor of the Dáil that these posts would be safe from Government cutbacks. However, it now seems that they are going to be cut. The Minister should clarify this situation immediately.
“Our children must not be made scapegoats for the reckless behaviour of this government and their cronies the bankers and developers. These cutbacks are detrimental to our economic recovery and should not be tolerated. It’s time for us to fight back. With this campaign Sinn Féin will be joining with parents, teachers, pupils and concerned citizens in taking a stand for our children’s education.”
What cuts are coming into affect and what has McCarthy proposed?
Primary schools are by far the worst hit. Below is a list of the main cuts implemented in Budget 09 and proposed in the McCarthy report:
BUDGET 09:
• Increased class sizes
• Loss of language support teachers
• Discontinuation of 119 special needs classes
• Discontinuation of school book scheme for all schools not designated as DEIS (disadvantaged areas)
• Equipment grant for resource teachers abolished (this affects children with literacy and mathematical difficulties)
• Reduction in traveller capitation grant
McCARTHY REPORT:
• Sack 3400 teachers
• Increased class size
• Amalgamation of small rural schools
• Cessation of uncertified sick leave for teachers
• Sack 2000 special needs teachers
• Sack 1000 language support teachers
• Increase school transport scheme to €500 a year
• Cut school capitation grant by 10% in 2010 and again in 2011
Articles may not be reproduced without the consent of An Phoblacht. For further information, please contact
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/FAIR-slams-Adams-over-rally.5600189.jp
Published Date: 29 August 2009
By Staff reporter
A VICTIMS' group has hit out at Gerry Adams over a speech at a controversial hunger strike memorial in which he appeared to say that political means were not the only way forward for Sinn Fein.
Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR) spokesman Willie Frazer said Mr Adams should explain what he meant by his comments at Galbally GAA ground.
Mr Frazer said: “Gerry Adams’s speech confirms what we have been saying for the last 10 years and this is that Sinn Fein are only using the political institutions to further their political ideology until such times as they can yield no more fruit for republicans.”
He said he believed the IRA would return to violence when things no longer went Sinn Fein’s way.
“Gerry Adams stated that ‘the republican struggle was not and is not about bums on seats in the Executive or Parliament Buildings or Leinster House or the EU or any other forum just for the sake of it. Our representatives know this. We are not in the business of electoral politics for the sake of it but to use the political mandate we receive to bring about real change’.
“The message is unmistakeable; Adams’s personal commitment to the democratic institutions can’t be taken for granted.
“Electoral politics are only one weapon in his party’s armoury and can be decommissioned, like the last lot, if they outlive their usefulness.
“How much clearer do republicans need to make it to the government and our unionist politicians that this is just another phase of ‘the conflict’?”
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/08/28/jean-kennedy-smith-the-last-kennedy-standing.aspx
Daniel Stone
After the passing of Ted earlier this week, only one of the nine Kennedy siblings remains. Jean Kennedy Smith, the second-youngest and last daughter, is now the sole survivor of a family shrouded in perhaps equal parts of triumph and heartbreak. Jean was just 16 when her brother Joseph Jr. was killed in World War II. But less than two decades later, she saw her other brother Jack sworn in as president. She also traveled the country with another brother, Robert, as he nearly clinched the Democratic nomination in 1968, although she was with him the night he was slain in Los Angeles. After losing her other siblings in various ways─a plane crash, a stroke, a botched surgery that left her sister Rosemary incapacitated and isolated─she and her brother Ted, along with their older sister Eunice (who died earlier this month), have carried the family's legacy of public service.
Jean has often been recognized as the shy Kennedy, the quietest of a very public family. Less vivacious than her limelight-grabbing brothers, Jean has committed much of her working life to society and culture─pushing for accessibility of the arts and joining Eunice to advocate for people with disabilities. Since 1964, the year after John was assassinated in Texas, Jean has held a spot on the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, a post to which she has been reappointed by every U.S. president. Soula Antonio, president of the VSA arts program, which Smith founded in 1974, describes her as "a pioneer"─someone who started working to further the arts and for disabled people at a time when no one else was.
"Her passion is really to create opportunities for people with disabilities," says Ann Stock, White House social secretary during the Clinton administration who now works with Smith at the Kennedy Center. "When you think about all the [Kennedy] kids, they were all raised in a home of arts and public service. When she makes up her mind about something, she just does it. She's a doer; she's not in it for the recognition."
Still, Smith's life hasn't been entirely apolitical. In 1993, President Clinton nominated her to follow in the footsteps of her father─who once served as ambassador to England─and lead part of the administration's diplomatic efforts as the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, the country of her family's origin. During that time, she was involved in the controversial decision to grant an American visa to Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams, who later visited the U.S. According to biographer Patricia Keegan, the memory of seeing Ireland for the first time with her brother the president, five months before he died, "was one of the earliest seeds of Smith's enduring Irish connection."
But despite the ups, Smith has been marred by the downturns inherent in almost any Kennedy saga. Her husband, Stephen Smith, died of cancer in 1990, and less than a year later her son, then a medical student at Georgetown, was accused of rape. Teddy, the young man's uncle, testified as a character witness at the trial, at which Smith's son was acquitted of all charges.
Now, with the deaths of her two remaining siblings this month, Smith stands alone, the last of the family dynasty that saw its greatest expansion during her generation. The daughter whom her mother described as too young to experience the great triumphs of her family has now become the matriarch of her bloodline. It's a valid question whether, considering the open Senate seat that has stayed in her family for five decades, she may switch gears, and perhaps run for office to continue the legacy of her more political siblings. But at 81, her interest is unlikely. And the way her friends describe it, she's got her own pursuits to attend to.
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/articles/a0000626.shtml
By Ed West
28 August 2009
Enrolments at Irish seminaries have reached their highest level for a decade after years of decline.
Thirty-eight new seminarians will study for the priesthood in Ireland this September, the highest number since 46 priests enrolled in 1999.
It comes after a sharp decline in the country's economic fortunes following almost two decades of rapid growth. In the last 12 months the Irish Republic has suffered an 85 per cent rise in unemployment, the highest increase on the planet, and has gone from having the second lowest unemployment figures in western Europe to the second highest.
However, Fr Paddy Rushe, national co-odinator of vocations, said the increase in seminarian numbers had nothing to do with the recession as student priests had to enter a year ago, before the recession began to bite.
"Most of these guys have been thinking about it for a long time, and we don't accept people at the last minute, so it's too early to tell how the recession will affect future numbers."
He said the increase was a credit to the work of the vocations team, the power of prayer and the Year of Vocation campaign.
"The Year of Vocation has given us a two-fold return, its been mentioned more than it has for years. There were banners, booklets, posters and ongoing events. And as the Church has dealt with the problems of the past, there has been an increase in confidence, now the intensity of the post-scandal era has faded."
Of the new candidates 26 will study at the national seminary at St Patrick's College in Maynooth, Co Kildare, seven at St Malachy's College in Belfast, and two at Beda College in Rome, while one will enter the pre-seminary discernment year in Valladolid, Spain. The new candidates range in age from 18 to their mid-40s, with the largest numbers coming from the Dublin and the Down and Connor dioceses. Maynooth will also be home to seven Scottish seminarians who have been transferred after the closure of Scotus College in Glasgow.
However Fr Rushe said that while the Church would welcome more priests into the fold, the days are gone for the record number of clergymen in the 1950s and 1960s.
"We're never going to get back to the numbers. We're in a different reality," he said.
The news came in the same week that a priest made famous by facing down Loyalist intimidation in Belfast urged the Irish Church to stop recruiting new priests.
Fr Aidan Troy, who in 2001 walked with Ardoyne schoolchildren past Loyalist mobs, said the Church needed to "halt recruitment, reform and reorganise" after revelations of widespread sexual abuse at Catholic institutions.
Fr Troy blamed the hierarchy for a "wholly inadequate response to the horrendous abuse that has been uncovered" and said the bishops should take radical action rather than engaging in "window dressing".
Now based in Paris, he said he was "ashamed" at the Church's reaction to the Ryan report into child sexual abuse in institutions run by religious orders.
"It has been more about improving the Church's image than tackling fundamental problems," he said.
"In the 1970s I was sent around schools to recruit pupils to the priesthood. I couldn't do that now. Back then, parents were delighted if their sons chose to become priests. Now, most would understandably oppose it and try to talk them out of it."
But Fr Rushe said "I have to disagree wholeheartedly with him. We need a better process of application and screening and to continue recruiting, not surrender. The process now is so much better than it was 20 years ago."
Updated: 11/5/2009
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