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http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0309/breaking7.htm
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
British prime minister Gordon Brown has met the North's First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness in the wake of the Real IRA murders of two British soldiers in Antrim on Saturday.
He said the killing of the two soldiers would not halt the peace process.
"What I've seen this morning is the unity of the people of Northern Ireland and the unity of the political parties, that they stand united behind the peace and political process that they've been building for many, many years," he said.
"They want to send out the message to the world, as I do, that the political process will not and can never be shaken," he added. "The political process is now unshakable."
Earlier today Mr Brown visited Massereene Barracks in Co Antrim where the two soldiers were killed in the gun attack. He was accompanied by the North's Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde on his visit to Massareene.
Mr Brown met Sir Hugh and political leaders at Stormont and was expected to urge Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness to stand united in the face of the dissident threat.
Tributes were paid today to the two soldiers who were named as Sapper Mark Quinsey (23) from Birmingham, and Sapper Cengiz Azimkar (21) from Wood Green, north London, both of 38 Engineer Regiment.
Northern Ireland’s most senior British soldier paid tribute today to the two “magnificent” servicemen. Brigadier George Norton condemned the “callous and clinical attack".
The US condemned the attacks in a statement last night. State Department spokesman Robert A. Wood sent condolences to the families of the murdered soldiers.
"The United States condemns the attack in Co Antrim, Northern Ireland, on Saturday night that resulted in two deaths and injuries to others.We call on all parties in Northern Ireland to unequivocally reject such senseless acts of violence, whose intention is to destroy the peace that so many in Northern Ireland have worked so hard to achieve," he said.
Two other servicemen and two pizza deliverymen - one named as 19-year-old local Anthony Watson and the other a 32-year-old Polish national - were also seriously injured in the shooting, which sent shockwaves through the peace process.
Meanwhile, the Polish pizza delivery man who was shot a number of times during the attack is no longer critically ill, according to a PSNI spokeswoman. His condition is now described as serious but stable. Two other soldiers and a second pizza delivery man remain in a serious condition in hospital.
The two soldiers and two of their colleagues were shot when they went to the gates of the Massereene base to receive separate pizza deliveries around 9.20pm on Saturday.
Two masked gunmen opened up with bursts of semi-automatic rifle fire. At least one gunmen fired a second burst while the fatally injured soldiers lay on the ground.
The two other injured soldiers managed to retreat back inside the base. The delivery men were also targeted and shot, the Polish worker suffering what were described as very serious injuries. ¿He was hit six times,¿ said one source.
Additional reporting: PA
© 2009 irishtimes.com
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0309/breaking40.htm
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has urged members of the republican community to help police in their efforts to catch the killers of two young British soldiers shot dead outside a British army base in Co Antrim on Saurday night.
Mr Adams said Sinn Féin supported the efforts of the police to catch the killers — believed to be dissident republicans — and urged anyone with information to pass it on.
“It is the logic of our position and we do have a responsibility to be consistent,” he said.
“The popular will in this island is for peaceful and democratic change and that means an end to actions like the killings in Antrim on Saturday night.
“The logic of all of that is that we support the police in the apprehension of those involved.”
However, he strongly condemned the decision by Northern Ireland Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde to bring in undercover soldiers from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to monitor the activities of dissident republicans.
“The Chief Constable made a huge mistake bringing in undercover British army units,” he said.
“You don’t understand the history if you don’t appreciate that the involvement of these units in the past — totally unaccountable — has led to the same type of suffering as that that has unfortunately been endured at this time by the families of the two British soldiers who were killed.”
He insisted that there was no popular support for the dissidents who carried out the attacks.
“Whoever was involved, they have no support and no strategy and no popular will to back up their actions,” he said.
“Despite all of the dark history and despite everything that has occurred, people of the republican and nationalist persuasion overwhelmingly support Sinn Féin’s peace strategy.”
PA
© 2009 irishtimes.com
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/northernireland/4958676/Northern-Ireland-shootings-Attack-condemned-in-US.html
The shooting dead of two British soldiers in Antrim has been roundly condemned by prominent Irish-Americans.
By Toby Harnden in Washington
Last Updated: 9:26PM GMT 08 Mar 2009
Bruce Morrison, a former congressman whose name has been floated as a possible Ireland envoy in the Obama administration, said: "This is more than deplorable and it's something we had hoped we would never see again.
"The Gerry Adams statement makes clear that this is the work of a splinter group. There is always the danger that a tiny faction will act in a criminal or terrorist fashion and this should be investigated aggressively.
"We should not lose sight of the fact that this is an act condemned by everyone. There is no excuse for this kind of action. The page has been turned by the peace process."
The Antrim attack will cast a pall over this month's St Patrick's Day celebrations and it remains unclear whether Peter Robinson, Northern Ireland's First Minister, and his deputy Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander, will stick to their plans to travel to Washington.
Representative Peter King of New York, who once called the IRA a "legitimate guerilla army", said: "I strongly condemn this cowardly and deadly attack. It is important that these murderers be brought to justice as quickly as possible."
Representative Richard Neal of Massachusetts said: "The perpetrators must be brought to justice. I also wish to express my sincere condolences to the families of those killed and injured last night. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this very difficult time.
"Those responsible for the reprehensible attack should understand that they have no support on the island of Ireland, in the United States of America or across the globe. Their actions will not change the enormous progress that has been made in Northern Ireland in recent times, nor will it stop the inevitable transformation of that society.
"The days of violence are over. Decisions about the future are now being made in the crucible of politics. Supporters of the peace process welcome the leadership and resolve shown by the First Minister Peter Robinson and the deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who will not be deterred by a small group of criminals."
Father Sean McManus, founder of the Irish National Caucus, a Capitol Hill-based Irish-American lobby group, said that he had hoped that Lance Bombadier Stephen Restorick, killed by a sniper in February 1997, would "have been the last British soldier to be killed on Irish soil".
He added: "It is so wrong and so crazy to have that happen now, as if there were no peace-process. There is no support among Irish-Americans for this most distressful development."
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/irish-america-stunned-by-rira-attack-14218552.html
By Jim Dee, in Boston
Monday, 9 March 2009
The killing of the two British soldiers has stunned supporters of the peace process in the United States.
Most major US papers including the Washington Post, New York Times, and LA Times carried reports about Saturday's killings both in their print and on-line editions. The attack was also covered by major electronic media outlets as well.
Congressman Peter King, a Republican from New York who has been a longtime supporter of Sinn Fein and the peace process, issued a statement saying: “I strongly condemn this cowardly and deadly attack.
“It is important that these murderers be brought to justice as quickly as possible.”
In a statement issued from Washington, Irish National Caucus president Sean McManus branded the killings a “terrible development”.
“I was so hopeful that Stephen Restorick, whose parents have shown such fortitude and dignity, would have been the last British soldier to be killed on Irish soil,” said Fermanagh-born Fr McManus
“It is so wrong and so crazy to have that happen now, as if there were no peace process.
“There is certainly no support among Irish-Americans for this terrible development.”
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph from his hometown of Philadelphia, Ancient Order of Hibernians president Seamus Boyle echoed Fr McManus’s sentiments.
“There would be no support among the Ancient Order of Hibernians for any of these splinter groups,” he said.
“This attack happens at a time when the peace process has been in place for about 10 years now, and people were just starting to get used to it.”
Mr Boyle said the AoH is “always concerned about the peace process because it is so fragile”, but he added that he believed dissidents will not succeed in derailing it.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0309/1224242515464.html
DAN KEENAN, Northern News Editor in Massereene, Co Antrim
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
AT THE SCENE: ANTRIM’S CHURCHES emptied yesterday morning, their congregations headed to the same spot at the PSNI cordon a short distance from the murder scene at the British army barracks.
They prayed for the unidentified British soldiers who had been shot dead, the two others injured in the shootings and for the two young pizza delivery men who had also been targeted.
Fr Tony Devlin of St Comgall’s Catholic Church at the town had made contact with clergy from the main Protestant denominations and the response was evident.
Hundreds converged on the point where two police officers stood duty behind the tape which closed off Randalstown Road and the entrance to the scene of the murders.
“We don’t want to go back to this,” Fr Devlin said said. “Nobody wants to go back to this in any way at all. None of us want it in any way at all and we pray that those who are engaged in this will just stop it. Go away from it, we don’t want those years of the past, they were horrible years for everyone.
“In our churches today many people were crying because of the experiences they remembered from the past. They do not want it to come back again.”
Joined by the local Methodist minister the Rev Jack Moore, Church of Ireland minister the Rev Stephen McBrien and Presbyterian minister the Rev Ian McKee, they led the crowd in a minute’s silence.
Among the crowd were local councillors and Assembly members. They recited the Lord’s Prayer. Also there was the regimental chaplain from Massereene barracks, Rev Philip McCormack.
As news spread that the 38th Engineering Unit was preparing to deploy to Helmand province in Afghanistan, he explained the effect of the killings on the soldiers who had been stationed at the lightly guarded army base.
“It’s a very close-knit unit,” he said. “People care a tremendous amount, they spent weeks and months training and preparing and so anything like this will obviously have a profound impact. But they are very professional and we still have a job to do and we will mourn and deal with this and then we will do our job.”
Small bunches of flowers were placed as a makeshift tribute. Indeed, the floral tributes increased throughout the day.
“Everyone will hug each other a little tighter tonight after this,” Fr Devlin said.
Local people, clearly proud of the levels of normality within their community, reflected quietly on the fact that same calm that pervades their town may have made them a soft target for the killers.
“Antrim has become a very safe and happy place for people to live,” Fr Devlin said.
“In many ways it was probably because it was such an easy and safe place for people to travel about, especially the military personnel, it’s probably because of that it was such an easy target.”
The independent mayor, Oran Keenan, who was accompanied by Ulster Unionist deputy mayor Adrian Watson, said: “Over the past four or five years the churches have all come together and they worship in each other’s churches. They are very supportive and there is a very good network.”
The killings were an outreach and a “disaster” for the close-knit local community, he said.
“This outrage happened in the second week of Lent which is a very big Christian time. Irishmen are supposed to be Christian and the events that happened here have nothing to do with Christianity or Irishness. Unfortunately there are still people here in our borough who are still hell-bent on the gun rather than seeking political change through the ballot box.”
Alliance leader and local Assembly member David Ford stood among those praying for the dead.
“It falls on all of us in political life to overcome petty bickering and to stand together against this threat,” he said.
He doubted if anyone with close connections to Antrim had much to do with the incident.
“We have had no sign that there has been any [dissident] activity like this. Unfortunately, I feel we may have been seen as a soft target because of our good community relations and because security levels have been relatively relaxed because people thought that the world had changed.”
Soldiers at the barracks had integrated relatively well into the local community, he said. “Clearly it was still an army barracks and still had security at the gate but in terms of the way things operated people would have felt much freer around Antrim than in many other places.”
One bystander said simply there was no sense that Antrim was under any form of threat from any group. Politics and trouble were things that happened elsewhere to other people.
“There was no indication of this from anywhere in the town. Thinking back to [PSNI chief constable] Hugh Orde’s warning last week [about dissident violence] we now know how much basis he had in truth. We know what truth there really was in them.”
© 2009 The Irish Times
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0309/1224242515504.html
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
ARMY REACTION: NORTHERN IRELAND’S most senior soldier Brig George Norton last night condemned the manner of the killing of two of his troops, and paid tribute to those who treated the wounded at the scene.
Referring to those killed, he said: “These young sappers were making their homes in Northern Ireland and spent the past number of months undergoing intense pre-deployment training.”
“With only hours to go before flying to Afghanistan they were going to share a meal together. Many of their colleagues and friends are already in Afghanistan facing a dangerous and difficult six-month tour. Indeed, the professionalism of soldiers who immediately gave first aid on the scene undoubtedly saved lives.
“Our thoughts . . . are with the colleagues and friends of these young soldiers,” he said. “This has shocked the community and we are all grateful for the sympathies expressed.”
PSNI officers were continuing to examine a Vauxhall Cavalier abandoned in the Ranaghan Lane area of nearby Randalstown.
© 2009 The Irish Times
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/all-sides-must-hold-their-nerve-after-terror-attack-1665745.html
When will they ever learn? After nearly 4,000 deaths, 10 times that number injured and maimed, and countless others psychologically scarred, can there be many who have not got the message, heavily endorsed in referenda North and South, that the Irish people want to live together in peace, and to leave whatever problems there might be to resolution by the ballot rather than the bomb or the bullet?
Not, it appears, the Real IRA who on Saturday night murdered two soldiers in an attack on Massereene Barracks in Antrim, and seriously injured four others, including two civilians whose crime was to be delivering pizzas to the army.
The attack was as indiscriminate as the murders were callous, but the fact that they happened at all has profoundly shocked the community, and may yet have political repercussions. The shock has been magnified for having come after a long period of peace. It is 14 years since the first IRA cease-fire; 12 years since the last British soldier, Gunner Restorick, was murdered by sniper-fire in Bessbrook; the murder rate has gone down from almost 300 in the worst years to almost zero.
It is not, however, as if such an attack was entirely unexpected.
Dissident Republicans have made no secret of their intent to murder members of the PSNI, and have made direct attacks on at least three. In recent weeks the chief constable has reiterated warnings of their capability to do so. The security risk from this quarter has been upgraded to 'severe'.
In the past week it has been disclosed that the chief constable has secured the assistance of five members of military intelligence in order to improve his capacity to secure intelligence on dissident activity and to maintain surveillance.
The unanimous condemnation from the political parties indicates the political isolation of the dissidents -- but that of course is not their game. Their purpose is single-mindedly anti-political, to bring down the institutions of the agreement and to produce the chaos in which they hope to thrive. They include former splinter groups, and those Provisionals who refused to follow the leadership into politics.
They are concentrated largely in the areas of greatest opposition to decommissioning and the acceptance of policing. There are people, too, to whom their familiarity with the gun gave a sense of their own importance and a place in the community. For some, politics does not make the adrenalin flow. Others do not relish the comparative anonymity and loss of status that comes with peace. There are young people too, who have not yet had to count the cost of conflict.
The danger would be if disillusionment with lack of progress on the political front were to drive less than totally committed Sinn Fein supporters into their ranks.
The lesson for the mainstream parties is plain -- they must stick together and make a go of the political arrangements.
Sinn Fein need to hold their nerve in support of policing, and to go beyond rhetoric in encouraging their supporters to co-operate by providing information and intelligence, where they have it, which might lead to the apprehension of the murderers and their accomplices.
DUP, for their part, need to discover that there is more to politics than appearing to wrong-foot Sinn Fein on every possible occasion.
The great prize to be won is not the exercise of patronage in a local administration, or a return to old Stormont attitudes, but to see an end to the physical force tradition in Republican politics. They cannot do this without the help of Sinn Fein.
All of which makes the transfer of responsibility for policing and criminal justice to the Northern Assembly the more urgent. The bill is under discussion at Westminster, and passage should not be delayed through the erection of additional financial hurdles, through a demand for extra money which the treasury, in the present climate, is unlikely to provide.
SDLP, no less than Sinn Fein, find themselves out on a limb, given their vociferous objections to the chief constable having enlisted the help of military intelligence, and for not having told the policing board (which would have been the equivalent of public advertisement). It can hardly be denied that the murders have, tragically, vindicated his judgment.
There is, it is true, a nasty history of security force activity in this field which inevitably causes problems for the nationalist parties. There are allegations of collusion in cases like Pat Finucane and Billy Wright, which have been found worthy of inquiry, and which are too numerous not to have a basic substratum of truth in them.
Nevertheless the answer is not to eschew intelligence gathering and surveillance.
Criminals rarely give themselves up, neither are they discovered by intellectual abstractions, but by the willingness of confederates to inform, or the ability of the police to penetrate and infiltrate.
What is necessary is that it should be intelligently and proportionately deployed, within the law and carefully controlled, and there is nothing in Hugh Orde's track record to suggest that he would not be capable of managing the function in this way.
The dissidents are a tiny minority with, as yet, limited capacity. The vast majority, who only want peace, can defeat them by refusing to panic. They can also provide the information and the evidence which would put murderers behind bars. Whether they are willing to do so remains to be seen.
Meantime those who are unable, or unwilling to learn might reflect that in Pete Seeger's song, all roads lead ultimately to the graveyard.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0309/1224242515452.html
DAN KEENAN
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
April 2003: The British and Irish governments agree a joint declaration which, when implemented, leads to a gradual demilitarisation of Northern Ireland.
July 2005: The IRA announces it is to stand down its units and will commit itself to change by purely peaceful and political means.
August 1st, 2005: The British government announces it will follow a policy of what it calls “security normalisation” or demilitarisation. The policy results in the gradual removal of thousands of British soldiers, the closure of barracks and the dismantling of much of the army’s security.
The British army is committed to reducing its troop levels to garrison strength (around 5,000 personnel).
In reality, the actual number of troops in Northern Ireland is to be lower due to large numbers being based in the North but posted overseas.
August 2005: Progress on the removal of much of the British army’s security presence is to be monitored and reported on by the two governments’ ceasefire watchdog, the Independent Monitoring Commission. A completion date of July 2007 is agreed.
July 31st, 2007: Operation Banner, the name given to the deployment of British troops in the summer of 1969 at the advent of the conflict, is formally brought to an end.
Lasting 38 years and comprising the army and the Royal Air Force, it was the longest single engagement in British military experience.
It is replaced by Operation Helvetic which envisaged a more “normalised” military presence in Northern Ireland with lighter security and more integration between British troops and local communities.
December 2008: The British army downgrades its command structure, removing the last General Officer Commanding (GOC) and replacing him with a brigadier.
Maj Gen Chris Brown tells The Irish Times: “Scotland doesn’t have its own GOC, Wales doesn’t. The only reason we have hung on to a GOC in Northern Ireland is because of that residual support for the police, and that is no longer necessary.”
© 2009 The Irish Times
http://news.ulster.ac.uk/releases/2009/4274.html
9th March 2009
An audience of over 200 VIPs packed the Belfast campus on Friday to hear Jonathan Powell, former No10 adviser and key player in the Northern Ireland peace process, deliver the third annual Chancellor’s Lecture.
Guests included Minister Arlene Foster, Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson, PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde, as well as His Excellency Francis Campbell, UK Ambassador to the Holy See.
They heard Mr Powell deliver a wide-ranging lecture touching on the difficult and tortuous course of the peace process, offering insights into the motivations of all the participants in that long-running political negotiation which resulted in the Belfast Agreement and the political structures of the NI Assembly and Executive.
He paid tribute to Mr Adams and Mr McGuinness of Sinn Fein, saying that the way in which they “ led their people, crablike, never telling them where they were going, to secure a peace agreement, was remarkable leadership.”
And he recognised the role of Conservative Prime Minister John Major in starting what would become the Northern Ireland Peace Process.
Turning to some of the present world conflicts, Mr Powell said: “Conflicts are not insoluble, he said, but nor will they inevitably be solved. Process is important.”
Northern Ireland’s settlement is unique, he said, and cannot be replicated elsewhere. But the process by which it was achieved does have lessons which can be learned and applied in other conflict situations.
He took the Middle East as an example. “In the Middle East, the shape of a settlement is reasonably well known. The core problem is that there is no process in place by which the participants can get there.”
Talking - drawing opponents into a peace process – is vital, he said.
“You must talk to Hamas. Likewise you must talk to the Taliban. You must also talk to Al-Qaeda. You need a channel of communication. Giving in to them is not the answer, but talking to them is not the mistake.”
He was, however, dubious about the value of probes into the history of the conflict, telling his audience “ Don’t allow inquiries, investigations, or truth and reconciliation processes to pull you back into the past.”
Mr Powell’s talk was a concentrated distillation of the political and diplomatic wisdom he had acquired during his time as Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister.
Leavening the many serious and insightful points he made about the conduct of high politics, he offered charming and amusing anecdotes that shed light on the personalities involved, and their progress toward the forging of the political agreement which closed decades of political violence in Northern Ireland.
He concluded by expressing the hope that Belfast would remain a place of pilgrimage for people from conflict zones all around the world to come and see the fruits of Northern Ireland's successful peace process.
Mr Powell received an ovation from the audience, and was thanked by the Chancellor and the Vice-Chancellor for sharing his insights with the University community and its guests.
Guests were entertained by a choir from St Dominic's High School, Belfast, and refreshments were provided by students from the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management.
Click to download or listen to an audio file of the full lecture.
http://news.ulster.ac.uk/podcasts/Powell.mp3
For further information, please contact:
Press Office, Department of Communication and Development
Tel: 028 9036 6178
Email:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0309/1224242514544.html
TIM O'BRIEN
Mon, Mar 09, 2009
CAMPAIGN GROUP TaraWatch says that it plans to “mobilise 50,000 supporters worldwide” to demonstrate against individual Ministers as they attend St Patrick’s Day functions around the world.
The group is hoping to embarrass individual members of the Government by drawing attention to the building of the controversial M3 close to the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. Last week, the National Roads Authority (NRA) said that the motorway was so close to completion that calling for the rerouting of the motorway at this stage was “ridiculous”.
But yesterday TaraWatch said that it would use the schedule of Ministers’ foreign travel, recently released by the Government, to plan demonstrations.
A spokesman for the group said that demonstrations were already in place for Chicago, where TaraWatch Chicago will have a float in the city’s annual St Patrick’s Day parade.
Similar action was planned for San Francisco, and New York, where Minister for Energy and Communications Eamon Ryan will be representing the Government.
Efforts were also under way to ensure that Meath TD and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey is picketed when he visits Toronto, and that Minister of State Trevor Sargent receives “a cool welcome” in Paris.
A TaraWatch spokesman said that the Irish abroad were “especially furious about the M3 going through Tara, and this is becoming an annual ritual, in cities around the world”.
He added that an article in the Smithsonian magazine earlier this month, which featured Tara as one of 10 must-see sites in the world before they disappear, had provoked a massive response internationally.
“Minister Dempsey and the Green Party are the primary targets, but every Minister in almost every city will be hearing about Tara again.”
“If the Government wants to engage the diaspora, they [should] seek help in finding a solution to the M3” he added, rather than travelling the globe “saying there is no problem there at all”.
Meanwhile, a separate group of protesters who have been holding a vigil at the Hill of Tara are to celebrate the first anniversary of the protests at Rath Lugh in which a woman protester called Squeak locked herself into an underground chamber.
Heather Buchannan told The Irish Times that the anniversary on March 13th, “is a big date for us”.
Among the activities will be a picnic on site during the day.
Vigil protesters will also take part in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Navan.
© 2009 The Irish Times
http://blogs.courant.com/capitol_watch/2009/03/wolfe-tones-playing-to-biparti.html
By Christopher Keating on March 9, 2009 8:03 AM
With St. Patrick's Day approaching quickly, the Wolfe Tones are coming back for their annual trip to the Hartford area.
The well-known band has generated bipartisan support at the state Capitol among Republicans and Democrats - who sometimes disagree during their day jobs before coming together at night when the Wolfe Tones are belting out their songs.
As one of the most popular Irish bands in the world, the Wolfe Tones provide a rallying cry for the movers and shakers at the Capitol, who gather to hear the three-member troupe sing songs about the Emerald Isle.
Although the mega-band U2 played to a much larger crowd Friday morning on the steps of historic Keating Hall at Fordham University in The Bronx, the Wolfe Tones have their own fan base around the country. One of the biggest fans in Connecticut is Carroll J. Hughes, a longtime lobbyist who is organizing this year's concert at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Irish American Home on Commerce Street in Glastonbury.
Hughes has seen the band play more than 35 times and never misses a chance to catch up with its members when they come to New England - whether in Wallingford, Avon, Milford, Glastonbury or other venues.
During the concerts, fans ranging in age from 5 to over 65 clap and sing along to a mixture of rebel songs and memorable Irish ballads that include "Streets of New York,'' "God Save Ireland,'' "Let the People Sing,'' "Boston Rose,'' "Janie Mac I'm Nearly Forty,'' "On The One Road,'' "The Boys of the Old Brigade,'' "A Nation Once Again,'' and "Joe McDonnell.'' During the past 45 years, the band has released at least 14 albums that have sold more than 3 million copies, and they have played around the world - ranging from pubs in Dublin to venues in Paris, London, Switzerland and Holland. They have also played at Carnegie Hall in New York City on St. Patrick's Day and at the Foxwoods Resort Casino and Toad's Place in Connecticut.
As the devoted fans know, the band's lullabies and battle cries and songs of hope and joy have been entertaining the crowds for decades.
One of the seemingly unlikely fans of the band has been former Senate Republican leader Louis DeLuca, one of the former leaders of the legislature's Italian-American caucus whose wife is a proud supporter of a united Ireland.
Rep. Stephen Dargan, a West Haven Democrat who is co-chairman of the legislature's public safety committee, said previously that the band teaches a lesson with lyrics of important issues in Irish history dating back to 1847. That history includes the deaths of Bobby Sands, Patsy O'Hara, Joe McDonnell and others in prison in the H Blocks during a hunger strike.
``They talk a lot about our heritage -- from the potato famine on up,'' Dargan said. ``The songs really tell you a lot about your own Irish history, even if you didn't know about it. There's a lot of meaning to the lyrics and the songs. That's how I've gotten to like them.''
The hectic tour schedule, covering 23 concerts in less than one month, is outlined at the appropriately named official site, www.wolfetonesofficialsite.com.
Updated: 8/26/2009
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