I came across this little piece on the BBC website. It is great that people from the Protestant, Unionist, Loyalist (PUL) community are taking time to explore the Irish language. As the article states, the language belongs to everyone and hopefully these classes are an early sign that the anti-Irish extremism of people like Nelson McCausland is fading off into the political wilderness where he and his ilk belong.
More from the BBC here.
I was recently on a flight from Holland to Belfast in Ireland. As the Irish times was not available at Schipol airport in Amsterdam I picked up a British newspaper to read on the plane. Much to my delight I read the following piece in the London Times concerning the demise of Oliver Cromwell. Following his crazed religious murder campaign around Ireland, Cromwell returned to England were he was also responsible for the beheading of the English King Charles 1st.
“In 1649, just months after Charles 1st’s execution, the future Charles 2nd wrote from exile in Holland swearing retribution on those responsible for his father’s death. “We shall therin by all ways and means possible” he proclaimed, “endeavour to persue and brinig to their due punishment those bloody traitors who were either actors or contrivers of that unparalleled and inuman murder”. On resuming power some years later, Charles the 2nd then set about killing all those who were responsible for his fathers death.
Unfortunately however the blood thirsty Cromwell, who was also responsible for the mass murder at Drogheda, had already died. As the article relates, the young Charles 2nd was not to be denied justice, “on the 12th anniversary of Charles 1st’s execution the corpses of four of the chief Parliamentarians who had died before the Restoration – Cromwell, Henry Ireton, John Bradshaw and Thomas Pride – were dragged from their graves, taken to Tyburn and hung till the sun was set; after which they were taken down, their heads cut off and their loathsome trunks thrown into a deep hole under the gallows”.
YES!!!! Now that is what i’m talking about. Dig Cromwell up and kill him again. Hang his corpse from the gallows for all to see, then chop off his dead head and finally dump his dismembered body in a pit. Really could not have thought up a more fitting end for this murderous pig dog myself. I’m sure many in Drogheda are equally glad to hear this good news. 🙂 Oh by the way, Charles the 2nd also confiscated all of Cromwells’ land and holdings, so his family did not benefit from his genocidal religious ferver either.
Happy Days 🙂
Steeped in history and heritage, each creation is ‘a little piece of luxury from Donegal’ – John Joseph Hanna (1944 – 2019)
Hanna Hats is a third-generation family business celebrating 100 years in business. Founded in 1924, their story is one of
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Each piece is individually handcrafted in the Donegal Town workshop along the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland. Every piece crafted is a reflection of the skills and dedication from the craftspeople who pride themselves on maintaining traditional hat-making techniques ensuring every stitch and seam is perfect. By choosing Hanna Hats, CelticClothing.com offers their customers products you can trust and cherish.
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To mark the release of our new Hanna Hats product range we have put up this video to give you a sense of context for these traditional Irish wool hats. The video gives an insight into the inner workings of the manufacturing process and the traditions and inspiration behind traditional Irish craftsmanship. We hope you enjoy this short video of traditional Irish craftsmanship. Traditional Irish Hanna Hats are available now on our website.
Hanna Hats of Donegal.
Notice that Mr. McGuinness does not bow his head, yet Queenie looks quite happy when they greet each other.
(WASHINGTON) Congressman Richard E. Neal, the senior Democrat on the Friends of Ireland Caucus in the United States Congress, released the following statement in anticipation of Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness meeting Queen Elizabeth in Belfast today. For more than three decades, Neal has been a leader in the effort to bring peace and reconciliation to the island of Ireland. Mr McGuinness has been making serious effotrs to reach out the hand of peace to his Unionist neighbors for some time.
Congressman Robert E. Neal (D)
“As the leading Democrat on the Friends of Ireland Caucus in the United States Congress, I welcome in the strongest possible terms the announcement that deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness will meet and shake hands with Queen Elizabeth for the first time at an event in Belfast sponsored by the cross border charity Co-operation Ireland. I applaud this expression of civility and respect, and believe it is another significant milestone in the peace process. It is also another powerful reminder that we are living in an unprecedented period in Irish history where the impossible routinely becomes possible.
For supporters of the peace process, a meeting between Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago. But times have changed, and we are now witnessing a new era of partnership where former adversaries now work together building a shared and more inclusive future. The Irish peace process has become a model for successful conflict resolution around the world, and tomorrow’s meeting will be another sign of genuine reconciliation and healing.”
The following is taken from a recent Irish Times article on the topic of the upcoming Constitutional Convention in Ireland:
AS THE dust settles on the fiscal treaty referendum, we can only hope that the Government is now finally going to bite the reform bullet after many months of prevarication. Elected on a wave of change in February 2011, both Government parties nailed their colours to the political reform mast, promising root-and-branch changes to our political institutions.
The one measure that could once and for all demonstrate this Government’s seriousness of intent to grasp the political reform nettle would be the establishment of the long overdue constitutional convention. This was supposed to have been launched on the heels of the election victory. But as is so often the case in politics, events took their turn, and the convention languished on the back burner until earlier this year when the Government published details of how it would be constituted, and its agenda.
Now, there can be no more excuses for prevarication. A clear and unambiguous promise has been made to establish the convention involving a random selection of 66 ordinary citizens, working in conjunction with 33 elected politicians to consider eight specific themes:
* The Dáil electoral system;
* Reducing the presidential term to five years;
* Giving citizens the right to vote at Irish Embassies in presidential elections;
* Provision for same-sex marriage;
* Amending the clause on the role of women in the home and encouraging greater participation of women in public life;
* Increasing the participation of women in politics;
* Removing the concept of blasphemy from the Constitution;
* Reducing the voting age to 17.
Certainly, in an ideal world, this could have been managed better. But this shouldn’t take from the fact the constitutional convention will represent the most ambitious reform process undertaken since 1937, and the first ever to include the active involvement, from the bottom up, of ordinary citizens.
My first thought is, why would they restrict voters to an “Irish Embassy” location, that is pretty dumb. And why only for presidential elections?
Ireland has a constitutional convention slated for 2012. It is one of the biggest political stories in Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. However, Fianna Gael and Labour are being a little coy about the precise date, getting an answer from them is like getting Bertie Ahern to explain all the sterling in his bank account.
One of the reasons for delay is the agenda. Some groups want to include a review of Irish citizen voting rights, but the FG/Labour coalition are trying to dampen expectations by narrowing the parameters of discussion. At the moment two large groups in the Irish Nation find themselves disenfranchised while others who are not born in Ireland are permitted the vote. The two main disenfranchised groups are:
Aricle 2 of Bunreacht Na hEireann (Irish Constitution) defines the Irish Nation as the following: “It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation”
Bunreacht Na hEireann makes no mention what-so-ever about restrictions on citizens being able to vote. To the contrary, in Article 40 (section 1) our constitution states the opposite: “All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law.” and goes on to state in Article 40 (section 3) “The State guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate the personal rights of the citizen.”
Given the current disagreeable situation where emigrants have no voice, it is obvious successive Fianna Fail and Fianna Gael governments had not felt it necessary to “defend and vindicate the personal rights of the citizen“, or ensure they at least “be held equal before the law.” Are successive Irish governments seriously trying to tell us that it is not “practicable” to set up voting by proxy or a postal vote. I would argue by not facilitating voting rights for Irish citizens the Dail in acting unconstitutionally.
Bunreacht Na hEireann defines an Irish citizen in this way: “the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland.” The phrase “in accordance with the law” is important, because according to Irish Law recent emigrants do not lose their citizenship when they depart to find work on foreign shores. But the Oireachtas sees fit to take away their voice (their vote). Equally, Irish citizens in the North are defined as being Irish under Irish law, this is also enshrined and accepted by the British in the recent Belfast Agreement and subsequently recognized internationally.
So why are these Irish citizens being denied full suffrage? In Ireland it has been argued in some quarters that these two groups should be denied their right to vote because they do not pay taxes to the State. Does this mean the unemployed, among others, who do not pay taxes can now also be denied the right to vote? Nowhere in Bunreacht Na hEireann is citizenship, full suffrage and taxation linked.
During the recent Presidential elections, then candidate, and now President Higgins argued in favor of addressing the issue in a progressive manner. The upcoming Constitutional convention is the place to bring forward this change. The right to vote belongs to the Irish people; it is not within the remit of the Dail to give it or take it away, it is a birthright.
The Dail want the diaspora to help Ireland recover from it’s economic difficulties and most of the diaspora are only too willing to help. But the Oireachtas must respect it’s citizens both abroad and in the North, and voting rights is the only way to show that mutual respect.
Ireland is the only country in the EU that does not allow citizens living abroad to vote. And with all due respect to President Higgins in the article above, Irish emigrants should be expecting more than just the right to vote in the Seanad.
Irish electoral law is so corrupted that as and an Irish citizen I cannot vote, yet my English bank manager has a mail in vote for Seanad elections based simply on the fact that he is a Trinity graduate. Such shameful tactics of social, elitist and political gerrymandering should have no place in modern Ireland. We have the equally erroneous situation where we had a Northern born President in Mary McAleese, yet Northerners are denied the right to vote for the person who will represent our Nation both at home and abroad. The recent Presidential elections also highlighted the situation where Derry man Martin McGuinness can run for President, yet is denied his right to vote in that very same election. Remember, the President of Ireland represents the Irish Nation, not just the people in 26 counties of our nation, and the Irish Constitution clearly states “It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation“
We should be looking to the Constitutional Convention to bring Irish law into the 21st century. Let the voice of the Diaspora be heard – they are our children.
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