Humbert School special

Government committed to west – Cowen

Áine Ryan

THE interdepartmental group appointed by Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, to examine the Shannon- Heathrow debacle is expected to brief this week’s cabinet meeting, according to Tánaiste, Brian Cowen.
“The cabinet expects a comprehensive picture [of the situation] by the interdepartmental group next Wednesday. The question of a mass of connectivity is important,” said Minister Cowen. He was speaking to reporters after addressing the Humbert School on the subject of Election 2007.
He added that a suggestion by Deputy Dara Calleary that the Government buy slots at Heathrow was untenable, since they are not due to come up for lease for some time. He also observed that a primary need was to attract other carriers.
Asked about Minister Willie O’Dea’s stance on the controversy, he said that the Limerick deputy was reflecting local views, but essentially Noel Dempsey was the official government spokesman on the subject.
Questioned about his absence from the country during the early stages of the controversy, Minister Cowen replied: “The simple answer is, I work better after a break.”
Minister Cowen also told reporters there was ‘no foundation’ to a media suggestion this week that the Taoiseach was orchestrating negative reportage about him in Independent Newspapers.
In his formal address, Minister Cowen stressed the Taoiseach’s commitment to Shannon and the west.
“I want to reiterate his commitment to the development of Shannon and the fact that we see it as an important part of the infrastructure of a growing and prosperous west,” he said. The Minister also referred to his recent work with the board and management of Ireland West Airport Knock.
Regarding Fianna Fáil’s election victory, he said that while post-election 2002 analysis had suggested the party had ‘been given an easy ride by the media’, that was far from the case in 2007.
“No one could conceivably say this about 2007. Two very detailed analyses by RTE and MediaMarket show a picture of at times relentless negative coverage of Fianna Fáil. Equally clear from this publicly available research is the softness of the coverage of Fine Gael in general, and their leader in particular,” said Minister Cowen.
He strongly attacked Fine Gael’s post-election rhetoric which attempted to ‘redefine victory to include being in opposition’. There was “no single explanation for why this election defied conventional wisdom,” he said.
He argued it was former Labour leader Pat Rabbitte and not Enda Kenny who was the key orchestrator of the anti-government vote, from which Fine Gael was the main beneficiary.
“The 2007 result for Fine Gael is only dramatic because of the equally dramatic and historically low base set in 2002,” said Minister Cowen.
Other speakers at the John Healy Debate were Western People Editor, James Laffey, former Chef de Cabinet to Pat Rabbitte, Adrian Langan and the Sunday World’s Political Correspondent, Sean Boyne.

Commissioner says Garda Síochána now multi-cultural

SPEAKING as guest-of-honour at the Humbert school’s dinner in the Downhill Hotel, Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said Ireland’s multi-ethnic diversity had ‘the capacity and potential to enrich all our communities’ and to showcase the country as promoting ‘best-practise inclusion’. He observed that An Garda Síochána now had people from Belarus, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, India, Poland, Romania, Russia, the UK and the US among the force.
Earlier he told reporters that there were also some Irish Travellers in the force. “Even some of them may be from the west of Ireland,” said the north Mayo man.
Referring to the recent debate regarding a Sikh garda reservist’s right to wear a turban, Commissioner Conroy said any garda’s religion was a private matter but that when the issue first arose he was cognisant there were 1,000 Sikhs living in Ireland.
“We have no difficulty providing meeting houses or prayer houses [for minorities] while they’re being trained in Templemore. But they will wear the national uniform whether they are reserves or not,” he said.
“I don’t think you’ll find members of An Garda Síochána going around wearing crucifixes,” he said, adding that the primary role of a garda was to do his job “evenhandedly without prejudice”.
He also said he had consulted widely with police in Britain and there was a consensus that ‘if the clock could be put backwards’ the decision to allow such religious accessories would be revoked. In fact, British colleagues had suggested that wearing turbans often incited racist abuse.
Noel Conroy also told the gathering that much had changed in Irish society since he left his native county to join An Garda Síochána in 1963. The force had also changed greatly, particularly in the past decade.
“An Garda Síochána now has just over 13,000 sworn officers and almost 2000 civilian support staff. A transport fleet of 2000 vehicles is deployed in 703 Garda stations and specialist units operate in many areas of policing,” he said.
He observed that all these resources would be ineffective if the gardaí were not accepted by the communities in which they serve.
“Consensual, non-confrontational policing, has served An Garda Síochána and the public well since the foundation of the State,” he continued.
“The police working in partnership with the community and the community participating too, in its own policing, is the way forward,” he suggested.
In conclusion he lauded the people of Mayo for their long tradition of supporting the force and dismissed a Kerry colleague’s suggestion that some of the force’s new multi-ethnic recruits should be transferred to the county to boost its chance of winning an All-Ireland.
“I continue my faith in the Green and Red and hope for better times.”

Society shaped by corporate ethos - Bohan

MAYO man and former Labour Party leader, Pat Rabbitte could have picked a better day to resign than on the day his county’s landmark Humbert Summer School opens. That was the opening joust at the first session of the 21st school by its founder, author and journalist, Mr John Cooney. The irony of Mr Cooney’s remarks was not lost on participants who were told that Tánaiste, Deputy Brian Cowen would be a last-minute guest. the following day, at the John Healy Debate which focused on the subject of Election 2007.
Among the speakers at last Thursday’s opening debate were Managing Director of Ireland West Airport Knock (IWAK), Mr Liam Scollan. Addressing the ongoing Shannon-Heathrow debacle, he observed: “I have said it before and I will say it again: no other facet of our infrastructure shows up more starkly the massive imbalances between regions than the field of aviation.”
Using gaelic football inter-county rivalry as an analogy, Mr Scollan elucidated on the patent failure of the west and north-west to be refereed fairly or to score goals in this industry. He claimed that the only reason the region had any success at all regarding flights to Heathrow was that the East (N Ireland and Dublin), in other words, “the winning team ‘just couldn’t stop laughing’”.
“The entire west of Ireland faces one common challenge and that is to sustain all year round services to a key hub that gives world-wide connectivity; we need services that attract more inbound rather than more outbound traffic and we need to ensure a quota of transatlantic services,” urged Mr Scollan.
“Furthermore,” he said, “the issue needs to be urgently broadened out beyond the Mid-West region. This is not just a Mid-West problem but neither is the solution to be found in the Mid-West.”
Leading sociologist and commentator on the Shannon region and its development, Father Harry Bohan, said the Aer Lingus decision to transfer the Shannon-Heathrow route posed serious questions about how our society is being shaped primarily by a corporate ethos.
“What does commercial reality mean? Does it mean that Private Corporations regard profits as their criterion, irrespective of the consequences?” said Fr Bohan.
In a broad review of post-Celtic Tiger Ireland and ‘its climate of mistrust and suspicion’, he stressed ‘the pursuit of truth’ as a key to proper social and moral leadership in the future.
Recently-elected Fianna Fáil TD, Dara Calleary proposed that Government buy back Heathrow slots leased by Aer Lingus to other airlines, when they become available again.
“In my opinion these slots and the access they give to the world’s airline network are more important to the economy of Ireland than the toll bridge on the M50. And given that the Government saw fit to buy that particular bridge out, I am proposing that they would buy these two slots back from Aer Lingus thereby taking control of a strategic national asset. These slots should then be reserved for the west coast of the country as recognition of the importance of having international hub access from the coast,” said Deputy Calleary.