Irish X-Press 28 June 1995

WEDNESDAY 28 JUNE 1995

U2 WORLD EXCLUSIVE
Back issues of The XPress on Sunday featuring Liam Mackey's exclusive interview with U2 are still available from: Room 103, Liberty Hall, Dublin 1.

Nell McCafferty on the silenced voice of the plain people of Ireland
NATION MOURNS GORDON WILSON
Niall's riddle of the sands
PRESS' PURTY PARTY

Published by The Irish Press NUJ, Liberty Hall. Origination by Malcolm Kindness, Telephone 4962551.

Nell McCafferty on the silenced voice of the plain people of Ireland

Desperate as I am here in Dublin for information on threats to peace in North, I have started buying a Belfast paper, The Irish News.
The Irish Press group of papers used to keep me in touch. In their absence I am uninformed.
Other Dublin papers are simply missing the point. Incident after threatening incident goes unreported or is played down. For example, Sinn Fein leaders attended a meeting in West Belfast last Thursday, at which blood-stained young people with stitches in their heads hurled abuse at them.
The young had been baton-charged by the police. They do not believe that the photo-opportunities afforded to Gerry Adams by Bill Clinton, Albert Reynolds and Nelson Mendala are a sufficient reward for the IRA ceasefire. The young feel under threat from the RUC.
The Irish Press papers would not have missed, ignored or dismissed these danger signals.
It is not an exaggeration at all to say that the collapse of the IP group is itself a threat to the peace process.
Its news reporting was excellent. The information it gave, alerting those at the top to trouble on the ground, saved the Republic (and consequently the North and Britain) more than once from the worst-case scenario in which other papers, and most politicians, are inclined to indulge - analysis far too late after the event, of what the hell happened that brought the North to the brink.
It is happening yet again. I miss the Irish Press group dreadfully at this time. A nationalist voice has been silenced. The silence from other papers about nationalism is ominous.
When the Press group was around the other papers were obliged keep in touch, however faintly, with the discourse about nation which the Press proudly and rightly insisted on.
I miss the moderate - at times depressingly conservative - tone which the Press struck about the other great issues of the day which are by turn convulsing, exciting and frightening what is still a young country in the throes of radical change. I used to read the paper for which I worked in order to find out what the other half thought about what people like me thought. Much of what my half wanted was opposed by the other half (and vice versa).
On church-state matters, on city-rural tensions, on the capital city versus the rest of the country affairs, the Irish Press group maintained a slightly even keel. That is to say, it would let me know what I often did not want to hear.
Now I am faced with a consensus among those papers which pretend and presume to reflect public opinion - they agree with my views and I might as well be talking to myself, which is extremely boring not to mention delusionary, leading to a terrible let-down the morning after the night before when I awake to find that I have lost yet another referendum campaign.
(On the other hand I occasionally win and it is one of the faults of the Irish Press group that it did not, as a matter of straight reporting, see radical victories coming.
For instance, any fool, looking backwards, could explain the election of President Robinson, but a prescient paper would have given more full voice to those who dared dream and had some solid proof to offer as a foundation for dreaming.
I think also of some articles sensitively tailored to conservative concerns but none the less rejected by the Press group, which argued that the wording and intent of the abortion referendum of 1983 might contain a built-in time bomb.)
I will not dwell here on the vulgar adoration of wealth, and the defence of those who possess it, encouraged by some newspapers now dominating in the market; nor on the publicity afforded the decadent excess of the few, at the expense of the majority who labour, which is now considered an essential feature of the media diet;
Nor on the loss of literacy and information which attends the arrival of British-value driven tabloids, come to fill the gap.
I won't even dwell on the actions of IP management whose incompetence, inadequacy and sheer stupidity brought about the downfall of the three newspapers.
Nor will I mention, other than in passing, that the bums owe me £800 in wages for work and expect me to join the creditors' queue behind the likes of down-to-his-last-dollar, Tony O'Reilly.
I wish only to say that you'd miss the smell and feel and the words of the plain people of Ireland as uniquely voiced through those who produced, delivered and wrote for the Irish Press group of papers - management excluded.
And that I miss very much this week the opportunity to explain why so many of the plain people of Ireland are absolutely wrong to think that the late Fr. Michael Cleary was anything but a good father.
And that I miss the answer I would have got back from them that he was not, all the same, the worst of priests. Both attitudes would have been true.
It was the special gift and talent of the Irish Press group, unique to it, that it could sit comfortably with these contradictions. How I miss that. May it come back soon.

NATION MOURNS GORDON WILSON

Politicians unite to pay tribute to man of peace

by Ken Whelan
The country was in mourning today following the sudden death of Senator Gordon Wilson, the Enniskillen man who was catapulted into the nation's consciousness after the death of his daughter Marie in the horrific Remembrance Day bombing.
Senator Wilson's humanity and christianity, despite the heartbreak of losing his daughter in the terrorist carnage which killed 11 people on Poppy Day in 1987, marked him out as a unique spokesman for the new Ireland being forged in the aftermath of the peace process.
Senator Wilson was in Dublin for last week's session of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. His wife Joan has recently retired from her post as a music teacher and the Wilsons were planning to spend their retirement in the Republic. Their son Peter died tragically some months ago in a traffic accident.
He was nominated to An Seanad by Taoiseach Mr Albert Reynolds in 1993 and has been a member of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation since its foundation immediately after the loyalist and IRA ceasefires.
The Dail yesterday observed a minute's silence as a tribute to Senator Wilson.
Thr former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds, who brought Senator Wilson into mainstream Irish politics, was close to tears when paying tribute to his friend in the Dail.
Mr Reynolds said Senator Wilson was a gentle and kind man who would be badly missed. Senator Wilson personified what the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation was about. His example had to be followed by people on both sides of the border.
The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, was shocked when he heard of the tragedy while attending the EU summit in Cannes. Senator Wilson was an example to the Irish people, Mr Bruton said. He forgave great hurt and sought reconciliation.
He was a man of true courage and a man who was willing to build bridges. The Taoiseach said he was shocked by the news.
The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said Senator Wilson personified the deep yearning for peace in Ireland. He was commited to peace for peace's sake and not peace with preconditions. The whole nation was shocked by his passing.
The Tanaiste, Mr Spring in a statement said: "Senator Wilson's commitment to peace, born of the tragic loss of his beloved daughter Marie in the Enniskillen bombing, has been an inspiration to the people of all parts of Ireland and beyond."
"He set an example which we must continue to follow. He left a legacy which will never be forgotten," the Tanaiste said.
The Progressive Democrats leader, Ms Mary Harney, said Senator Wilson's death was heartbreaking.
"From the bleak morning in 1987 when people heard his extraordinarily poignant account of the death of his daughter Marie as they both lay in the rubble of the Enniskillen Rememberance Day atrocity, Gordon Wilson has been both the living symbol of the tragedy in Northern Ireland and an inspirational example of how we must put the past behind us if we are to build a lasting peace," Ms Harney added.

Niall's riddle of the sands

For Ireland soccer star Niall Quinn, the Press Journalists' Fund Golf Classic ended up being more like a day at the beach.
The Manchester City striker, who plays off an eight handicap, lined out on the Mediasports team at the event on the beautfully manicured Woodbrook course in Co Wicklow.
But Big Niall's unerring accuracy in front of goal deserted him on the golf course as he peppered the bunkers with as much regularity as is normally reserved for the opposition net.
His Mediasports side, including John Givens and Trevor O'Rourke, were among 28 teams who battled it out for a host of Waterford Glass prizes in glorious sunshine.
The winning team of Chris Kane, Tom Giblin and Malcolm Connolly from Bord Failte, carried off the top prize with a score of 51 points.
They were closely followed on 50 pts by the Woodbrook team of Peter O'Flanagan, (Woodbrook captain), Brian Kissane (president) and Wally Goff (vice president) and the Ulster Bank team of Sean Jones, Frank O'Dea and Shay Keenan.

Press' Purty Party

HOW does the notion of free pints, great music, spot prizes and serious craic grab you?
All of the above are on offer tonight, when the Purty Loft becomes the Press Club for a night, in aid of the beleagured employees of the Irish Press.
The Loft, situated behind Dun Laoghaire's Top Hat, is donating all proceeds from the door to the newspaper fund.
Admission is £5.00 and Heineken have kindly rowed in - for every pint you buy, you get one free.
There are two full bars, music to suit all tastes, a rake of spot prizes and the opportunity to say hello to a few of your favourite hacks.
The doors are open from 10.30 and it promises to be an evening to remember.
Also tonight there is a Monster Table Quiz in Mother Redcap's in aid of The Press Journalists' Fund at 8.30pm. Tables of four cost £15 per team. For further information contact Ailish, Brian or Siobhan at (01) 6799777.

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