My wife is a Maguire, but an English one. The fact of being English is only relevant here because it’s a background factor in how her family had lost touch with their Irish origins over time. Her father, Terry Maguire, knew that his ancestors came from the Emerald Isle, and had some connection with religion and pubs. However, Terry had no idea of his family’s exact historical origins.
Ireland’s Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is at a crossroads. To paraphrase that great poet of the borderlands, Patrick Kavanagh, the GAA must choose between the parish of the past and the present universe. Right now, this organisation is entrenched in controversy. Historically, it has seen itself as custodian of Ireland’s national games. But the state of the nation’s changing to something more secular and progressive. Unfortunately, in Ireland’s hinterlands, there are still places that haven’t moved out of the past.
Ever since the Adrian Dunbar interview in this paper a few weeks ago, people have been asking me why Unionists don’t engage more proactively in debates and discussions about Irish unity? They don’t even ‘sell’ Northern Ireland well. There seems to be a head-in-the-sand mentality, a circling of the traditional wagons rather than an engagement in conversations.
Last week in London, I interviewed Adrian Dunbar. In that interview, he expressed the view that Ireland is drifting towards unity in the future. There’s something very interesting though in how he spoke of this in the context of his interview.
In an exclusive interview with Paul Breen, Enniskillen born actor, Adrian Dunbar gives his views on a range of issues including the future or Northern Ireland
Paul Breen reflects on his recent visit to China and his experience of helping at an animal refuge centre.
I am in Chengdu at dawn – a city in the west of China that’s so green I can hear birdsong through an urban space of 20 million people as I sit at my hotel window, overlooking a world that’s mostly still asleep. Down below, a few people are starting to move, to begin their daily routine. Probably much the same as back home, these are the labourers, the cleaners, the hospital staff, the people who rise early for the first shift of the day – just the very same as people might be doing in the South West Acute Hospital.
John Hume often famously said that “you can’t eat a flag”. Many years later, his son of the same name explained what his father meant by that. And it was simply that: “Real politics is about living standards, about social and economic development. It’s not about waving flags at one another.”
In his column, on the day of the general election, Paul Breen urges everybody to use their vote, no matter who they are voting for.
Every time a major election comes along, there seems to be a discussion on why the British Labour Party don’t field candidates in Northern Ireland.
