Organization: Rohm and Haas Company
Date: Monday, 13 Apr 1992 17:42:19 EDT
From: Aengus Lawlor <RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic
Subject: Re: Suze / Ireland / Support for paramilitaries
 <1992Apr12.215550.14214@agora.uucp>

In article <1992Apr12.215550.14214@agora.uucp>, trifid@agora.uucp (Roadster
Racewerks) says:
>
>I challenge people like Holohan to go to the local library and read the most
>main-stream of the *Dublin* newspapers, if they want the real news from
>"home".
>I'm sure the folks in Ireland can take over and tell us all which are the ones
>most likely to express the sentiments of the majority of the Irish themselves

Actually, Mark Holohan has been quoting from some Northern Ireland papers,
but whether these are from articles reprinted in the Irish Echo, etc, I
couldn't say.

I think you'll find that the Irish Times, for example, also treats the IRA
and other groups in Northern Ireland, very seriously, yet a great deal
more 'sympathetically' than many posters in this group.

By sympathetic, I don't mean that the journalists in D'Olier St. are all
crypto-Provos, but that they are viewed as a group that have serious aims,
and are not just 'mad bombers'. They're continuing existence is not the
result of some perverse 'hooligan element' in Northern Ireland society,
but is in part a reaction to the continuing injustice in Northern Ireland.
I expect that Saturday's and today's IT will contain serious analysis of
the change in tactics involved in bombing infrastructure, and the timing of
this weekends bombs, and whether the 'mistake' in the financial district
is likely to have any effect on future IRA activities.

None of this will in any way glorify the IRA, but it is serious, in-depth
coverage of a serious problem facing Ireland and Britain.
The Irish Times always had the reputation of being a "unionist" paper
(it was also a "protestant" paper, because they meant the same thing),
and also treats the Unionist position sympathetically, and it often
carries pieces by and about Unionist figures, whether politicians or
not.

The Sunday Tribune will have some rather pious commentary by Vincent Browne
about a United Ireland not being worth even one life, (though he never
suggests that the Union with Britain isn't worth even one life), and it's
not unlikely that it will have to choose between in depth analysis of the
UK election results, and in depth analysis of the recent bombings. (I don't
want to appear too harsh, but the ST seems to be seriously stretched and
it's current financial traumas don't bode well for the future. Last week
it apologised for referring to Michael Noonan in a report on the Beef
Tribunal, when the Minister in question was John Bruton. It admitted the
article was based on an article in an other paper. It seems the ST journalists
rely on the Irish Times for this coverage, and didn't attend this session
themselves!)

>And if you go to Ireland, go with no pre-planned itinerary of only "friends"
>of
>the "friends" who filled your ears with tales of the IRA. The current crop are
>not much like the heroes of the WWI era. Go with an open mind and open eyes. I
>already knew most Irish were pretty tired of the IRA, but I was surprised at
>the depth of anger against them expressed in the papers and on the radio.
Well, you shouldn't have spent so much time listening to Gay "Daily Express"
Byrne! :-)

>(Didn't see any TV...spent all my spare time behind the wheel.. And I *loved*
>driving in Ireland. But then, they drive a lot like me... :-)
>
>Suze
Aengus
--
RBYAML@ROHMHAAS.COM                    Aengus Lawlor
RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET                   (who used to be ALAWLOR@DIT.IE)
"How about some of that famous Dublin wit, Barman?"
"Certainly, sir. Would that be Dry or Sparkling?"