Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible.
-From Anam Cara by John O’Donoghue.
Everyone is an artist. Each person brings sound out of silence and coaxes the invisible to become visible.
-From Anam Cara by John O’Donoghue.
The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today
Michael Commane
A positive word goes a long way. It’s nice to be told you have done a good job.
In tomorrow’s Gospel (Luke; 2: 22, 39, 40) we read that the child Jesus “grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.”
I went into journalism at a relatively older age. I was 48 when I got a job working as a subeditor in The Kerryman newspaper. It was all new terrain for me and naturally I was nervous, maybe even frightened in the job for the first few months.
Along as working as a subeditor I began writing a weekly column for the paper. It was something I enjoyed doing. It entailed going around to villages in County Kerry and chatting with those who were not the usual suspects. I stayed away from all the so-called important people. It was most enjoyable.
When the piece appeared in print I’d be like a child wanting to read it, and checking too to see was it okay. It was a busy newsroom, the editor was a great newspaperman. I think you could say he was flamboyant and certainly did not suffer fools easily.
On one particular Friday on leaving the office he came over to me and said he had enjoyed reading my column and that he thought it was well written.
That’s over 20 years ago and I can still remember his saying that to me. I was delighted with myself. I was new to the job and had little or no confidence in myself. Those words of the editor that day have stayed with me. At the time they gave me a great fillip.
It’s been a good lesson for me.
I’m old enough to remember different times, different experiences, times when the wisdom was that children should be seen and not heard and should only speak when they had been spoken to.
We are fortunate to live in different times. To listen to the stories of children when they come home from school these days is heart warming.
In tomorrow’s Gospel we read that God’s favour was with Jesus. Surely that’s meant to be a template for all of us, for all our children, indeed for all human beings, for all God’s creatures. How can we read those words and allow what is happening in so many parts of the world right now? Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia.
Every evening on our television screens we see people, adults and children being brutalised, being killed.
How can those victims feel they are favoured by God?
They can’t and who is responsible for that?
In the days leading up to Christmas a young man,
who murdered a woman, used foul language in court when he realised that the Court of Appeal was not going to reduce his detention term.
On reading his case I discovered he was a drug addict as were his parents. Not for a moment am I saying that we are not responsible for our actions but I do know that when we feel favoured by other people, when we feel recognised and appreciated we have a far better chance of handling the turmoil that life can throw at us.
When our environment is pleasant and kind we naturally have a better chance of being pleasant and kind people.
If I could genuinely believe and indeed accept that God loves me wouldn’t I be a far better person?
We are still in the season of Christmas. It’s the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, whom Christians believe is the Son of God.
It’s custom and practice at Christmas that we kneel in front of the crib and pray. This year we’d do well to pray for all those who are disrespected, brutalised and killed. Our prayer, liturgy, religious ceremonies, must always complement our concern for those in need and trouble. May 2024 be a kind year for all of us but may it be particularly kind to those who are victims of violence and terror.
It is a wholesome practice to kneel at the crib, provided we also show respect and reverence to our fellow human beings, whoever they are and wherever they are. Remember, a kind word can work wonders.
Kind words, compliments, words of support, especially to the downtrodden can genuinely work miracles.
The violence being inflicted by the Israeli Army in Gaza is a shame on the world.
Yesterday the IDF said it: “regrets the harm caused by an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) strike that killed dozens of people in the Maghazi refugee camp in the centre of Gaza earlier this week."
"Regrets the harm” - it must be the three most cynical and objectionable words spoken by a democratic government in a long time.
It seems life is cheap to the Israeli government.
So too with the wars in Ukraine, Somalia, Yemen, everywhere. Where is the United Nations? All those officials are on significant salaries. What are they doing?
And we all know who is profiting from all these wars.
The link below is from yesterday’s Guardian.
Two great European statesmen died over the last two days, France’s Jacques Delors died yesterday and Wolfgang Schäuble from Germany died on St Stephen’s Day.
Delors, born in 1925, was president of the European Commission and was one of the most influential leaders in European affairs. His dream was for unity and peace in Europe. He created a single market a that made the free movement of persons, capital, goods, and services within the European Economic Community (EEC) possible. He also headed the committee which proposed the monetary union to create the euro.
Wolfgang Schäuble was Born in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1942. He was a lifelong member of the CDU. He was president of the Bundestag between 2017 and 2021. Schäuble was the longest serving member of any democratic German parliament.
He was a strong advocate for the European Union.
He served in many German ministries, including Finance.
Schäuble was one of the architects of the smooth unification of Germany.
In 1990 at the age 0f 48 he was the victim of an assassination attempt as a result of which has left paralysed and was wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life.
Delors and Schäuble were two powerful statesmen who were architects for European harmony and German unity.
“The loss to Sweden is fully emblematic of what is happening to our great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden.
“Many of our players were openly hostile to America. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE. Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!! MAGA
Donald Trump offering ‘heartfelt' commiserations to the United States after they were beaten in a penalty shoot out to Sweden in the World Cup. Trump was particularly sarcastic to Megan Rapinoe after she missed her penalty.
This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.
Michael Commane
According to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) a shortage of GPs in Ireland is posing a real risk to the health system in the State. With our population growing and people living longer there is naturally a greater demand on GP services.
There are approximately 3,500 GPs in the country and there is need for an extra 1,500 between now and 2028.
It’s easy to complain and I am extremely proficient in the art. But this week I want to stand up and sing the praises of the work GPs and their staff do.
I have had reason to attend a GP clinic in West Kerry over a number of occasions during the last few weeks.
To my surprise I discovered the GP Visit Card may be used at a GP clinic other than that designated on the card. And that’s a fabulous facility. I presume the same applies for people with Medical Cards. Why does the same system not apply in the world of dentistry?
On the four or five times I attended the GP I never had to wait more than five or 10 minutes to be seen. It was always easy to make an appointment.
Any time I phoned I was never asked to press one for this, two for that and three to give my PPS number and date of birth.
The two GPs could not have been nicer and kinder. There was a third doctor in the practice, who is a trainee GP and he too was friendly and pleasant.
I had an ultra sound in a hospital on a Wednesday. That afternoon the GP phoned me with the result.
I was struck by every aspect of their behaviour but what probably shone out most for me was their genuine care. In my short time in the waiting room I saw how each person was treated with respect. It was very noticeable.
It was exactly a similar experience with the receptionists and nurse.
Honestly, I was bowled over by it all.
On my last visit, the doctor suggested she print out the results so that I could give them to my own GP. I called down the next day for the receptionist to give me the envelope containing the printout of the lab results. And she did it with a smile.
The GP service I’ve received over the years is second to none. The system has changed over time but the basic idea of the family doctor being near at hand is a fabulous service. They are the first port of call when we fall ill. It’s important that we realise how fortunate we are to have such a system in place. We need to cherish it. Of course there can be problems with it, there are people who have had bad experiences with their GPs. GPs, like every other group in society, are not perfect. Who is?
I didn’t leave them in a Christmas box. Maybe I should have. I can still do it.
Happy new year to all readers of this column and I hope 2024 will be a kind and pleasant year for all of us. In China it’s the year of the Dragon.
On this day, December 26, 1991 the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union met and formally dissolved the Soviet Union.
On the same day, this time in 2004, the final run-off election in Ukraine was held. The election was carefully observed by international monitoring teams.
History plays tricks with all of us.
Happy, peaceful and, indeed, holy Christmas to all readers of this blog.
“I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.”
― Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
It is day 670 of the war in Ukraine. Israeli Army (IDF) has been bombing Gaza 60 days.
The two words ‘Far Right' are appearing more and more often across all media platforms. It can be difficult to understand what exactly they mean. Is there any difference between the far right and the far left.
Is X, formerly Twitter, now a space for the ‘Far Right? Probably. A headline in today’s Sunday Independent runs: 'Elon Musk’s Twitter has always been a sewer, says Varadkar.’
And it’s probably a fair description of the particular medium.
The rise of the Far Right in world politics was preceded by its development in the Catholic Church, which first began to show its ugly head 30/40 years ago.
In the current edition of the free sheet Alive! there is a picture of Elon Musk with the headline on the story: ‘Elon Musk calls out on abortion’.
The short news story reports how Musk has been speaking out against abortion and birth control for some time. Linking birth control and abortion seems an odd juxtaposition.
It’s interesting that Alive! did not tell its readers that Elon Musk has 11 children with three different women. Isn’t that another juxtaposition of simply sloppy journalism. Nor is there a mention of how he treated his Dublin workers when he bought the company.
The lead story on the same page runs: 'Abortion advocate Liam Neeson to read Advent Meditations on Catholic Prayer App.’
On page 8, which seems to be an ad, the headline runs: 'You can block evil by prayer! Place your hands on this map of Ireland every day and pray the prayer below!’
On the opposite page there is an article about a law firm saying that hate speech bill will apply to companies.
At the bottom of page 1 of Alive! there is the following sentence: The content of the newspaper Alive! and the views expressed in it are those of the editor and contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Irish Dominican Province.
Is it not the purpose of a newspaper to tell the news in an unbiased fashion? Opinion pieces in a fair and open newspaper are but part of the newspaper, at least in democracies.
What actually is the connection between Alive! and the Irish Dominicans? How many Irish Dominicans approve of Alive!?
Exclamation marks play a significant role in the free sheet Alive!
Just as there is a great divide in society between the ‘Far Right' and society in general, so too does the same divide exist in the Catholic Church.
Yesterday I sat beside a dying man and read out loud a Psalm. There were just the two of us in the room.
I was wondering about life and death, his life, my life. Later that day I was thinking of the rules of different religions/churches.
One huge mystery.
Kenmare native Bernard Looney, who resigned as CEO of BP last September over ‘serious misconduct’ related to his failure to disclose past relationships with colleagues, is about to be £32.4 million poorer in a clawback clause.
Airbnb has agreed to pay £576 million to Italian authorities to end a tax dispute that boiled over last month when the country’s public prosecutor ordered funds to be seized from the holiday rental platform.
In the meantime over one billion people have not enough to eat.
Something wrong somewhere.
Michael McDowell’s opinion piece in The Irish Times yesterday. It’s a powerful piece, daring too, comparing the actions of the IDF with the behaviour of the German Army in Eastern Europe in the 1940s.
As I watched footage of Palestinian men of all ages stripped of their clothing and blindfolded, with their hands tied behind their backs, being herded on to open lorries by masked Israeli soldiers, feelings of revulsion and amazement welled up within me. Where had I seen similar images before?
The obvious answer was in grainy footage from eastern Europe in the early 1940s depicting helpless and terrified Jews being rounded up for extermination. The visual images were so strikingly similar that I wondered whether the IDF was not itself mindful of the impression they would make in the minds of the wider world.
In both cases, great efforts were made to ensure that such images were suppressed. But the images from Gaza, although quickly deleted, escaped military and political censorship, and were visible online to the entire world.
Those men were undoubtedly being prepared psychologically for in-depth interrogation by Israeli army and civil intelligence specialists, who would use torture and ill-treatment to identify Hamas targets whether among them or still at large.
I wrote here on October 11th, at a time when the IDF assault on Gaza had not yet commenced, that Joe Biden – who was then signalling strong military support for Israel – had “the lives of tens of thousands of people in his hands and he must take the responsibility if he transfers them into the cupped hands of Netanyahu”.
Was what has happened since foreseeable? Let me quote that article again: “There is a risk that Netanyahu will unleash such terrible destruction by air and land that tens of thousands of innocent humans will die, hundreds of thousands will be made homeless, and millions left with no social infrastructure, water, electricity, sewage, gas or access to food or health facilities.”
That is exactly what has happened. You did not need to be clairvoyant to see what Netanyahu was planning to save his political skin. And I also wrote that if it did happen “all of Israel’s western supporters will share the blame”.
The sheer foreseeability of what has happened and what is happening robs Biden’s current handwringing of all credibility. We recently welcomed him to Ireland as a man who, among other things, wore his Christian values on his sleeve and who understands loss, as a result of the tragic deaths of his close family members, something he often refers to when consoling victims of gun violence.
But his reputation for decency seems hollow as we see children, women and non-combatants slaughtered in their thousand by Netanyahu’s soldiers and airmen. Biden sees exactly what we see. He should have foreseen exactly what was so easily foreseeable. If he cannot understand his own personal responsibility for what is happening in Gaza now his fitness to govern is the issue.
The same applies to some European states. They can sanction Putin but they can’t sanction Netanyahu. British Tories were baying for the cancellation of street protests and demanding the arrest of those who chanted for Palestinian freedom. Britain pathetically abstained on the recent UN Security Council resolution that Biden vetoed. The world spoke clearly in the UN General Assembly.
I have graphically predicted in the Seanad what would happen once the northern area of the Gaza Strip was destroyed; destruction of the remainder of Gaza; the mass round-up of civilians; the awful process of separating men from women and children (another chilling historical echo); use of terror and torture to gather intelligence from male captives; identification of those considered to be senior in the Hamas hierarchy; their possible trial or even summary execution.
Does anyone seriously think that the repugnant Hamas ideology will be extirpated by arresting 1,000 members of the Hamas hierarchy and imprisoning them or executing them?
Do intelligent Israelis not see that they are, in the words of the Old Testament, now sowing the wind and will reap the whirlwind? International sympathy – much deserved after the Hamas atrocities on October 7th – is not merely ebbing; it is vanishing. What are the chances of survival for Hamas’s hostages in a prolonged meat-grinder onslaught on the remainder of Gaza?
Right-wing Zionist rejection of a two-state solution now openly embraced as Israel’s national policy is a slap in the face for all of us who have attempted to hope for a long-term solution to the Israeli-Arab question.
Creeping annexation by settlement of remaining Arab lands in Palestine is now seen as the naked policy of Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners.
When challenged on October 19th about Ireland’s past failure to beat the drum loudly on the creeping annexation of the West Bank, the Tánaiste remarked: “Saying it is creeping annexation is shameful.” Perhaps the scales are now falling from his eyes.
Below is the opening paragraph of the Author’s Note in Rory Stewart’s most recently published book, ‘Politics On the Edge’
It must give courage to those who wish to criticise in a fair and honest manner the organisation to which they belong.
A whistleblower’s lexicon?
“Facts, narration, prejudices
Many colleagues will be angry with what I have chosen to include. And with reason. All professions expect colleagues to be discreet about their experiences within the workplace. MPs are often proud of their records in government and their roles in parliament, and many will be hurt that I have criticised things which they valued deeply. Some will feel I am unfair bitter and ungrateful.”
This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column.
Michael Commane
Friday, December 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, was the first time in my life that I sat in front of a television screen for two hours forty minutes watching a Mass from a Catholic Church.
It was the funeral Mass of Shane McGowan in the church of St Mary of the Rosary in Nenagh, County Tipperary. The officiating priest was Fr Patrick Gilbert, who is the pp in Nenagh.
Can anything ever be the same again in the Irish Catholic Church? Here we are, in a more or less shambolic state, churches emptying by the hour, fewer and fewer weddings taking place in churches, children not being baptised and in the blink of an eye a church in Co Tipperary is the talk of the town, indeed, of the world. RTÉ News Channel, Sky and BBC carried it live.
Okay, it was the funeral of a world famous pop star, it had all the drama that that entails. Many of the great and good were there. But there was far more to it than that.
It was an occasion of prayer, people gathered in God’s name. It was a genuine attempt linking the God beyond us or ‘out there’ and the God ‘in our midst’ with words, music and dance. Fr Gilbert did a brilliant job in choreographing the Mass from start to finish.
It was a Eucharistic celebration, where people genuinely praised God in word, song and dance. Isn’t that what the seven Sacraments are about, making real the incarnation, making the life of the God man Jesus Christ run live through our veins?
How often do we go to liturgical celebrations where we are bored? How often is there complete disconnect between people and priest? What is happening liturgically in the Irish Catholic Church right now is bleak.
It was all different in the Church of St Mary of the Rosary for Shane McGowan’s funeral Mass.
Can ever again priests dictate to people how a funeral or wedding Mass is to be conducted? Of course there are protocols to which we have to adhere but meaningless rules and regulations are part of the reason why the Irish Catholic Church is where it is today.
Not everyone can speak like Shane’s sister Siobhan or his wife, Victoria Clarke. My heavens, did they pull you into their words.
I did not think it appropriate for someone reading a lesson to address the congregation on completion of the scripture reading. Nor was I impressed with the antics of another reader while he was reading. But they are small issues looking across the entire canvas.
The dancing at the end of the Mass happened so naturally, spontaneously too. They were celebrating the life of the mortal remains of the man in the wicker coffin but they were also celebrating resurrection.
Words from Fr Gilbert: ‘Your life gave growth to so many of us Shane, and your bright light gave salvation to our often dark and empty skies.
‘Not the end, not the end, just remember that death is not the end. Rest in peace Shane.’
Interesting that this happened in Ireland on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
According to a report from Dublin City University 33 per cent of Irish journalists have been threatened with legal action over the past five years.
BBC NEWS last evening showed three soldiers of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) kick and hit with their rifles a Palestinian journalist while he was on the ground. It made for disturbing viewing.
It was a far cry from the words we hear every day from IDF personnel when they are explaining how they are doing everything to avoid civilian casualties.
But so is the case in all war, wherever it is and whatever the cause.
War brutalises people.
Yesterday in Brussels the European Union moved a step further in granting membership to Ukraine.
By coincidence or fate today is the 82nd anniversary of the day German troops murdered 15,000 Jews near Kharkiv in Ukraine. December 15, 1941 is etched in the collective memory of th people of Ukraine.
And on this day in 1961 Adolf Eichmann was sentenced to death after being found guilty by an Israeli court of crimes against humanity against the Jewish people.
History.
An economist on an RTÉ Radio 1 programme said yesterday that €25 billion worldwide will be wasted this Christmas.
We in Ireland will waste over 100,000 tonnes of packaging this festive season.
This is a court report that appeared in The Irish Times yesterday.
There’s so much of the human condition in the story. A ‘wholesome’ man struggling to make a few bob, the naivety of a small time hustler, a good father with two autistic sons. And all tempered by the demon drink. Then there is the big corporation who uses the simplest of tricks to catch him.
Judge Orla Crowe has to be commended for her kindness and wisdom.
A Dublin man who sold 81 Android TV boxes also known as “firesticks” or “dodgy boxes” has been given an 18-month suspended sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Noel Robinson (50) pleaded guilty to possessing the boxes, which contain protection-defeating software, in his home at Le Fanu Road, Ballyfermot, on February 14th, 2019.
At an earlier hearing, the court heard that these android devices unencrypt the Sky network to allow the user get Sky on their television for free.
Yesterday, Judge Orla Crowe accepted that Robinson had an unblemished record previously and had been a law-abiding man.
She further accepted that he had no trappings of wealth and although he had an addiction to alcohol at the time, he has not drunk since February 2020.
The judge said Robinson had no previous convictions and has not come to garda attention since.
She said he had a lot of support and there were a lot of people relying on him.
Judge Crowe imposed an 18-month prison sentence which she suspended in full for three years on strict conditions.
Garda Charles McPartland told Patrick Jackson, prosecuting, at the sentence hearing, that the boxes can circumvent the subscription that Sky clients would usually have to pay of €126 per month.
The prosecution claimed the offence left Sky Broadcasting at a potential loss of €102,060, based on 81 potential customers who might have otherwise brought Sky subscriptions.
The court heard that in January 2019, a member of Sky’s anti-piracy investigation team identified a profile on the Adverts website selling android TV boxes to provide free subscription TV.
The ad was placed under the name ‘Robco’ but when the investigator phoned, the seller gave his name as Noel and provided his own address.
The Sky investigator then arrived at Robinson’s house and bought an Android box for €150.
Gardaí got a warrant to search the house on February 14th and Robinson co-operated fully and made full admissions.
Gda McPartland agreed with Keith Spencer, defending, that the quality of the “firesticks” or “dodgy boxes” is often poor.
“They buy these sticks and put them in the back of their telly. But very often, those people would simply not be able to afford a Sky subscription,” counsel said.
The court heard that gardaí examined Robinson’s PayPal account over two years and saw it contained $50,000.
However, Gda McPartland agreed that the profit made by Robinson amounted to €13,625 which was withdrawn from his AIB account.
Some of this €13,000 was for legitimate items he was selling, including remote controls, and the rest was “squandered on drink”, the court heard.
The prosecuting garda said there was “a certain level of naivety” in that Robinson gave his own name and address to buyers on Adverts.
“He had a totally unblemished record and led a wholesome and law-abiding life before this,” said Mr Spencer, giving the court a bundle of letters from friends and family testifying to Robinson’s good character.
Counsel said Robinson has two adult sons with autism and a third son who works as a successful chef and attributes his success to his father’s support.
The court heard that Robinson ensures a daily consistent routine for his two sons with autism and has been a pillar of support for them in times of stress.
Mr Spencer said that his client has no trappings of wealth and spent any profit he made from the dodgy boxes on drink.
However he said this case spurred Robinson to change his ways and he hasn’t had “a drop of drink” since February 2020.
Robinson has a potted but consistent work history including working in sewers, picture framing and warehousing, the court heard.
This week’s Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column. Michael Commane December 8 was the traditional start to the Christmas season. It wa...