Church’s hidebound rules will only drive people away

This piece by Kathy Sheridan in The Irish Times today. It needs to be shouted from the rooftops.

The energy emanating from the Athlone assembly of the Catholic faithful seemed hopeful – but for whom? 

When the lay membership of any church feels obliged to prioritise compassion and inclusivity in the demands of its hierarchy and then expresses surprised gratitude for being heard, the bar seems comically low.

For those wobbling on the margins, neither in nor quite out, it’s the silly own goals that come to mind.

Ten years ago, I was assigned to cover the funeral of Barney McKenna, the last of the original Dubliners ballad group.

McKenna was 72 and the congregation crammed into St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Trim, Co Meath, led by McKenna’s siblings and partner along with President Michael D Higgins, reflected the years totted up by that generation.

Most would have gone home or for a bracing beverage of some kind after the Mass but since the Meath diocese forbids eulogies inside the church, they felt bound to walk or limp to the cemetery instead to hear McKenna’s old brother-in-arms, John Sheahan (72) eulogise his gentle-natured friend.

It was a sorry spectacle. While the 72-year-old president took shelter from the chilly April rain under the undertaker’s gazebo, other older people had to pick their way through sodden clay and around gravestones to seek a safe footing near Sheahan as he struggled to make himself heard in the drizzle.

McKenna once explained to him, said Sheahan, that “holding a plectrum is like holding a fledgling bird. If you squeeze it too hard, you’ll choke it, and if you hold it too gently, it will fly away, so it’s somewhere in between”.

Surveying the damp and shivering old mourners forced by diocesan policy to leave the shelter of the people’s church to hear a moving and respectful eulogy, it seemed that McKenna’s analogy could as easily have been applied to the church.

In what universe of compassion and inclusivity could that scene have made sense? My report described the mood among mourners as “fractious”.

Some weeks ago, that memory roared back to life – but too late sadly – when I arrived, eulogy in hand, at a different church in the same diocese, for the funeral of a family member. Having listened in the preceding days to hundreds of moving testaments of his many remarkably discreet and surprising kindnesses, it seemed appropriate that some should be included in a short appreciation by a relative in the church.

The officiating priest had put out the word that he wanted to talk to me. He was standing beside the hearse where the coffin lay waiting to be carried into the church. Without a perfunctory “sorry for your loss” he declared that no eulogies were permitted in this diocese, asked to see the speech anyway, flicked officiously through the pages, pronounced it to be indeed a eulogy – ie bad – but agreed (with himself) that he would read parts of it, described as “remarks” from the family, before mass began. All the while a large crowd of mourners eyed us and the coffin in disbelief. Then he went away with my pages.

It’s fair to say that our deceased relative would have found the entire scene hilarious. But observers of my generation were not amused. More pertinently for the church, the large groups of protective young people around us were stunned.

Clearly the debate is more nuanced than a flat ban or facilitating a free for all. Paragraph 382 of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal: “At the funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind”. The bishop of Meath has endorsed that, rigorously.

He must feel vindicated when he hears of eulogies and altar offerings being egregiously abused elsewhere, the most recent being when the deceased was described as a “f**king legend”, and the offerings included a screwdriver, a torch and a banner with the words,“You know the score, get on the floor, don’t be funny, show me the money.”

Yet for the majority of mourners muddling through a haze of shock and grief, eulogies represent something complementary to the death and resurrection liturgy, a comfortingly familiar relative or friend with relatable things to say in a solemn setting about a dear one’s footprint on earth.

Funeral negotiations are delicate by definition. The bereaved are exhausted and nerves are fraught. The wise officiants – and there are some – seek a middle path in what they know are simultaneously the worst days of a family’s life and the church’s best – potentially; a rare opportunity to demonstrate that longed-for compassion and inclusivity to strangers entering its doors.

A model for grown-up discussion was articulated some years ago by Fr Joe Mullan, a Dublin diocesan priest, after a famously lively funeral. “To forbid someone speaking seems unnecessary to me, harsh even; why not allow one of the community to speak about the deceased and the way in which their life was God’s gift to the world. The length of the address, the choice of person to deliver it and the general tone can all be discussed often with some pretty firm guidelines laid down.”

Why poke a terminally weary faithful in the first place? What’s the use of hidebound rules if there is no one left to abide by them?

 

Symbolism of today’s Kaliningrad, yesterday’s Königsberg

The latest EU sanctions against Russia involve not allowing certain goods travel through EU member State Lithuania en route to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Russia has informed Lithuania that there will be severe consequences for this latest action.

Lithuania is a member of the EU and Nato, and the lead Nato troops in the country are the Bundeswehr, German troops.

Until 1945 Kaliningrad was Königsberg - a German city, the home of Immanuel Kant (born April 22, 1724).

Russia has direct access to the city, which has a population of 500,000, through the Baltic.

This is a most serious development and the world must surely be holding its breath.

Yesterday the first of Germany’s howitzers arrived in Ukraine.

The howitzer made by Krauss-Maffie Wegmann and Rheinmetall is one of the most powerful artillery systems used in modern warfare.

That German howitzers are in combat against Russian artillery on Ukrainian soil sounds unthinkable.

Kaliningrad may have changed its name from Königsberg but right now there is so much of what is happening in Ukraine that is steeped in history, in names, in battles. This time it is all turned upside down, with Russia as the aggressor and Germany on the side of the free democratic world.

The perfect time of year to take to the bicycle

This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

It’s that time of year when even the most disinclined cyclist is tempted to dust the cobwebs off the saddle and take to the roads.

Cycling gives us a great opportunity to see the beauty right in front of us. On a quiet country road, especially at this time of year, we pick up smells and sounds we might otherwise miss. The bicycle too is a great place for thinking and formulating our thoughts.  Albert Einstein admitted that he had some important thoughts on his Theory of Relativity while cycling.

While our roads are not up-to-speed in favour of two-wheelers, there were never so many bicycle lanes in the country.

However poor the bicycle infrastructure is in Ireland may I make an appeal to all road users, please go out of your way to be extra careful these days when out and about on our roads. I’m calling on all road users, cyclists, scooterists, motor-bikers, car, truck and bus drivers, pedestrians too.

 

I have had three near misses on my bicycle this month.

I was cycling down a road with a slight gradient, maybe travelling at 20 km/h when a van passed, driving so close to me that I could actually feel it. I caught up with the van at the next traffic lights. In the gentlest of words I pointed out to the driver how close he came to me. He immediately got into a rage, ‘effed and blinded me out of it’ and screamed that I should have been cycling on the cycle path. There was none.

Some days later a medium size van came far too close to me for comfort. I think I was on his blind spot and he simply did not see me. And that can easily happen.

The Road Safety Authority recommends drivers give a space of one metre in speed zones of 50 km/h and 1.5 metres in speed zones of over 50 km/h when overtaking cyclists.

My other near mishap was with my fold-up bicycle. The bolt or pin that holds the locking device together dislodged while I was cycling. By a freak and an extraordinary moment of great good fortune the bicycle managed to stay together. It was only when I stopped did I notice that the bolt was missing.

It’s always important to check your bicycle before heading out but with a fold-up it is even more important, making sure the mechanism that clasps the bicycle together is in proper working order.

Never cycle without a properly fastened helmet and a hi-vis jacket. And never dare cycle a bicycle without properly working brakes. I can never understand why lights are not built in to bicycles when they are being manufactured. 

A bicycle is the perfect mode of transport to make the best of warm days and nights under our intermittent cloudless skies. If you are hesitant to take to the roads on a two wheeler why not get yourself a three-wheeler. I’ve spotted a number of tricycles out and about on our roads. They are a great idea for those who might not feel safe or confident on a bicycle.

 

A bicycle or a tricycle can be a great metaphor to tell us all to slow down, tóg go bog é.

The danger of a single story

"Power is the ability not to just to tell the story of  another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person.”

- Nigerian novelist, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In her Ted talk about cultural stereotypes Adichie describes a phenomenon she calls ‘the danger of a single story’.

“Show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become."

Damning report of clerical child sex abuse in Münster

A damning report of clerical child sex abuse has been published in the German diocese of Münster. The independent report was carried out by the University of Münster

The diocese lies in the state of North Rhine Wesfalia and includes an area which has a significantly large Catholic population.

The study covers the period between 1945 and 2020. In that period 196 clerics sexually abused over 600 children. But there are hints that there could have been between five and six thousand under-age young people abused by clerics.

The report has received much publicity in the German media over the last number of days.

The current bishop of the diocese is Felix Genn. He admits failures had been made and criticised previous bishops in the diocese. He also said that he is part of the organisation from which the perpetrators came.

But Genn says he won't be resigning in light of the report, which criticises the way he dealt with sexual abuse.  The bishop has stressed that he never attempted to cover up any of the wrongdoing.

Preaching in a language that makes sense

The Thinking Anew column in The Irish Times today.

Michael Commane

While I was  sitting at the hospital bedside of an elderly woman, she received a text message from one of her grandchildren. Having read the message she looked at me and said how the world had changed since she had been a teenager. We agreed that young people today have great opportunities. She asked me – in something of a rhetorical question –  if it was all for the better. That led to an interesting conversation about the pros and cons of the times that are in it. We  agreed that there’s never a paradise on earth.

Later that day I was listening to RTE Radio 1’s Liveline. The topic was transgender issues and how we discuss them, and how language is being changed. The programme morphed into a discussion on many aspects of gender. 

I have no difficulty  in admitting that I am at sea when it comes to many of these topics. I was back thinking of my earlier conversation with the elderly sick woman and wondering what she might have to say on the topic being discussed. 

And while all these conversations are happening our churches are emptying. Large numbers of people have distanced themselves from institutional religion.

Tomorrow is the feast of the Body of Christ. It comes after the feasts of the Trinity, Pentecost, Ascension and the great feast of Easter. There are many threads going through all these rituals but they all place great stress on community. 

There is emphasis on the mysterious reality of three persons in one God and on how the historical Jesus always emphasised the importance of community. In tomorrow’s Gospel (Luke 9: 11 - 17) Jesus feeds five thousand people with five loaves and two fish. It turns out they all have enough to eat and not only that but “when the scraps remaining were collected they filled the twelve baskets.”

In that same passage the disciples had earlier suggested to Jesus that he send the crowd home. But he was having none of it. Jesus wanted to be with his people. He wanted to break bread with them. It is camaraderie at its best. It’s easy to picture Jesus there with his team befriending those who had come to listen to him talk about God. And ever since Easter Sunday we have been made aware of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, a unity of persons so perfect that it is one God –  but really beyond our understanding.

Pope Francis has on many occasions stressed the importance  of priests celebrating Mass in a meaningful and prayerful manner and preaching in a language that makes sense. Right now churches are being closed down, the numbers of Masses across the country are being scaled back by the week. 

Why have people, young and not-so-young, stopped going to church, why have they stopped participating in the Eucharist? There is a myriad answers and none of them is simple. But to say that people have lost the faith does not convince me. Every day I see the idealism, the goodness, the quality of young people.

And if these people have turned their backs on religion, might it not be time for churches to ask if they are speaking a language that makes sense to the world of today?  For instance, I doubt that Jesus was wearing an alb and chasuble when he fed the 5,000 people. And on that point, theologian Liam Walsh in his book The Mass Yesterday, Today… & Forever’ ) writes that we must protect our liturgy not only from unbridled piety but also from authoritarian manipulation.

I’ve already said I find much recent discourse difficult to comprehend. But when I read tomorrow’s Gospel,  I am also reminded  that Jesus put no preconditions whatsoever on any of the 5,000 people with whom he broke bread. And in  sitting down and sharing a meal with them, he shared his life with those people. It’s clear that they appreciated what he was saying and enjoyed listening to him. He created friendship and unity between them and him. The bread that we break at the Eucharist is both a sign of our unity with one another and God and it is also a means of bringing about union and companionship among us.

The war in Ukraine, the breadbasket of Europe, is the antithesis to everything that tomorrow’s feast is about.

“I am the living bread come down from heaven, says the Lord. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever.” Alleluia.

Johnson has only one interest - himself

This from yesterday’s Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/16/boris-johnson-rwanda-asylum-seekers-win-byelections-survive?CMP=share_btn_link

 

County councillor who spent some time in Tallaght

The death of Noel Collins has been carried across many Irish media platforms. The piece below is from Tuesday’s issue of The Irish Times.

It refers to Mr Collins studying for the priesthood.

Noel spent some time with the Dominicans in Tallaght in the late 1950s. On leaving the Dominicans he wrote a critical account of his experience in Tallaght, which was published in the News of The World.

Ireland’s longest serving public representative Noel Collins who died on Monday repeatedly topped the poll for over half a century despite shunning modern technology such as mobile phones and computers.

The Cork County councillor was in his late 80s when he died at Oaklodge Nursing Home in East Cork. He was a public representative for 55 years, representing the people of Midleton and East Cork on Midleton Urban District Council and Cork County Council.

“Noel was unique,” said his close friend, Cllr Michael Hegarty of Fine Gael. “He never drove, he had a landline but never gave out the number, he never had a mobile phone or used a computer and shunned social media and yet he topped the poll time after time in East Cork in the county council elections.”

Cllr Collins was, to use his own phrase “of Blueshirt stock”, but he went his own way as an Independent in 1969 when he failed to get a party nomination for the next general election.

“Noel used to use a typewriter for all his official correspondence to the council, but he would send handwritten letters to his constituents – he did a pile of work in his own quiet way for people who might be going through tough times – he was like a charity worker at times,” said Cllr Hegarty.

A past pupil of Mount Melleray, Cllr Collins studied for the priesthood but abandoned the clerical life to go working in the UK as a professional social worker before returning to Ireland to work in a grocer’s shop in Midleton from where he began his political career in the late 1960s.

But as fellow Independent, Cllr Alan Coleman recalled, Cllr Collins never quite left his clerical training behind him. “He used to come in with his motions typed out and he was a brilliant orator as he proposed his motion – it was like listening to a bishop and you would listen through to the end.”

While he was deeply religious, Cllr Collins was far from judgmental and had a commitment to social justice that made him popular across the chamber, garnering him huge respect from political colleagues and great affection from council staff.

“I think everyone in the council, colleagues and officials will be very sad at Noel’s passing because there was great affection for him – I will remember him as a close friend and colleague but more so, he will be remembered for the great work he did for the people of East Cork and beyond,” Cllr Hegarty said.

Mayor of Cork County Cllr Gillian Coughlan led the formal tributes, pointing out that the late Cllr Collins was “the longest sitting councillor since the establishment of Cork County Council and the longest serving public representative in the State”.

Cllr Coughlan pointed out that when Cllr Collins celebrated 50 years of unbroken service as a public representative in 2017, his fellow councillors remarked on his unwavering dedication to social justice, his uncanny local knowledge and his generous support and advice to younger councillors.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin also paid tribute to Cllr Collins, whom he described as a friend whose great commitment to helping the less well off and his tireless dedication to fighting for the most vulnerable in society were qualities that he greatly admired.

His body will be lying in repose at the Church of the Most Holy Rosary in Midleton after 6pm on Tuesday, June 14th with requiem mass taking place at 11am on Wednesday, June 15th after which his remains will be transferred at his instruction to University College Cork for medical research.

If Putin succeeds in his terror what then?

If President Vladimir Putin tells the word that the reason for his ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine is to protect its borders and to make sure the security of Russia is protected why then is the Russian Army blowing to smithereens the eastern part of Ukraine, which Putin claims is pro Russian?

When this evil war eventually comes to an end and if Putin succeeds in his terror, what then?

In the meantime Alexei Navalny has been moved to an unknown penal colony.

How is is that tyrants, dictators and despots so often  win the minds and hearts of so many people?

The link below is about Navalny’s disappearance.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/14/alexei-navalny-has-gone-missing-from-russian-prison-say-allies?CMP=share_btn_link

Open debate is always a must for organisations

This week’s INM/Mediahuis Irish regional newspapers’ column

Michael Commane

Over the June bank holiday weekend two newspaper articles attracted my attention. One was a lengthy article about pending reforms in how judges are to be appointed and the other, a much shorter piece on debate in Fianna Fáil.

At a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting there had been talk about the future of the party and how it needs to respond to issues and people’s concerns with their policy. Former minister and Laois - Offaly TD Barry Cowen used the words ‘mission’ and ‘vision’, and said: ‘We need policies and values that can roll off the tongue when we are talking to members of the public.’ 

It’s clear there is an ongoing discussion in the party as to what it is about and how it can communicate its vision to the public.

There has been much debate on the need for reform in how we appoint judges in this country.

Recently retired High Court judge Bernard Barton was criticised when he said that judges live in a ‘rarefied’ atmosphere and it is ridiculous to suggest that they know what the public is thinking.

Everyone agrees reform in the appointment of judges is long overdue. Chief Justice Donal O’Donnell, while welcoming the new Bill as a step forward, has issues with some of its proposals. But there is discussion happening and the public has the possibility of keeping abreast with the discussion.

Both articles tell the story of Fianna Fáil and the judiciary discussing how they can make themselves fit for purpose, how they can inspire and impress so that the public will have confidence in them.

Sunday, June 5 was the feast of Pentecost, one of the great feasts in the Christian calendar. The feast is celebrated across Europe in a much bigger way than it is here, indeed, there’s not a whisper of it in Ireland.

Over the June bank holiday weekend, which coincided with the feast of Pentecost, I found myself asking what did Pentecost mean for the Christian population in Ireland. It is an important feast. It is all about the spirit or presence of God in the world. The feast of Pentecost is about inspiration. 

Yes, I know the Catholic Church is at present conducting a synod but really, who among the general Christian community is aware of what is happening?

Is there anywhere across the church where there is open, real and animated discussion about how we perceive God to be present in the world about us? Do our bishops inspire or enthuse us in such a way that we can confidently speak about what it means to be people who believe in Pentecost?

Is there ever a hint of discussion as to how bishops are appointed in the Catholic Church? It is all veiled in top-level secrecy. It is the exclusive domain of the clerical caste. That is not working and must change.

Over that weekend I discovered how little Catholics know or understand about Pentecost. We know less about how bishops are appointed.

It explains a lot to me why we are where we are.

One picture is still worth a thousand words

Even with the advent of digital photography and Photoshop it’s still often said that one picture is worth a thousand words. The saying was invented by advertising executive, Fred R Barnard. To promote his agency's ads he took out an ad in Printer's Ink in 1921 with the headline “One Look Is Worth a Thousand Words” and attributed it to an ancient Japanese philosopher. 

Six years later he changed it to “Chinese Proverb: One Picture Is Worth Ten Thousand Words,” illustrated with some Chinese characters. The attribution in both was invented; Barnard simply believed an Asian origin would give it more credibility.

Former CIA agent Levinson’s words come to pass

"Russian organised-crime leaders, their members, their associates, are moving into Western Europe, they are purchasing property, they are establishing bank accounts, they’re establishing companies, they’re weaving themselves into the fabric of society, and by the time that Europe develops an awareness it’s going to be too late."

- Former FBI special agent Bob Levinson

Levinson disappeared on March 9, 2007, in Kish Island, Iran, while on a mission for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Man arrested in Iran to be sent to Rwanda on Tuesday

An Iranian man who illegally entered the United Kingdom in recent weeks is to be sent to Rwanda next Tuesday on the first deportation flight to the central African country.

The Iranian was a policeman in the Islamic Republic. He had been asked to open fire at a demonstration, refused and was subsequently arrested. Eventually he fled Iran and made his way to England.

Yesterday a high court judge ruled that a controversial deportation flight to Rwanda that was due to take off early next week can go ahead.

Mr Justice Swift refused to grant interim relief – urgent action in response to an injunction application made by four asylum seekers facing offshoring to Rwanda.

Lawyers acting for the asylum seekers and the groups had argued the policy was unlawful and sought the urgent injunction to stop next week’s planned flight and any other such flights ahead of a full hearing of the case later in the year.

The decision will not stop individual refugees from further legal challenges to their removal to Rwanda, or a judicial review of the policy – which Justice Swift said could take six weeks.

The remarkable story of Vladimir Putin’s rise to power

Catherine Belton joins Dan on the podcast to discuss the remarkable story of Vladimir Putin's rise to power. 

After working from 2007-2013 as the Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times, Catherine's career has offered an exclusive insight into the workings of Putin's Kremlin. 

Her book 'Putin's People' is packed with interviews with the key inside players, uncovering fascinating details about how Putin subverted Russia’s economy and legal system and extended the Kremlin's reach into the United States and Europe. 

It's a story of billions of dollars being siphoned out of state enterprises, murky networks of operatives and the suppression of independent voices.

 https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/dan-snows-history-hit/id1042631089?i=1000563188277

Scholz stresses that Russia has broken all the rules

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on a visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday said Russia had broken all the rules that countries had been abiding by for decades.

He assured Baltic State leaders that Nato is fully committed to defending every centimetre of the alliance’s territory.

The three Baltic countries all border Russia, and Latvia and Lithuania border Russian ally Belarus. 

Thousands of Nato soldiers, including German troops, are stationed in the three countries.

Scholz assured his listeners "we are demonstrating unity in the face of Russia's aggression.”

The Chancellor spoke of the allocation of €100 billion to the German Army, saying that would help it become the strongest armed forces in Europe and the most powerful in Nato.

He  said that support for Ukraine would be provided for as long as it was necessary.

Angela Merkel defends her legacy on Ukraine

This is an extract from DW - Deutsche Welle.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel  defended her legacy on Ukraine on Tuesday in her first major interview since leaving office.

Alexander Osang interviewed the former chancellor for Berlin Television. The venue was the Berlin Ensemble Theatre.

She refused to apologise for her policies towards Moscow, but stressed there was no justification for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

"It's an objective breach of all international laws and of everything that allows us in Europe to live in peace at all. If we start going back through the centuries and arguing over which bit of territory should belong to whom, then we will only have war. That's not an option whatsoever.”

Merkel on Putin

The former chancellor insisted she had not been naive in her dealings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Diplomacy isn't wrong just because it hasn't worked," she said. However, she never believed he could be won over by trade promises. "Military deterrence is the only language he understands," she said.

Merkel recalled a 2007 summit in the Russian resort of Sochi. Knowing Merkel's dislike of dogs, Putin famously encouraged his own dog to approach the German chancellor.

Putin told her that the collapse of the Soviet Union had been "the worst event of the 20th century.” 

Merkel replied that for her, as someone who grew up in communist East Germany, the fall of the Berlin Wall meant she could live her life in freedom.

It was obvious already, she said, that there was a "great discrepancy.”

Putin, she said, "hated" the Western model of democracy and wanted to "destroy" the European Union.

Merkel on opposition to Ukraine joining NATO

Merkel defended her opposition to Ukraine and Georgia joining Nato in 2008. At the time, Nato pledged that the two countries would join at some point in the future, but declined to trigger the "membership action plan" to let them join the alliance within five to 10 years.

In April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hit out at Angela Merkel and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, suggesting their move had been a clear "miscalculation" that emboldened Russia. The Ukrainian president made his remarks after alleged human rights violations by Russian forces came to light in Bucha.

In Tuesday's interview, Merkel said that if Nato had granted them membership, Russian President Vladimir Putin could have caused "enormous damage in Ukraine." As it was, Russia invaded Georgia less than six months after this declaration in Bucharest, instigating Europe’s first war in the 21st century.

Merkel also cited systemic corruption issues in Ukraine as reasons to block their membership.

"President Zelenskyy is bravely fighting against corruption, but at the time, Ukraine really was a country governed by oligarchs, and so there you can't just say 'ok tomorrow we'll take them into Nato,'" she said.

"It was not the Ukraine that we know from today. It was a Ukraine that was very, very divided politically," she said. "It was not a stable democracy. And when you accept a country into a Nato — and the Membership Action Plan is the clear precursor to that — you have to know that we are then prepared to really defend such a country if there is an attack.”

"Secondly, I was very sure … that Putin is not going to just let that happen. From his perspective, that would be a declaration of war."

Merkel on the Minsk agreement

Merkel said the Minsk agreement — a 2014 deal she helped broker to ease the conflict between government forces and Russian-backed separatists — while not entirely palatable to the Ukrainians, bought important time for Ukraine.

"This agreement was commended, approved, welcomed by the EU. This agreement has been incorporated into a UN Security Council resolution, so it has the character of international law," she said.

"At the time, it brought calm and gave Ukraine, for example, a lot of time, seven years, to develop into what it is today.”

Merkel conceded that there could have been a harsher response to Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, but that serious steps had been taken. She cited Russia's exclusion from the Group of Eight (Leading Industrial Nations) and NATO's stipulation that members spend 2% of GDP on defence.

By the end of her chancellorship, it was clear that Russia was moving in the direction of conflict, she said. And that Russia was finished with the Normandy format talks [between Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia].

"I don't blame myself for not having tried hard enough," Merkel responded to a question about how much she could have done to prevent an escalation with Russia. "I tried sufficiently. It is a great sadness that I did not succeed.”

Merkel on the US and Nord Stream 2 sanctions

The former chancellor also touched briefly on the controversial, now-mothballed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, largely to criticize the US decision to sanction entities over their participation in the gas project.

"Basically, they sanctioned us as allies because of a different political opinion.”

"What we have learned is Putin attacked Ukraine even though Nord Stream 2 was not yet in operation. So he didn't wait, but that this was a geopolitical goal of preventing a country on his doorstep from choosing another model, which he describes as Western-influenced.”

She said that given Russia’s proximity to Europe, it was politically impossible not to trade with each other. However, she denied believing that she thought it was possible to transform Russia through trade.

Merkel's government has been criticized for steering Germany into its considerable dependency on Russian oil and gas. Yearslong construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline to carry Russian fuel directly to Germany was officially completed and ready to begin operation before it was put on indefinite hold by current Chancellor Olaf Scholz just days before Russian forces launched their assault in February.

But Germany's "appeasement of Russia" runs through decades of German foreign policy. The clearest shift in stance came under former Chancellor Willy Brandt, a Social Democrat, whose 1969 "Ostpolitik" was reviled by conservatives. Successive West German and reunified German governments, including those headed by Merkel, then continued to pursue a policy of constructive cooperation.

'Idiocy of managerialism hits Dublin Airport'

The article below is Fintan O’Toole’s column in The Irish Times yesterday.

The piece highlights what happens when management is incompetent.

How 0ften across industry and in the church is management responsible for incompetency and inefficiency?

Invariably it is almost impossible for the 'foot solider’ to stand up and say stop to management

Fintan O’Toole

If you find yourself going quietly mad in a queue at Dublin Airport, do not despair. Your experience is not, as you may be feeling, tortuously absurd and devoid of meaning. It demonstrates, rather, an important fact of life: the idiocy of managerialism.

As you barely shuffle along, fill your time by asking yourself one of the great existential questions: how is it possible that those who run a public service on behalf of the Irish people seem not to understand Irish people at all?

The meltdown at Dublin Airport is not just about bad management. It’s about what happens when technocracy loses touch with common sense, when analytics take the place of knowledge.

If, during the Covid lockdown, you asked any random Irish person what would happen when it was possible to travel freely again, the answer would have been emphatic: there will be a rush for the exits. You knew this. I knew this. Your goldfish knew it. But Dublin Airport Authority, with 13 executives paid more than a quarter of a million euro a year each, didn’t know it.

What we knew and they apparently did not is that the desire to be elsewhere is an essential aspect of Irishness. Wanderlust looms larger in the national psych even than lust itself. You don’t have to look at statistics to realise this, but they reinforce what we already understand about ourselves. Which is that the desire to sojourn off the island has risen relentlessly with prosperity.

Rain-washed rock

In 2016, when the economy was still recovering from the great banking crash, we took 7.4 million trips overseas. In 2017, it was 7.9 million. By 2019, the year before Covid, it was 8.8 million.The equation is simple: more money plus the experience of living on a rain-washed rock plus a diasporic identity equals an unstoppable impulse to travel. The lockdown was thus like forcing a particularly springy Jack down into a very small box. Lift the lid, and it was going to leap out at you.

The reserves of cash built up during the enforced austerity of Covid-19 were always going to flood outwards through the airports. This demand is partly about holidays and our pale-faced craving for the sun. But it’s also about the basic facts of Irish demography – an awful lot of us have families living in other countries.

There are about a million Irish-born people living abroad. There are 650,000 non-Irish nationals living in Ireland.

These are not just figures – they are granddaughters in Sydney, sisters in Poznan, mothers in Lagos, sons in London, grannies in Timisoara. This is the Irish family. It is an institution that requires regular injections of aviation fuel to keep it alive. Anyone whose head was not completely stuck in a haze of the higher eejitry knew that Irish people really, really missed their families during lockdown. Zoom did not dull the craving for contact – it kept the appetite for physical connection keen and fresh. “See you soon” was our common prayer.

The airlines understood this. Aer Lingus, for example, projected as far back as last autumn that it expected to return quickly to 90 per cent of its 2019 level of demand. But the €250,000-a-year experts at the DAA knew otherwise. As the DAA’s chief executive, Dalton Philips, told the Oireachtas transport committee last week, “Every credible ratings agency, analyst and industry body had predicted that, during 2022, traffic levels would remain at less than 70 per cent of 2019 levels.”

We’ve been here before, and with much more serious consequences: every credible ratings agency, analyst and industry body knew in 2007 that the Irish banks were sound as a cathedral bell. What chance did mere common sense have against that shield wall of professional assurance?

It’s that word “credible” that gives the game away. What is credible to overpaid managers is what overpaid agencies and analysts – people just like themselves – tell them. What’s not credible is what everybody else knows to be true – in this case the overwhelmingly obvious reality that, as soon as they could do so, Irish people would start to travel abroad again in large numbers. There would be a huge pent-up demand to see family, to take the kids to Disneyland, to wander in old cities and lie on warm beaches.

How could intelligent professionals, whose sole job is to facilitate international travel from Ireland, not know this? You have to generate a great cloud of unknowing to convince yourself that the “credible” analysts are right and that everything we know about Irish people is incredible.

What is the point of having managers at all if all they do is obey what analysts and “industry bodies” tell them, if they are so lost in groupthink that basic, common sense judgment becomes impossible? It would be easier – and a lot cheaper – to run the airport with an algorithm.

And do we not see yet again in this debacle proof that paying public employees too much money does not buy better management? It buys people who are so out of touch with ordinary Irish realities that they cease to understand even the most basic things about the people they are supposed to serve.

Fanaticism destroys all sensible debate

This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column.

Michael Commane

Before the massacre at the elementary school in Uvalde I never heard of the place, indeed, the first few times I saw the word in print I could not even pronounce the name of the US city. The name is on all our lips now, we all know about the unspeakable crime that happened there.

 

Within days of the killings, the National Rifle Association (NRA) held its annual meeting in Houston, which is a mere 350 kilometres from Uvalde. 

Former US president Donald Trump spoke at the meeting on the Friday after the Tuesday massacre.

He used Christian imagery and vocabulary. He mentioned Satan and spoke about evil people burning in the fires of hell. Tough talk. No mention of limiting the sale of guns. He wants teachers to carry guns to shoot the baddies.

Subsequent to the murders in Uvalde I heard a man on RTE Radio 1 talk about how divided the US is. He lives in the US and said it is becoming difficult to talk to anyone as the conversation can easily move to politics and people are now so divided it’s best to say nothing.

I have been struck by this divide and there are aspects of the division that I find intriguing.

Of course it’s always dangerous to generalise but what’s happening in there US is puzzling. Those who are in favour of loose gun laws and support the death penalty are most likely opposed to abortion. 

On the other hand, those who are for the tightening of gun laws and opposed to the death penalty are most likely in favour of abortion. Right now that’s the social/political reality and I don’t quite understand it. Wouldn’t you think that someone in favour of the death penalty would support abortion? 

And someone opposed to the death penalty would be opposed to abortion? But that does not seem to be the way it works.

Certainly the fanatics on both sides don’t paint any sort of pleasant or nice picture. Anytime I experience fanaticism in any form or shape I’m reminded of the wisdom of St Thomas Aquinas, who stressed that prudence is the most important of all the virtues. It’s a thought worth remembering in these times when nasty fanaticism is being pushed in front of our noses.

I can’t help but think that the art of communicating with one another is breaking down. We are caught up in some sort of web where we have preconceived ideas on people and ideas and seem unable to talk rationally with those who have different views and opinions than we have.

Observing Donald Trump I keep thinking that he has mastered the art feeding people with hunches. He knows how to inflate the bias or prejudice that might easily lie dormant in many of us. 

In other words, he knows the right buttons to press when people are vulnerable, people who are easily influenced by agenda theories. He is a genius at sowing seeds of suspicion, maybe even lies. He is a demagogue.

Mark Twain said: ‘A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.’

The day the UK decided to stay in the EEC

On June 5, 1975 the citizens of the United Kingdom voted on whether or not to remain in the European Economic Community, as it was then called.

The results were made known the following day, June 6. Sixty-seven per cent of those who voted voted to remain in the EEC.

And on this day, June 6, 1944 Operation Overlord was launched, the Allied invasion of Normandy. The first day of D-Day. Approximately 160,000 Allied troops in 5,000 landing craft crossed the English Channel.

Ukrainian delegation to meet Pope Francis

This from yesterday’s Guardian

Pope Francis said on Saturday he would meet soon with Ukrainian officials to discuss the possibility of a visit to their country.

Francis disclosed the coming meeting in a question-and-answer session with children in one of the Vatican’s main courtyards, Reuters reports.

A Ukrainian boy named Sachar asked him: “Can you come to Ukraine to save all the children who are suffering there now?”

The 85-year-Francis, who has been using a wheelchair because of knee pain, responded that he often thought of Ukrainian children and wanted to visit the country but had to choose the right time.

“It is not easy to make a decision that could do more harm than good to the rest of the world. I have to find the right moment to do it,” he said, according to a Vatican transcript of the event. He did not elaborate.

“Next week I will receive representatives of the Ukrainian government, who will come here to talk, to talk even about an eventual visit of mine there. We’ll see what happens,” Francis said.

Train crash in Germany as new cheap fare is introduced

Four people were killed and at

least 30 injured in a rail crash in Bavaria yesterday. The accident happened between Garmisch Partenkirchen and Munich, which was the  destination of the regional train operated by State owned Deutsche Bahn.

The accident happened just as passengers in Germany were offered a €9 monthly ticket for public transport under new measures introduced to tackle inflation, while petrol prices have been cut by up to 30 cent a litre.

The new fare, which is available from June to August and cannot be used on ICEs - Germany InterCity trains, is valid on local and regional buses, Underground and trains across the country.

The measure is subsidised by €2.5 billion of State funds and has already been snapped up by seven million people.

However, there are fears the cheap ticket will push too many people onto a public transport system that could struggle to cope with sudden surges.

The train involved in yesterday’s crash is said to have been crowded with passengers availing of the new cheap fare.

Pictures that tell how badly an airport is managed

While approximately 1,400 passengers missed their flights last Sunday and thousands more were  subjected to appalling conditions at Dublin Airport, Dalton Philips CEO at the Dublin Airport Authority availed of the airport’s 'platinum service' security line when he flew to Saudi Arabia for business last Saturday night, before the delays arose.

Passengers who pay the €295 for the service get driven to their flight. Mr Philips stressed he used this rarely and did not take it at the weekend to avoid delays, as he did not expect them. He abandoned the trip, where he was scheduled to meet DAA International, which has four operations in the Middle East, once he was told of the problems in Dublin.

Many of the staff who work in security at Dublin Airport earn €14.14 per hour.

The pictures coming from Dublin Airport tell the tale of how the airport is managed.

It is also being reported that the airport is shoddy and dirty.

Gobbledegook from Dalton Philips, CEO at DAA

 This from Miriam Lord in The Irish Times today:

“We had a manual process failure,” explained the outgoing CEO. “What you call a hand-off failure. We cracked that anomaly.” This is the way people who earn about €366,000 a year talk.

Boris Johnson’s conjuring tricks work for a while

Camilla Cavendish writing in the Financial Times Weekend says of Boris Johnson and the Conservative party:

“The conjuring trick has worked for a while. The country is bored of partygate, but will not be easily be won over with reduced energy bills.

"Contrary to appearances, most Tory MPs do still have consciences: now is the time to examine them."

Interview with Lester Piggott after his first Epsom Derby win

This is a link to a short interview with the young Lester Piggott on winning the Epsom Derby on Never Say Die in 1954.

It’s a lovely story and shows an interesting side to the 18-year-old, who was to be come one of the greatest ever flat racing jockeys.

The late Vincent O’Brien on one occasion said that Lester was not just the finest jockey of his generation but most likely one of the best ever.

Note how in the clip he says he did not celebrate after the race, instead went home and took an early night. But in fact what he did do after that great win was to go home and work for his father.

https://youtu.be/OxtX2X0_2RM