Ireland 2009, Reds still under the beds

Last week I was in my local newsagent. One particular headline grabbed my attention. The Catholic Voice asked was Labour anti-catholic. The newspaper has only recently started but the title is well known from religious publishing in other countries. A quick glance over the main story and I quickly saw that that august organ was setting out its concerns at Ruairi Quinn’s view that the non-denominational patron Educate Together should be permitted to become patron of more schools. As someone who is a member of another patron Co Wexford VEC, I don’t know why a catholic newspaper has no problem with my secular patron body but is concerned enough by Educate Together to use it as a stick to beat the Labour Party with.
Thankfully not everyone in the Irish catholic church doesn’t share the concerns of the “Catholic Voice”. Dr Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin seems to be of the view that its not in the interest of the catholic church to hold on to patronage of schools where many parents do not subscribe to catholic values. On the face of it I don’t see a huge amount of difference between the effect of what Dr Martin proposes and the reality that Ruairi Quinn points out that new schools need to be built in expanding communities and these have to have a patron and if a Christian church is not available then who plays that important role. It’s not as if potential patrons are knocking on the department’s door everyday! Ruairi has recently highlighted the penchant of Opus and Knights for departments with a social role that give them control over Irish society.

The article has more of a hint of a red scare about it. Appropriate that it targets Labour almost 40 years on from the 1969 General Election where the Irish right smeared Labour candidates. The then Agriculture Minister mohair clad Neil Blaney said” labour members ranged from pseudo-intellectual Marxists, Maoists, Trotskyites and the likes who have emerged from the sidelines to pick off the flesh of the Irish people”.
Local Government Minister Kevin Boland concerned at the gutting his cabinet colleague Charles Haughey was getting at the hands of Connor Cruise O’Brien said Labour wanted to seize peoples property, savings and land. Justice Minister Michael Ó Morain who subsequently quit a day before the arms crisis broke said “Brendan Corish was a mere puppet of the modern Marxist elite and of the new left wing political queers who have taken over the Labour Party from the steps of Trinity College and RTE”. Sean McEntee, ironically the Cruiser’s father in law said “Labour stood for the red flames of burning homesteads in Meath”. A Mayo candiate said Labour would permit abortion, divorce and it would be “great for the fellow who wanted a second wife every night”. A Sligo candidate said Labour would tear down every crucifix in the state.
Lynch distanced himself from all of this by canvassing every convent in the country, re-assuring rural and traditional Ireland that FF could be trusted with the important decisions. As a teenager I remember walking home from mass after the 1977 election rout in the company of my father and a FF supporting neighbour. The conversation quickly turned to politics, the delight of Lynch’s victory was only surpassed by the eclipse of Labour in particular the defeat of our local Labour TD Justin Keating who I was informed was a “card carrying communist.” In retrospect I suppose there was no point being a communist unless you had the card to prove it! Keating had been over whelmed in the media by rising prices. He was also singled out by FF supporting miners and prospectors over the Bula affair and his strict conditions on developing any hydrocarbon fines.
It worked then but it won’t work anymore. The population are better educated but also who remembers communism? Red scare is a waste of breathe and that’s a problem for our opposition. They cannot dismiss Labour nor our ideas. They cannot use the tactic to obstruct useful developments like schools nor accountability on matters such as industrial schools. So buy the Catholic Voice, any Labour member should take this type of attack as a compliment and a glimpse back to another age.

Tough time for Wexford’s free sheets as recession bites.

Every town has its free sheet newspapers. As a medium it thrived during the Celtic tiger era. Every enterprise looked for advertising in the local print media and there was plenty of customers willing to pay for ads. Wexford saw 2 such enterprises open for business South East Voice and County Wexford Free Press. Both gave an outlet for a more personalised agenda than currently seen in the local print media. The South East Voice regularly ran items on what it regarded as local scandals. It quietly closed its doors in Autumn and ceased printing. I’m genuinely sorry that it’s finished up. As a publication it was open to any politician who sent in a press release not just local but national as well. The most popular page was always Beat on the Street where it reported forthcoming local social events. It always gave any local politician who went to it an airing on any issue. When I was chairperson of TLC the paper was particularly good in raising the issue of school buildings and government neglect of schools. I remember in the run in to the Local Elections 5 years ago they reported a vox pop and favourable mention was given by me and when I read that I knew I was doing well. I wish the lads behind it well and I’d be delighted if it came back on the shelf.
The other tabloid free sheet the County Wexford Free Press has also weathered a storm. 2008 saw the death of one of its founding fathers, Liam Lahiff. Later many of the building ads, ever present since its inception, disappeared as builders and tradesmen cut back. This has forced a reduction in the number of pages and a reduced print run as the publication struggles to stay afloat. Publication once fortnightly, alternating with the Voice, is now less frequent. A reduced rate card aimed at tradesmen has been introduced and I hope it works for them.
It’s style is unique. Apart from one main current item on the front page and Johnny Roche’s thought provoking opinion column, much of the content reflects an older Wexford that many in the town might not now believe once existed. As someone once pointed out to me “Most locals mentioned in its columns have long since gone to their eternal reward, just make sure Joe they aren’t writing about you next week!” Add in the quirky but clumsy political column with its poor spelling (the author’s surname rhymes with spell check!) and folksy old time nous and it’s easy to see why there’s a reduced appeal to both young and new comers to our town. Jack O’Leary and Liam Gaul both produce excellently researched articles for these alone it deserves to survive as it’s title and style is a link to a long-ceased publication of the same name that published from almost the same location.
Publications like these do add to the diversity of the media and at a time when independent local papers like the Echo are selling out to national titles and even in some cases ownership passes out of the state there is a place for this type of free sheet. The town needs a diverse media owned and accountable locally. Lets hope that continues.