We just got back from a fascinating couple of hours (fascinating anyway for political junkies like me and Suzie) at the Northern Ireland Assembly in Stormont, courtesy of MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Barry McElduff and our home exchange partner, Jude Collins, who arranged the meeting). Barry McElduff is a member of Sinn Fein and a former IRA prisoner. He is a gracious, energetic, entertaining man who seems to be (and I mean this in the most positive way) a born politician, and is an unabashed Irish nationalist — his goal is one Ireland, free from all British control. But more on that later.
Stormont is located on the east side of Belfast, in a compound separated from the rest of the town. The assembly sits in an imposing building situated on spacious ground on the top of a large hill. It strongly gives off the sense of remoteness, separateness, authority, and austerity, which, for a time, was perhaps the intended effect. It was raining so a picture was not possible, but this one off of Wikipedia (by WKnight94) gives a sense of the place:
The visitor entrance is difficult to find, and we had to go through two separate security points, with two separate passes, before we could enter the building. We waited in the main hall for a few minutes, asking some questions about the Assembly to a friendly guard who was unabashedly pro-British and a unionist. Both the pro-British and the pro-Irish Republican opinions are strongly expressed inside the building.
In a few minutes Mr. McElduff arrived. He is a short, well-built man with a quick manner and wit. He greeted us heartily and suggested that we first view the Assembly in session from the public gallery. This involved yet another inspection (and another pass) before we could enter the Assembly chamber. The chamber itself is a rectangular box of medium dark wood, surprisingly small considering that the Assembly has 108 members (representing a population of only 1.5 million; the amount spent to keep up such fine buildings and grounds and run the legislative and government functions must be considerable). We were listening to a debate (which wasn’t much of a debate, really) about a committee report relating to alternative energy programs. Everyone seemed to be in agreement that biomass use was a good idea (lots of plants here, after all).
We listened for about half an hour to speakers ranging from above-average to ghastly/almost inaudible. We returned to the main hall, and were joined again by Mr. McElduff. With him were two young women, one a recent graduate from college with a degree in politics; the other, a strikingly pretty constituent of his named Sarah, was being treated to a day in Stormont by Mr. McElduff for having been the subject of the following incident in an Irish court, as reported by the Tyrone Times:
A TYRONE politician has come to the defence of his county after a judge’s remarks during the case of an innocent woman from Donaghmore.
Speaking at Monaghan District Court, Judge Sean Martin McBride branded Tyrone people “typically thick”.
The case involved student Sarah McGrath, 22, from Garvagh Road, who had been wrongly summonsed because her name and date of birth were the same as those of a woman from Newbliss, Co Monaghan, who was accused of a public-order offence. Legal technicalities meant that Ms McGrath still had to pay 50 Euros in bail to get the case thrown out of the circuit court.
However, when she explained that she and her father, who had accompanied her to the hearing, had only sterling, the judge accused her of “showing the typical thickness from Tyrone people”. The remarks have shocked and outraged many from within the O’Neill County.
Assembly member, Barry McElduff, said he was proud to be from Tyrone. Mr McElduff continued: “In the first instance it’s a serious matter when a judge speaks in this manner to a young lady who shouldn’t have been in the court in the first place. I’d like a retraction or an apology.
“Racism is outlawed and this is a form of racism and the people of Tyrone need an explanation. This is the place that was the seat of the O’Neill clan and the great Hugh O’Neill.”
Ulster Unionist MLA Billy Armstrong condemned the comments as insulting. The Mid-Ulster representative said: “As someone who is Tyrone born and bred, I was amazed at the comments from Judge Sean Martin McBride who referred to ‘typical thickness from Tyrone people.’ “This is a calculated insult to the people of County Tyrone, and if the judge had made the comments about any other group, there would be an outcry from the Human Rights Industry.
“If I recall correctly, this is the same judge who last year couldn’t spell Londonderry, and claimed to be offended by the name. Having offended the people of Londonderry, his latest comments have caused plenty of offence to the people of Tyrone, and I would suggest that if he is looking for someone to call “thick” he doesn’t need to look too far, all he needs is a mirror.
“If this is the calibre of Judge they have in the Republic, it doesn’t fill me with confidence in their legal system.”
After hearing about Sarah’s run in, we followed Mr. McElduff to a large conference room on the third floor, where a group of MBA students from Arkansas (?) had been spending the day listening to various Northern Ireland legislators. From what I could tell, Mr. McElduff was there as the Sinn Fein representative, and he gave a full-throated, yet humorous, explication of why he believed there should be but one Ireland, free of British control, the gist of which was that the island of Ireland was Ireland, not Britain, and that running two complete, separate governments on the island, one for a population of 1.5 million, and one for a population of 6 million, was inefficient and nonsensical. He fielded a number of questions from the students before we left.
At this point, we figured our tour was up, but Mr. McElduff gave us more of his time, and took us on a tour of the building. Because the assembly had recessed, we were able to go onto the floor of the chamber, and to visit the voting chambers on the left and right hand side of the room (to vote, Mr. McElduff explained, the ayes go to one side and the nays to the other side, and walk by a computer station at the front of each of the voting chambers, where their votes are registered). He also took us into the Senate chamber, which is not used as such (there being no second house), but is used for committee meetings. He explained that the chamber was modeled after the House of Lords, consistent with the original idea of the Stormont building, to make a mini-British parliament. Finally, we visited the office of the Deputy First Minister (I hope I got that title right), who is, I think, the highest ranking Sinn Fein official in the assembly (again, someone please correct me if I’m wrong).
After our tour, Mr. McElduff took us to another conference room, where he got the boys Diet Coke, and lattes for me and Suzie. Shortly after we entered the room, another Sinn Fein legislator, a very distinguished- and kindly-looking gentleman named Francie Brolly, came in, and also spent about 20 minutes speaking with us. Mr. Brolly was also an IRA prisoner, and an accomplished singer and songwriter, and had composed a famous song called The H-Block Song, referring to the buildings in which IRA prisoners were kept at the Long Kesh prison. During their captivity, IRA members refused to wear prison uniforms, believing that they should not be treated as prisoners, and so wore blankets instead, in what is referred to as the “blanket protest.” The chorus of Mr. Brolly’s song refers to the reason for the blanket protest:
So I’ll wear no convict’s uniform
Nor meekly serve my time
That Britain might brand Ireland’s fight
800 Years of crime
In addition to their passion for Irish nationalism, we learned of Mr. McElduff’s and Mr. Brolly’s second passion, Gaelic Football. This sport, which I confess I have never seen except in short highlights on Irish sports shows, appears to be a combination of soccer and rugby, in which the ball can be advanced by kicking it or carrying it, seems to be the Irish national sport. Mr. McElduff played Gaelic Football, and I believe he said that Mr. Brolly’s son was a player and is now a commentator for the BBC. Mr. McElduff is extremely proud of the Tyrone team, which won the All-Ireland Cup in 2003 and 2005. Toward the end of our visit, he gave us a beautiful picture book that he had in is office, which consists of gorgeous color pictures taken in various historic places in County Tyrone, along with the Sam McGuire GAA Trophy, awarded to Tyrone’s team as a result of their victories. He wrote an inscription in the front:
To Steve, Suzie, Will & Andrew:
Hope you enjoyed your stay here.
Tir Eoin Abru
Long Live Tyrone,
Barry McElduff
Then, in his funny way, he said, “That’s it, tour’s over, good luck!” We shook hands and left, taking one picture outside the building before we left.
We can’t explain how welcome we were made to feel, both by Mr. McElduff, his young lady constituents, and by Mr. Brolly. There really wasn’t much in it for either of them to spend the time they did with us, yet they were generous with their time (especially Mr. McElduff). He gave us an totally unique experience we will long remember, along with great insight into the Irish nationalist cause.
…
Today (Wednesday) we start a long two days of travel, entailing a train trip from Greenisland to downtown Belfast, a bus from Belfast to Dublin Airport, a shuttle bus from the airport to a nearby hotel, up at an ungodly early hour on Thursday, back on the shuttle bus to the airport, a flight from Dublin to London, a long four-hour layover at Heathrow, a flight from London to Paris, and a shuttle ride from CDG to our apartment, arriving, if all goes well, by 5 p.m. Wish us luck.
Categories: Travel -- Ireland