Two Weeks In The Life Of The Media

by Gene Kerrigan
The banning of an article on ACC and the terms of the accompanying order, the banning
of a Christy Moore song and the convulsions within RTE after the banning of an interview
with Noraid spokesman Martin Galvin have vividly illustrated the extent to which freedom
of speech is limited in this society .

Life And Death In A Traveller Family

by Mark Brennock
The McCann family have suffered the same discrimination and hardship as many other
traveller families. In addition, two of their sons have drowned and one has been killed in
a high speed car chase in the last year.

Prolonging The Agony 12

by Aileen 0 Meara
Four years after the Stardust fire, the families of the dead and the survivors have not
received a penny in compensation. The politicians said they would act quickly. They have
shown no inclination to do so. The first compensation case has yet to come to court.

The Life And Times Of Alexis FitzGerald 34

by Ronan Fanning . :',
For forty years, Alexis FitzGerald was at the centre of power in Irish politicaland econo-
mic life. He was the only person ever to be appoin ted as a special advisor to the cabinet
and that appointment hinted at the extent of his influence in Irish life,

Unseen On The Screen

Michael Dwyer previews the forthcoming Dublin Film Festival.

The Fall From Greatness 57

Jack Maloney examines the current composition and form of the great football teams of
the last decade, Dublin and Kerry,

Diary 4
As Time Goes By ' 6
Subscriptions , 29
Motoring 52
Dunphy's Diary 54
Business Forum. . . 60
Wigmore 61

AT HAM .ON THURSDAY
August 22, people were walk-
ing in and out of Gardiner
Street employment exchange
to get their dole money.
About twelve people who
looked as if they were going
to go in stopped at the gate
and waited. Another eight
stood about twenty yards
from the gate.
By 11.15 the gate was al-
most completely blocked by
twenty-five people waiting in
a queue at the gate, and a
further twelve stood nearby.
These people were travellers.
Two officials and a garda
stood in the doorway of the
employment exchange look-
ing at them.
The travellers explained
that they queued up there
every week. While other
people were allowed to walk
in and out without hin-
drance, they were made to
stand in a line outside every
week, no matter what the
weather. Sometimes the garda
would approach them and try
to get them more into line.
All travellers have to sign on
at llam every Thursday.
They are usually allowed in-
side at about 11.45, they say.
Just before 11.30 the offi-
cials and the garda began
looking at this reporter and a
Magill photographer who was
also present to record the
operation of the Department
of Social Welfare. One poin-
ted at us. Another came out
to the door to have a look.
At 11.30 - fifteen minutes
earlier than usual, according
to the travellers - they mo-
tioned to the travellers that
they were now allowed to
enter the employment ex-
change.
The officials stood in front
of us as we made our way in-
side. They said that we were
not to take any photographs
inside the building. This was
an offence under law, they in-
formed us.
Once inside, an official
said that the travellers had
not been queueing outside.
The man in charge, a Mr
O'Donnell, came out and
told us that the travellers did
not have to queue up. "If
they want to queue outside
that's their business," he said.
The travellers do not want
to queue outside. But they
are all given the same signing-
on time, and when they arrive
they are not allowed in until
most other people have left.
Mr 0 'Donnell said that this
arrangement was for adminis-
tration purposes. "What ad-
ministration purposes?" we
asked. "It suits the Depart-
ment," he said.
We asked the Department
why it suited them. They
gave the opinion that "there
is large-scale fraud going on
among people of no fixed
abode." A spokesperson said
that there were no figures
available to back up this
opinion.
The travellers that Magill
spoke to say that they are
not involved in large-scale
fraud, or even in small-scale
fraud. One said that if we
came down every Thursday
morning and asked questions
they might be let in to get
their money a quarter of an
hour early every week.
Mark Brennock
IF ONE IS PUZZLED BY
the smiles on the cunning
faces of the various drunks,
liggers and full-time free-
loaders one comes across in
Dublin's lesser watering
places, our Art Correspon-
dent may enlighten you. We
are told that this is true. We
don't want to believe it is,
but we are told it is true.
It seems that Arts (I)
Minister Ted Nealon last
week announced that a fur-
ther £35,000 of taxpayers'
money is to be handed over
to the Annaghmakerrig rest
home for the culturally privi-
leged.
(May we intervene here
with an anecdote about the
Arts [!] Minister? Once upon
not very long ago we wit-
nessed a scene involving the
Arts [!] Minister. It was in
the lobby of a Longford
hotel. Ted was bringing out a
Fine Gael newspaper at the
time. He was introduced to a
photographer. The photogra-
pher has since been appointed
a member of Aosdana, the
State Licensed Artists Group
(SLAG). He was and is noted
for the sensitivity and unique
vision of his snaps. "Have
you," said Ted, speaking
around the brush-handle-sized
cigar in his mouth, "any glam
shots? I could use some
glam shots." The photogra-
pher gulped a couple of times
and noted that it was a fine
day for the time of year that
was in it.)
Anyway, writes our Arts
Correspondent, Ted's latest
donation on our behalf brings
to over £200,000 the amount
contributed by hapless tax-
payers North and South of
the border to the welfare of
the inhabitants of the rest
home.
The rest home was left to
the nation(s) by the late
Tyrone Guthrie. It is a fine for an impoverished artist. All
establishment wherein those
of fevered artistic brow can
retreat from the cares of the
world. There they labour, or
don't labour, depending on
the mood that strikes them,
to give artistic expression to
the reality of the world which
they have left behind. Food
and lodging provided free.
In this pampered environ-
ment, goes the theory, artistic
forces will be unleashed which
will etc etc etc. We have yet
to see any evidence to support
this, but since we would be
labelled philistines if we didn't
believe it, we believe it,
honest, we do. It's called·
faith.
August 22 saw Annaghma-
kerrig's "open day", which
was as good an excuse for a
booze-up as any. Among the
artists who enjoyed the hos-
pitality of the house (spon-
sored booze) were Brian
Friel, Bruce Arnold, Dolours
Price, Donal Whelan and
Stephen Rea.
They were joined. by such
"prominent personalities" as
Tony 0 'Reilly's missus and
Eivind Bratt. Eivind Who?
we hear you say, demonstra-
ting your ignorance of the
great artistic strides which
this nation has been taking
under Ted's guidance. Eivind
Bratt, that's who. Eivind, as
everyone of artistic bent is
aware, is the ex-Swedish Am-
bassador.
A day and. extended night
of carousing, crack and exces-
sive belching was had by
many, with "sessions" all
over· the kip. Mrs O'Reilly
brought along two of her
daughters. John Meagher,
"deputy executive vice chair-
man" of Independent News-
papers, who is employed by
Mrs O'Reilly's hubby, was
there for some reason or
other, probably to bring a
touch of culture to the pro-
ceedings.
Among the current guests
of the nation at Annaghma-
.kerrig is someone who is
writing a script for Channel
4 and a BBC drama producer.
Also John O'Conor, the
pianist with the name that
looks shorter than it probably
should, .
We searched high and low
we could find were people
who can well afford their
own drink and sandwiches
and who would not be short
of the price of a B&B if they
wanted to get away from the
hurly-burly.
Could ·someone in govern-
ment please take some time
off from closing hospital
wards and have another think
about this? Gene Kerrigan
SIX FAMILIES WHO HAD
applied unsuccessfully for
Council houses were victims
of "a sick joke", The Nationa-
list reports. The paper reports
that congratulating letters sent
to successful applicants by
Deputy MJ. Nolan Fianna
Fail were tampered with and
diverted to unsuccessful candi-
dates.
Deputy Nolan said "It was
a cruel trick to lead people
to believe they had been
allocated a house when they
had not. Some of these people
live in sub-standard condi-
tions in caravans, mobile
homes and flats and were
anxiously awaiting the out-
come of the Leighlinbridge
housing accommodation [de-
cision] ."
He said that it was a pity
the perpetrator was not avail-
able to see the distress and
anger caused when he had
to tell them they had been
the victims of "a sick joke".
Suggesting "dirty tricks"
the Deputy commented "I
regard this as a deliberate
attempt to discredit me and
it is only one of a number of
incidents in recent months in
which my name has been
falsely used."
A call by Deputy Brendan
Griffin at a Tipperary Urban
Council meeting to relocate
the Charles Kickham and
Maid of Erin monuments was
strongly opposed by another
councillor, the Tipperary Star
tells us.
At the meeting, Deputy
Griffin said that the monu-
ments were being slowly
chipped away by lorries and
he wanted to avoid the des-
truction of the monuments.
They would both end up like
the Croke Memorial monu-
ment at Cashel if they were
not moved to a suitable part
of the town, he said.
Speaking against the Fine
Gael TD's suggestion, Coun-
cillor Jimmy O'Shea said he
was vehemently opposed to
'the moving of the monument.
"The Black and Tans failed to
shift the Maid of Erin so why
should the council see fit to
do so," he added.
Mystery still surrounds re-
cent "earth tremors" at the
County Sligoresort ofMullagh-
more according to the Sligo
Champion.
The paper reports that a
couple returning home from
a dance in the area, heard a
high pitched noise coming
froin the sea, "sounding like
a giant stamping his foot,"
said Michael Langton. His
companion Margaret Rhatigan
said "it sounded like a sledge
hammer banging against a
door."
"There was a definite pat-
tern," she says, "with about
a seven-second break before
each noise started again. And
this high-pitched banging hap-
pened about ten times. It
was frightening and very
loud."
Investigating the "tremors" <'.
the Department of Defence
say that there's a possibility
that a foreign submarine visi-
ted Sligo's shores.
Army intelligence have
"drawn a blank" as to what"
local people saw and heard
that night. "Something ob-
viously happened out there
but there is not enough hard
evidence to pinpoint anything
in particular. Weare relying
on the gardai to come up
with something spectacular
before we can investigate
further. Intelligence drew a
blank," said one army source.
Local politics can be a
profitable sideline, the Done-
gal Democrat tells us.
County Donegal's newly
elected local representatives
are reaping the generous bene-
fits of expenses and subsis-
tence allowances available to
them, according to the paper.
The allowances, which are
paid under the Local Govern-
men tAct 1941, are reviewed
from time to time by the
Minister for the Environment.
The last review in December
1983 fixed the travelling rates
for local authority members
at 53p a mile and a flat sub-
sistence rate of £15.40 for
members living within five
miles of the meeting centre:
According to the Demo-
crat, the allowances have re-
sulted in politics becoming a
well paid "nixer" for many
of Donegal's local represen-
tatives and for an elite group
who are on a number of com-
mittees and for whom poli-
tics has turned out to be a
real financial bonanza.
It is little wonder there-
fore, that at the recent local
election there was a clamour
.in the main parties from
people looking for nomina-
tions, the paper adds.
E.N. Kelly
 arret was chalking his cue, sizing
G up a difficult but possible pink
into the top left and the white off the
side cushion and into a cluster of reds,
so he didn't notice Jim Dooge coming
in the door of The Long Rest. I gave
Bobby the high sign and he was out
from behind the counter like fast,
feeling Jim bo's collar. Sorry, sir,
members only, that kind of thing.
The pink jangled in the mouth of
the pocket and ran back up the table,
but the white broke up the reds neatly
enough. "Go to it," said the Big Guy,
"it's yer birthday." I took one last
glance at Dooge being backed down
the stairs by Bobby, waving his free
hand and trying to explain that he was
on important state business. I was
smiling a little as I bent to pot a red
and clip the black out into the middle
of the table. I hate to do that to Dooge
- wait, let's be honest, I like doing
mat to Dooge. For the past two weeks
he's been hopping around like his feet
were on fire, trying to get to the Big
Guy with another of his bright ideas
that end up with us all looking like
mugs, and the Big Guy in particular.
This time I've got Peter Prendergast
on-side and we've managed to keep
Dooge out of harm's way.
I put the black away and strolled
around the table to meet the cue ball
coming back up to where it could see
the reds. The Big Guy didn't get back
to the table for the rest of the game.
It23wasdown,
about an hour later - I was
with just the blue, pink
and black on the table - when the two
slack-jaws came in. They came in
quietly and the first we knew of it
was when one of them gave the black
a thump with his fist and sent it clat-
tering into the blue that the Big Guy
was lining up.
"A fine example to the youth of
me country, you are," said the tall
one. "We want our money back,"
said the smaller one.
Dooge. The petty little blister had
got his revenge, blabbing on the where-
abouts of the Big Guy. I just knew
thats what happened.
"Thirty-five pounds, you bloody
hustler," said the tall one, "give it
back if you don't want your thumbs
roken."
I sighed. "Garr-et, you didn't, you
promised me you wouldn't." He
shrugged and made a funny shape
with his mouth.
I've warned him, it's not worth it,
I said, cut it out. He's weak, that way.
About ten minutes after the election
the Big Guy had a snooker table
moved into Leinster House, just down
the corridor from his office. Helps him
relax, he says, helps him think. He's
in there every chance he gets. There's
a Cabinet meeting and Barry Desmond
starts yapping out of him and everyone
knows he's going to keep at it until
the hinge on his jaw seizes up, the Big
Guy says excuse me, he has an urgent
meeting with some ACC executives -
and they don't see him for three or
four frames. (Big Guy told me once
that in two years he's yet to under-
stand one complete sentence that
came out of Barry Desmond.)
Trouble is, he's good, and he can't
resist a hustle. Someone comes to the
Dail on a delegation or just for a gawk,
sooner or later they trip over the
snooker table. Oh yes, says the Big
Guy, we got that in for the Labour
chaps, remind them of their mis-spent
youth - well, I suppose we could,
now that you mention it, though
you'll have to tell me which colour I
hit first, just let me get a club - oh,
a cue, is that what you call it? Two
games later he's a quid down and he
suggests maybe raising the stakes ...
"Thirty-bloody-five quid, you
shark," said the taller one. They
looked like Young Fine Gaelers to me.
Maybe that's because all Young Fine
Gaelers look like pigeons born to be
clipped. They were both toting snoo-
ker cues, heavy end up.
Usually I can argue the slack-jaws
out of it but this pair looked like they
wanted someone's blood (all Young
Fine Gaelers look like they want
someone's blood). So I pushed the
lightshade, hard. It caught the taller
one about an inch above the left ear.
He didn't say anything until he reached
the floor. Then he began crying. The
smaller one was saying something
about c'mon then, I'll claim the two
of yeo "Three," I said. He looked
puzzled for a second, but that was all
sorted out for him when Bobby's cue
made contact with the back of his
head.
he whole thing put the Big Guy in
T a bad mood for the rest of the
evening. I took him into the Shelbourne
and poured drink into him, but that
didn't work. He got more and more
miserable.
I took out my press clippings and
showed them to him. The one from
the Sunday Tribune with the piece by
David Andrews arguing in favour of
big pensions for ministers who already
have big salaries. Dave argues that if
we don't pay big bucks we won't
get the best talent to forsake careers
in private industry and work in the
service of the public. I love it. Unless
we lash outthirty, forty, or fifty grand
a head we won't get the kind of talent
that has brought the country to the
great condition it's now in! If we don't
shell out that kind of money they'll
all slope off and find jo bs that will
pay them as much, if not more! Where,'
I ask myself, would the likes of Michael
Noonan pull that kind of bread? Barry
Desmond? Who would pay Gemma
Hussey that order of folding green?
But the stinger is the clipping from
Bruce Arnold's column in the Indo.
. The one where Bruce argues that
teachers should not receive a pay
increase. Bruce loves teachers. Bruce
thinks we need a special calibre of
person to teach our young. Bruce is
afraid that if we pay teachers too
much money we might attract the
wrong kind of people into the trade.
Now, you put Dave and Bruce toge-
ther and even the Big Guy, for all his
problems, couldn't resist a chuckle.
After I'd jollied him for a while we
got around to talking about the ACC.
I told him, strictly on the QT, that it
was Jim Dooge who got hold of the
internal documents and slipped them
to Irish Business. Dooge wants to
mess, fair enough. Wagons fixed while
you wait.
Thehead,BigsoGuyweneeded
went
to clear his
for a walk,
across by Stephen's Green. There was
a crowd of maybe eighty or a hundred
standing in front of the Wolfe Tone
statue. At the front of the crowd
Eamonn McCann was nodding thought-
fully. "So ," he said, "all things con-
sidered, you don't hold out much
hope for an Anglo-Irish initiative?"
The statue slowly, sadly, shook its
head. "Game ball," said McCann. •
 as Michael calls the parts of Dublin 2 and 4 where they have
lived for the last "twelve years. They were hunted like
animals, says one son, Michael McCann.
Michael McCann has become an important figure in the
travelling community. He has been a major driving force
behind Minceir Misli - a travellers' rights -group - which
has grown to be a confident, articulate and well organised
pressure group since its foundation only eighteen months
ago.
Minceir Misli emerged from the Committee for the Rights
of Travellers - a group composed of travellers and settled
people: When residents of Tallaght began attempting to
remove the many travelling families who were living on the
Tallaght bypass, and when the County Council joined in
by trying to forcibly evict them, Michael McCann, Nan
· Joyce and" others felt that they needed to form a group
composed entirely of travellers in order to have their point
of view represented properly.
They have held several highly successful protest actions.
They make no apologies for their existence or for their
demands.
Like most traveller families, the McCanns always lived
together or .close together. Michael McCann lived in his
trailer a hundred yards away from his parents until he was
evicted last year by the Health Education Bureau. He
moved to the County Council-provided site at Kishogue.
The County Council had told the Supreme Court earlier in
1984 that this site was suitable for traveller families.
It is over a mile from the nearest shop. A railway line
runs along the side of it, and there is no fence to prevent
children living on the site from going on to it. Last year
bulldozers used to come on to the site from time to time,
dig holes and go away again for no apparent reason. There
is one tap on the site but the water tastes of acid. Contrary
to what the County Council told the Supreme Court last
year, the site is not suitable for travellers.
Now Michael has been told to move again. The County
Council are doing work on the site, presumably to make it
more suitable. Michael now lives on the side of the road
near the site, but the gardai have told him that he has to
move again.
Some years ago, when her husband was serving a month
in Mountjoy for begging, Mary McCann arrived home on
Merrion Road on a cold evening with her kids, some briq-
uettes and tea to find her caravan burned to the ground.
There was a stone shed where people used to undress
· before going swimming on Sandymount Strand. She got a
mattress and some blankets and moved in with the kids.
One day when she was sweeping outside the door of the
shed she was hit by a car, causing damage to the nerves in'
· her neck, as a result of which she suffers from severe arth-
ritis and her head has a permanent twitch.

t was around this time last year when she heard

that two of her sons had drowned. She had
gone to Roscommon to see a healer, who had
been born with a cross on her foot. The woman
"had healed a lot of people before, according to Mrs McCarm,
and she was almost healed herself when Michael and young
Thomas came down to Roscommon to tell her that Johnny
and Francis had drowned in the Grand Canal.
Johnny had bought his girlfriend a beautiful ring. He
was crazy about her and he wanted to get married. When
 she took a flat near Dun Laoghaire with another man he at thirty-three, is the eldest son.
took to drinking heavily. He might have been heading for Thomas and Mary McCann are going to Lourdes soon,
the cafe on Mespil Road when he fell off the narrow foot- and when they return they plan to leave Baggot Street and
bridge across the canal near Baggot Street bridge and move to Longford and Westmeath where Mary's family
drowned. come from. They hope to be able to settle there after over
Francis used to work in a petrol station on Merrion fifty years of being moved on from place to place. Their
Road, used as a training centre by the Rehabilitation Insti- three sons will probably remain in Dublin. •
tute. Once he worked in New York for six months for a
man who bred greyhounds. The man wanted to take him
back over again, but he started drinking heavily and ended
up in Mountjoy for assault.
Johnny and Francis were inseparable, and Johnny's
death sent Francis into a state of desperation. "Whatever
Johnny'd do, Francis would do the same thing," says Mrs
McCann.
The next night Francis did the same thing as Johnny. He
first took a silver ring off his finger - a present from
Johnny - and gave it to a cousin. "Give that to my mammy
and tell her I love her," he said. He went to the spot near
Baggot Street bridge where Johnny had drowned and he
lowered himself into the canal. Mrs McCann wears the ring
that Johnny gave to Francis.

is parents are lucky in the place where they live

H now. The people in the nearby florist and post

office are friendly to them, and the nuns in the
Mercy convent beside the Bank of Ireland head-
quarters are very helpful. Some of the staff in the Fine Gael
headquarters have also shown some humanity towards them
- Mrs McCann has particular praise for Peter Prendergast.
But there is also considerable hostility. They are barred
. from the launderette and some nearby shops. They have
been assaulted by barmen in Baggot Street pubs.
The youngest son, Richard, is almost seventeen, and is
in his last year in school. The next son, Thomas, is twenty-
five. He has been involved in the travellers' rights group,
Minceir Misli since its foundation, and has been accepted
to go to Maynooth College next year to study to be a pro-
fessional social worker if he can get a gran t. Michael McCann,
Charlie Haughey was shocked and
appalled at the tragedy. He walked
through the burnt out shell of the
Stardust and said that some of the
dead were known to him. He visited
all the hospitals, where many of the
victims were in intensive care. "It is
very harrowing for the parents, many
of whom live in my own parish, as it
were," the Taoiseach said.
Minister for Health Michael Woods
was one of the first public figures to
arrive at the morgue to sympathise
with relatives. Garret FitzGerald said
he was appalled at the magnitude of
the tragedy.
On the Tuesday after the fire,
politicians from all the parties as
well as churchmen of every creed piled
into Our Lady of Mercy Church,
Artane, for the special requiem mass.
There was a special national day of
mourning.
A week after the forty-eight died,
the last eight victims were buried. Six
of them could not be identified. The
politicians came to the funeral; two
Fianna Fail councillors managed to
squeeze into the front row reserved
for the immediate families of the dead.
The Tribunal of Inquiry soaked up
the publicity over the fire. The trauma
of the relatives and injured was for-
gotten as lawyers, barristers and ex-
perts sought to decide the causes.
One and a half years after the fire,
the Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry
said that the fire was "probably"
malicious. The relatives of the dead
and injured started to put their claims
for compensation together for the
.courts. It is now four and a half years
since the fire, and as yet, not one case
has come into the High Court. The
civil litigation process lies paralysed
in a complicated maze of delays over
costs, appeals over documents, defences
not being filed and solicitors with their
cases ready but reluctant to incur the
costs and work of being the first to
bring their case into court.
The list of cases due to come under
jury actions in the High Court in the
next term shows that number 883,
fifth on the list, is that of. Grice -v-
Silver Swan t/a Stardust. It is expected
that this case will be adjourned, as it
has been on several occasions before
this, and that the first case to deal
with the compensation claims for the
victims of the Stardust will not come
up until several months later.
There are 245 writs issued for the
Stardust claims. There are forty-two
solicitors acting on those cases.
Liam Lysaght & Company have 117
cases, Tony Hanahoe, of Michael
Hanahoe & Company has fifty cases,
Evanna Killeen of Killeen & Company
has eight, and the rest are divided out
in ones and twos between the other
thirty-nine solicitors.
There are six defendants: Dublin
Corporation, The State, Eamon But-
terly , Patrick B utterly, Silver Swan
Ltd and Scotts Foods Ltd.
The usual length of time to get a
case to the High Court at present is
two years, one year to go through a
system of pleadings, and one year in
the queue in the High Court waiting
for your case to come up. Most of the
delays over the Stardust cases concern
problems arising at various stages of
the pleadings, between the plain tiff
and the defendants.
typical High Court case goes
A . through several stages of plead-
ings before it gets into the queue. The
first stage is the issuing of a writ, or
plenary summons, by the plaintiff.
This is a simple document stating the
plaintiff's intention to proceed with a
case against the named defendants.
The defendant issues an appearance.
Next, the plaintiff issues a statement
of claim, a more complicated docu-
ment usually issued by a barrister,
making out the claims that the plain-
tiff intends pursuing. The defendant
issues a defence to this statement of.
claim. Following this, the plaintiff
puts in a notice of trial to the High
Court, and goes in to the queue.
If the defendant is delaying in
issuing a defence, the plaintiff can
go to court to have it issued. Also,
the plaintiff may have to appeal to
court to get the defendant to hand
over documents necessary for the case,
called notices, or documents, or dis-
covery. In the Stardust claims, there
have been delays in lodging statements
of claim, defences, and receiving docu-
ments of discovery.
Solicitors acting for the plaintiffs
are now at various stages in the plead-
ings procedure, arrdjsorne cases have
been set down for trial in the next
term. Some of the plaintiffs' cases
have been delayed because of defen-
ces not being filed, and the defendants,
principally the State and Dublin Cor-
poration, have been taken to court
by the plaintiffs wishing to acquire
At the time of the fire, medical
cards were issued to the injured for
their expenses. Since then, many of
those cards have been withdrawn.
documents that the defendants do not
wish to hand over.
The principal solicitor involved in
this delay is Liam Lysaght, whose 117
cases involve some of the more seriously
injured victims.
Liam Lysaght first came to the
attention of the relatives and injured
in the days following the fire. He
attended meetings that were being
held in the local pub, the Black Sheep.
He spoke at meetings and offered his
legal advice for free.
When the Tribunal of Inquiry was
established, the government agreed to
pay the legal costs incurred for the
relatives and appointed two solicitors
for them, Maire Bates of the Coolock
Community Law Centre, and Tony
Hanahoe, former Dublin footballer, of
Michael E. Hanahoe & Company.
Tony' Hanahoe is presently dealing
with fifty clients in the compensation
claims.
Liam Lysaght was chosen by the
relatives, many of them feeling that
they wanted to appoint their own
solicitor. When the Tribunal was over,
they felt that since he had been in-
volved in the cases, he would have all
the knowledge of the Tribunal.
In a written reply in the Dail in
Novem ber 1981, Minister for the
Environment Peter Barry, stated that
Michael E. Hanahoe & Company
received £23,620 in fees for the
Tribunal of Inquiry. Liam T. Lysaght
received £12,740. At the time some
fees were still outstanding.
Mr Lysaght took Dublin Corpora-
tion and the State to court in July
last to get possession of documents
relating to the fire advisor in the
Department of the Environment, Mr
John Connolly, and Dublin Corpora-
tion. The judge in that case gave the
State and Dublin Corporation six
months to produce the documents
that Mr Lysaght required for his plain-
tiff s case.
The issue of the delay came up in
February last, when Liam Lysaght sent
ninety of. his clients a letter seeking
£1,000 from them in order to pursue
their cases. The people involved had
no idea at what stage their' cases were
at, and why they were taking so long.
They felt that the request for payment
of this sum was unfair.
In the letter, Mr Lysaght outlined
arrangements he had made for his
clients to take out a loan of £ 1,000
from the Allied Irish Bank in Dame
Street, Dublin, which he had guaran-
teed. This loan, which was signed for
by eighty people went towards costs
incurred in preparing the cases, accor- .•..
ding to the letter.
Mr Lysaght asked his clients to
agree to the loan "immediately to
avoid any delay in the progress of your
case," and broke down the figure as
follows:
Garda report £20.00.
Barristers fees £300.00.
Doctors reports £200.00.
Engineers reports £500.00.
Stamp duties £100.00.
lt is not usual for solicitors to charge
clients for barristers fees before a case
comes up in court.
According to this breakdown, Mr
Lysaght was getting separate doctors,
engineers, and garda reports for each
of his clients' cases, despite the fact
that many of them are similar.
Mr' Lysaght told journalists after-
wards that he was out of pocket by
£60,000 as a result of the work done
on the Stardust cases so far. Many of
Mr Lysaght's clients are unemployed
as a result of the injuries they received,
and several are still attending several
doctors over injuries.
n March, John Keegan, whose two
Idaughters died in the Stardust fire,
began to make efforts to get the Star-
dust relatives committee active again.
By May, a new group of relatives, the
Stardust Victims Committee, had been
formed, with John Keegan as chair-
man. They wrote a series of letters to
politicians and the legal profession
asking for help to speed up their
cases in the courts. They got no satis-
factory answers.
The Taoiseach said he had passed
on their letter to the Minister for
Justice, Michael Noonan. The Minister
for Justice did not think it appropriate
to meet the committee. Their solicitor,
Liam Lysaght, said that the rules of
sub judice precluded solicitors from
discussing their clients' actions in pub-
lic when he was asked to attend their
meetings. The president of the High
Court, Justice Liam Hamilton, told Mr
Keegan that he would give favourable
consideration to any cases that came
up in the High Court.
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 13
 Lord Mayor Michael O'Halloran
mid a public meeting that at that
"cage, there were 129 statements of
claim outstanding. A question to the
Corporation in August returned the
information that the Corporation had
entered defences in eighty-eight cases.
The Minister for Justice had already
said that the State had entered seventy-
nine defences. Notice of trial had been
received by the State in one case star-
red in February 1984.
At the same public meeting, Michael
o 'Halloran said that the delays were
ue to the inefficiency of the legal
profession. By the following day, the
Incorporated Law Society had treated
nis remarks as a complaint. Mr Chris
~.Iahon of the Society told Magill that
they had contacted all the solicitors
involved in the cases. "There does not
appear to be any unjustifiable delay in
:he cases," he said. "The first case will
probably come up in the next term,
out how soon I do not know."
Magill contacted some of the soli-
citors involved with the plaintiffs'
es, to ascertain what stage they
ere at, and any reasons for delays.
Thomas Loomas has two High
Court cases on his books, and one has
ceen set down; he expects it to come
up next April or May.
Tony Hanahoe, who has fifty
clients, said he has no statements of
zlaim outstanding, and that alJ ofehis
cases are up to date. "Basically, there
zre a lot of people waiting for a few
solicitors to make the running. Most
of the cases will be up in November or
January. Once the first case is settled,
.::lot of points will be ironed out. But
:l.<at case could be appealed to the
Supreme Court."
~1r Hanahoe did not think that the
rases had been overly delayed, but
~~itted that they could have been
-:.::rrer organised from the start.
"If all the parties had joined toge-
~er at the start and put forward a
~;':SI case, it could all have been over
sooner."
Dominic Dowling has one client in-
Tol.ed, and says that he is ready to set
:::.1'\11 his case, but is waiting for the
:':..-sr case to be decided. Like many
solicitors with a small practice, he
could not afford to run a case in the
5.:gh Court that would be lengthy and
plicated.
He told Magill that responsibility
-o.-o!Jldhave been taken to run a single
__tion from the beginning. "The Law
Society should have taken it upon
-;:~selves to get people to run a
;-'51e action. This holding back is
serving no purpose, and it did not
-=;:efit anybody at the end of the
- om Halligan of Kevin Gaffney &
ompany has two clients with claims
;-=r.Cing. The statements of claim have
been filed, and he expects to be able
to set them down for trial in the next
term, to come up about twelve months
later. The injuries of his two clients
are not as serious as some others, and
he is waiting for someone with more
serious injuries to go through the
courts first.
Mr Liam Lysaght was out of the
country and therefore unavailable for
comment. His office confirmed that
their first case is that of Jimmy Fitz-
patrick, one of the most severely in-
jured victims of the fire. His office
also confirmed that Mr Lysaght is
appealing to the High Court to get
documents of discovery from the State
and Dublin Corporation.
Evanna Killeen, of Killeen & Co,
has eight clients in the Stardust group,
including that of one of the most
seriously injured, Lar Stout. She was
not prepared to comment on the pro-
gress of her cases to Magill, but it is
.understood that some of her state-
ments of claim for her cases are out-
standing.
Mary Bradley has one client, a case
she took over from Liam Lysaght's
office. She is aware that the case is at
the stage where it could be set down
for trial, but she has not yet received
the file on the case from Mr Lysaght.
hen the funerals of the forty-
W eight victims were over, the
newspaper reports concentrated their
attention on the Tribunal of Inquiry,
its terms of reference, and the inade-
quacy of the fire regulations.
In the community where the rela-
tives of the dead and the survivors
lived, the tragedy lived on. The victims
of the Stardust were neglected by the
official bodies who should have taken
care of their welfare, according to
Tom O'Meara, who was appointed the
administrator of the Lord Mayor's
fund for the victims and their families.
A trust was set up to deal with the
money that came from the public,
some £400,000, which went initially
to pay for headstones and funeral ex-.
penses for the families.
Tom O'Meara was one of the few
people specifically assigned to help
these people. Michael Woods as Minis-
ter for Health, sent a person for a
while to Coolock to deal directly with
claims for unemployment and dis-
ability benefit.
Despite the fact that it was not
specifically his brief, Tom 0 'Meara
became, in his own words, a priest,
psychologist, social worker and general
helper rolled into one. At the time he
was twenty years old, with no training
for this kind of work.
Nobody came to tell them where
to get help, he said, not even the
priests from the area. "They had to
look after themselves," he said. "There
were deep traumatic experiences on a
mass scale. The people need skin
specialists, psychologists, doctors, spe-
cialists in burns. They had to do it all
themselves. "
Forty-eight died. 214 suffered in-
juries, many very serious. Some 250
families were affected. The majority
of them came from one area in Coolock
near the Stardust complex, and they
were from families where unemploy-
ment was high and incomes low, and
where services in the area were already
inadequate. Of the forty-eight who
died, nine were the sons or daughters
of deserted or separated wives, and
several of the dead were parents.
The deaths in the families caused
huge repercussions, from feelings of
guilt at the deaths of the children, to
drink problems caused by the psycho-
logical traumas, to financial problems
caused by the loss of the wage-earner
in the family, to the inability to return
to work because of the grief and dis-
tress of the deaths.
In the four and a half years since
the tragedy, there are still some sur-
vivors attending doctors. John Kee-
gan's daughter, Antoinette, still attends
four hospitals, has lost the use of one
lung, and still suffers the effects of her
burns. Lar Stout, whose hands were
badly burned, receives £72 a week dis-
ability benefit, and cannot return to
work in his chosen profession as a
painter.
At the time of the fire, medical
cards were issued to the injured for
their expenses. Since then, many of
those cards have been withdrawn, des-
pite a promise at the time that they
would have those cards for a consi-
derable time. The survivors are still
appealing the decision to remove cards
from some of the people still attending
hospitals and doctors, and in a reply
.by the Department of Health to a
letter seeking the reinstatement of the
cards, it was said that the Minister was
satisfied that the arguments being
applied to the survivors of the Stardust
disaster concerning removal of their
medical cards "are fair and reasonable
and take fully into account the nature
and extent of their difficulties."
Since February 1981, families have
broken up, people have lost their jobs,
and even those not in the fire on the
night have had nervous breakdowns.'
All of this has gone on in the know-
c}edgethat nothing has been done either
to compensate them for their suffer-
ing, and more importantly that nothing
has been done to stop something like
this happening again. At least if trage-
dies like this did not happen again, it
would have meant that the deaths
were not in vain, said one relative.
he paralysis in the progress of
T their claims through the legal
system has made the Stardust victims
cynical. They doubt that anything
will be done, and feel they will never
get their compensation. This view has
been reinforced by the actions and
decisions of the courts since the fire.
Firstly, there was the decision by
the Director of Public Prosecutions
several days after the publication of
the Tribunal report, that there were
insufficient grounds to bring criminal
proceedings against the owners or
.others for a case alleging negligence
resulting in manslaughter.
Secondly, there was the renewal,
at the end of 1981, of the bar licence
for the Lantern Rooms, a section of
the Stardust complex, by the Circuit
Court to the owners of the complex,
the Butterlys. The renewal was granted
despite repeated objections from the
relatives. A High Court injunction was
granted against the picketers at the
Lantern Rooms when they opened.
In late July 1983, the owners of
the Stardust settled their Claim for
compensation for malicious injuries
·when Judge O'Hanrahan in Dublin
District Court decided that the fire
was started maliciously. The Butterlys.
and Dublin Corporation settled on a'
figure for compensation of £581,496,
after the judge had decided on a rein-
statement figure of £600,000 three
weeks earlier. The judge commented.
that all those involved in the negotia-
tions had shown common sense in
avoiding a protracted legal battle in
the court to decide damages.
The speed of this settlement was to
contrast sharply with the seemingly
never-ending delay over the compensa-
tion claims of the victims of the fire.
The delay over the compensation
claims could have been avoided. The
Incorporated Law Society, the govern-
ing body of the solicitors, could have
called all the solicitors involved toge-
ther to ensure that a single test case
was chosen, and put through the courts
in as quick a time as possible. This test
case could then have been the basis for
the settlement of the other claims.
There are six defendants in these
claims, and each is strenuously making
defences to the claims being issued by
the victims. It is normal procedure for
both Dublin Corporation and the State
to make strong defences to claims, es-
pecially when it involves a large amount
of money, as these cases will.
Liam Lysaght's office has confirmed
that some of his cases are being de-
layed because of appeals over docu-
ments of discovery, with Dublin Cor-
poration and the State. This means
that documents necessary for Mr
Lysaght's case to prove negligence on
the part of the State and Dublin Cor-
poration are not being given to him,
and he has had to appeal to the High
Court to get them. The documents in
question concern communication be-
tween the fire advisor in the Depart-
ment of the Environment, John Con-
nolly, and Dublin Corporation. Mr
Lysaght's appeal came up in late July,
and the judge ordered the State and
Dublin Corporation to surrender those
documents in six months.
Should the State and Dublin Cor-
poration be found liable, there is no
certainty that compensation will be
awarded automatically. Dublin Cor-
poration can cite Section 5 of the Fire
Brigades Act 1940 in which Section 2
exonerates their necessity to accept
liability.
The Stardust victims committee are
to continue their campaign to get their
cases over, and to get compensation.
At a fund-raising dance last week,
John Keegan thanked the many people
who had come to support them, and
who were helping them "fight the
politicians. "
The lack of action by the politi-
cians now contrasts sharply with their
concern and attention in the days after
the fire. The Taoiseach paid tribute
to the fire services, and to those who
had tried to save others. Minister for
the Environment Ray Burke pledged
speedy action on the Stardust findings.
Mrs Catherine McGuinness in the
Senate said "We must not let this be
a nine-day tragedy until some other
tragedy comes along and puts it out of
our minds."
Suggestions made by Charles Haug-
hey in the Dail on June 6th last have
not been taken up by Minister for Jus-
tice Michael Noonan. The Minister was
asked to accept in principle that he
should intervene in the problem.
Haughey asked the Minister to consider
the proposal to bring the compensa-
tion claims to the criminal injuries
tribunal, in which the State was put-
ting aside £4 million, and through a
law officer provided by the State, to
get the families compensation as
quickly as possible.
Mr Haughey also proposed that a
special court or special sitting of the
High Court be set aside for these cases,
on a once-off basis.
Michael Noonan's reply was that he
would have the questions raised,
"examined as a matter of urgency,"
and said, "but I should make it clear
that this does not imply any commit-
ment on my part.
"We all share the Deputy's concern
and we should bend our will and our
minds to seeking to solve this problem
because, as the Deputy pointed out, if
all other systems fail this House is the
last resort and the Government must
be the instrument of this House in
providin g justice. " •
1. It's Later Than You Think
There was free drink and, if you were lucky, a free copy of
Christy Moore's new album. The hacks and the heads came
to O'Donoghue's pub in their droves for the reception to
launch the album, 'Ordinary Man'. It was Monday July 29.
Christy was late, as usual. He is said to be uneasy at such
events. At the reception to launch the 'Ride On' album last
year he didn't turn up at all.
The mike, the amp and the speakers were set up and
Christy didn't make a speech, he sang a makey-up ditty
he had composed for the occasion.
There were good songs on the album, but the most
deeply-felt was 'They Never Came Home'. The Stardust
song. Today Tonight had weeks earlier screened a moving
18 MAGILL SEITEMBER 1985
report on the bitterness of the survivors and the relatives
of the victims of the fire, on the pain heaped on their pain
as they watched the legal system string out their tragedy
and frisk it for every loose penny, while their own wounds
still gaped. Moore's song was a response to the programme,
a mixture of compassion and anger, sensitively done in the
folksong tradition.
Over the next two weeks Moore's song would become
one element in a remarkable juxtaposition of events which
would illustrate the extent to which information is restric-
ted and freedom of speech circumscribed in a society which
has never quite come to terms with social democracy.
They were about to have their troubles across the water,
too. The next day the BBC Board of Governors would ban
the Real Lives programme featuring Martin McGuinness.
That would in tum affect the progress of events here.
But tonight was innocent of such thoughts. Christy's
ditty welcomed everyone to the record launch and urged
them to get ahold of their free drink, because "it's later
than you think."
2. The ACC Muzzle
That same day the final pages of the monthly magazine
Irish Business were sent to the printers. The processing
was completed and the presses rolled on Tuesday. The
magazine should have gone for distribution on Wednesday,
but a printing machine broke down and things were delayed
for twenty-four hours.
The cover story was on financial problems at the Agricul-
tural Credit Corporation. ACC had got wind of the story
and on Wednesday and Thursday had been making inquiries
about it. Early Thursday evening Irish Business got some
copies off the press and sent them around to press, TV and
radio newsrooms. They also sent some copies to ACC, as a
matter of courtesy.
The editor of Irish Business, Frank Fitzgibbon, was out
at RTE that evening on other matters. The RTE newsroom
had been seeking comment on the story from ACC. The
RTE reporters told Fitzgibbon that ACC were looking for a
judge to stop distribution of the magazine. He went home.
There he got calls from R TE and the Irish Times telling
him that the case was being heard at Judge Rory O'Hanlon's
house at 9pm. Fitzgibbon rang the judge to fmd out what
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 19
was happening. Judge O'Hanlon didn't yet know what the
case was about, but he agreed to hold it back for thirty
minutes to allow Fitzgibbon attend. However, he said,
since it was an ex-parte injunction Fitzgibbon could only
watch and could not speak.
Fitzgibbon got hold of a brace oflawyers and arrived at
O'Hanlon's house at 9.30pm, to sit and watch as the ACC
lawyers told the judge the article was defamatory and libe-
lous and shouldn't be distributed. Neither Fitzgibbon nor
his lawyers could say a word.
Fitzgibbon and his lawyers continued to watch for the
next hour or so as the judge decided to ban the issue con-
taining the article on ACC.
The judge then decided that no member of the public
should know that the magazine had been banned. Not only
could Irish Business not publish its story about ACC, but
they could not tell anyone that the magazine had been
banned or anything else about this gathering in Judge Rory
O'Hanlon's house. The judge's order extended to anyone
else who knew that the judge was holding legal proceedings
at his house.
ACC had moved swiftly. Four hours after copies of Irish
Business were handed to their night watchman they had put
the magazine on ice. They then began the business of put-
ting the frighteners on the rest of the press. They sent letters
around to newsrooms detailing the order made by the judge.
They pointed out that failing to comply with the order
would be contempt of court "and will be punishable accor-
dingly. The punishment may include imprisonment and/or
sequestration of assets." They also pointed out that the
media could receive severe punishment for letting the public
know that any of this was going on. Keep your mouth shut
about this. And keep your mouth shut about the fact that
you're being forced to keep your mouth shut.
Before the gag was fully inserted there were a few splut-
ters which could alert the public that something was going
on. The Cork Examiner; told too late of the terms of the
injunction, had two paragraphs headed "Ban on Mag". RTE
got out the word that the ACC were looking for the injunc-
tion. The Irish Times printed a picture of Michael Culligan,
ACC chief executive, leaving Judge O'Hanlon's house, with
a caption saying that this was a picture of Michael Culligan
leaving Judge O'Hanlon's house. Then the gag was shoved
in.
The enormity of what had been done, of the breadth
of the law which had so quickly been brought into play,
can only be appreciated by looking closely at the terms of
the injunction. The media were prohibited from "publishing,
disseminating or distributing any matter which is injurious
to the plaintiff's reputation and in particular, the matter
contained in the article in Irish Business.
This was the law of the land for the next two days.
Fitzgibbon's article in particular had been banned, but also
any matter which was injurious to ACC and its executives.
Whether or not it was true.
Regardless of whether the judicial concocters of this ..
order had so intended, this meant that nothing could be
published which might injure ACe. No fmancial reporter
could suggest that ACC was not as good an investment as
any other bank or financial house. Should, for instance, Joe
Rea of the IF A launch one of his typical blusters towards
ACC it could not be reported.
In theory, five minutes after the order was made the
ACC executives could have murdered Judge O'Hanlon and
this could not have been reported. They could have rifled
the vaults of ACC, sent signed confessions to the media and
taken the next plane to Spain, and the media could not
have said a word.
In retrospect, this may seem absurd. But this was the
order that was made. And editors were threatened with
imprisonment and seizure of their papers' assets should the
order be infringed. Notwithstanding Lou Grant, editors do
not and cannot take such threats lightly.
The other thing of significance that happened that day
was that 120 members of Noraid, the IRA support group in
America, arrived in Ireland, among them their publicity
director, Martin Galvin.
3. Prior Restraint
The next day, Friday August 2, Clive Hudson of WEA
records received a letter from the legal representatives of
the owners of the Stardust, complaining that Christy Moore's
song was in contempt of court and asking what WEA pro-
posed to do about it. WEA began damage control measures,
in case they should subsequently be found guilty of con-
tempt. They froze the record, asking record shops not to
sell it, radio stations not to play it, newspapers not to pro-
mote it. Then they sought a High Court declaratory order
on the issue. Meanwhile, the Stardust owners were taking
measures to get the song banned.
You couldn't write about ACC or sing about the Star-
dust.
Meanwhile, the phones were hopping at the Irish Times
as puzzled readers tried to find out what that picture of
Michael Culligan leaving a judge's house was about.
The Sunday Tribune and RTE went into a huddle with
lawyers, in an attempt to loosen the gag. They considered
appealing to the Supreme Court for a change in the terms
of the order.
On Saturday August 3 the farce was squared. At the
Sunday Tribune Paul Tansey was writing a lengthy piece
on ACC, compiled from previous annual reports and public
statements. This, however, might turn out to be "injurious
to the reputation" of ACC, as the piece was not particularly
complimentary. The Tribune was also considering publishing
the terms of the order of the banning of Irish Business. The
only notice the media had of the banning was that written
by ACC. The paragraph ordering silence on the fact that the
magazine had been banned was ambiguous. It referred to
the judge in the third person and it was unclear if this was
Judge Rory 0 'Hanlon: don't publish and don't tell anyone you
can't publish.
what the judge had ordered or if this was ACC's interpreta-
tion of what the judge had ordered.
Their lawyers and Judge O'Hanlon agreed by phone on
Saturday morning to lift the ban on a mention of the ban.
Now, on Saturday, ACC was being coy. The Tribune was
told they would have to make up their own minds about
whether they could publish the terms of the order.
In an attempt to unravel the mess, the editor of the
Tribune, Vincent Browne, rang Judge Rory O'Hanlon at
home. He inquired if the "any matter which is injurious"
clause meant that the paper was prohibited from writing
about ACC at all. The judge said no, that wasn't what he
had meant to ban at all (although that was what his order
banned). He said the paper could publish anything it liked
about ACC provided it was not the article injuncted.
That left the way free to publish Tansey's article. On the
question of whether the paper could publish the terms of
the injunction the judge was less sure. "I don't know, really,
what are ACC saying?"
The conclusion was that whatever ACC said the paper
could publish was alright.
The right to publish, removed by the High Court, had
now transferred to ACC by virtue of the fact that the judge
had granted the injunction they were seeking. The restrain-
ing powers had been given to ACC by the court, and if ACC
wanted to dispense with those powers or any part of them
they could do so, apparen tly.
ACC chopped and changed. They refused to say one
thing or the other, leaving it to the Tribune's "own judge-
ment". Then they gave permission for publication of the
terms of the order.
At this stage it seemed like the Tribune could publish.
Frank Fitzgibbon: not allowed to speak at the hearing which
banned his magazine. '.
two stories, Tansey's and the terms of the order. Not so.
The laws restricting press freedom apply also to printers
and distributors. They too can be jailed and have their
businesses seized if they step out of line, so they too must
make what are essentially legal and editorial decisions. In
this case the printer and distributor of Irish Business had
been named in the ACC injunction.
As it happened, Irish Business and the Tribune have the
same printers and the same distributors, respectively
Richview, Browne and Nolan, and Newspread. Although
the Tribune did not know the content of the Irish Business
article the lawyers for the printers and distributors did. And
Paul Tansey, it transpired, had quite independently and
coincidentally, by another route, written on the same mat-
ters as Irish Business, regarding ACC. And this was the
material which the printers and distributors had been speci-
fically injuncted against handling. The lawyers for the prin-
ters and distributors advised that the story be scrapped. So,
because of the breadth of the law which had been brought
into play an article compiled from information already on
the public record was squashed.
And again ACC changed its mind. Having waived the
part of the restraining order prohibiting publication of the
terms of the order a representative again reverted to the
I position that the paper published on its "own judgement"
and at its peril. The Tribune went ahead.
ACC issued its own statement, announcing that it had
o"tained an injunction against Irish Business and describing
the article as libelous. Ironically, the media didn't carry the
ACC statement, partly in fear that the statement libelled
Irish Business, partly in fear that doing so would breach the
order with which ACC had threatened them with on Thurs-
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 21
day. ACC, flailing around in an effort to prevent public
knowledge of how it is conducting its business, had managed
to censor itself.
4. Confidentiality
On Wednesday August 7, ACC held a press conference.
They produced selected figures and facts and gave their
version of the state of their organisation. It might have been
the truth. However, for the previous six days they had gone
to extraordinary lengths to restrict informed public discus-
sion of their problems. Irish Business had agreed on Tues-
day to withdraw their first article on ACC and proposed to
publish a new one.
If ACC decided to take steps to "muzzle" (the phrase is
Michael Culligan's) the first article because they believed it
to be libelous and inaccurate they made no such claim
when they successfully applied to Judge Lardner in the
High Court on Wednesday to muzzle the second article".
Now they were arguing that the articles were based on
"confidential" internal documents, and that the court
should prevent their use by the media.
Judge Lardner granted ACC's request. (He had the pre-
vious day brought the secrecy surrounding the case to an
end by refusing ACC's application to continue proceedings
in camera.) He said that the documents could have been ob-
tained in one of only two ways: by theft, or by a breach of
confidence by someone who had access to the documents.
This was, of course, not so. Such documents could have
been left behind in a pub. They could have been found on
a bus.
In the event, ACC held a press conference "to allay
public disquiet about the state of finances of ACC." If they
were being frank at the press conference they were reveal-
ing information which they had used the court to suppress.
If they were not being frank they were using the court to
suppress information so that they could mislead the public.
ACC went further. They asked that the court direct that
Frank Fitzgibbon reveal his source for the documents. Judge
Lardner reserved his decision on that until October. If he
grants ACC's wishes Frank Fitzgibbon may yet get to do an
inside story on Mountjoy, as he has already said that - in
line with journalistic ethics - he cannot reveal his sources.
..5. "Are You Looking For Galvin, Lads?"
The other big story that Wednesday August 7 was the strike
by British broadcasting journalists against government cen-
sorship. First BBC and then ITN journalists reacted against
the BBC's decision to bow to government pressure and ban
the Real Lives documentary on the North.
The protests, which had been gathering over the past
week, culminating in the twenty-four hour strike, had been
met with an uneasy silence from Irish broadcastingjourna-
lists.
That morning the Irish Times published a piece by Mary
Holland which gently chided this silence. It was met with
great annoyance out at RTE. The piece was restrained. "It
makes the silence of RTE's journalists all the more distur-
bing, their failure to find any way of demonstrating their
support for colleagues in the same union who are now facing
the kind of government censorship which has existed in this
country for nearly a decade." The piece also pointed out
that "The quality and consistency of the coverage given to
the complex problem of the North on Belfast news and
current affairs programmes of the BBC and UTV, which can
be seen down here, are far superior to anything on RTE."
Martin Galvin had been in Ireland for a week. There was
speculation about whether he would again defy the British
government and cross the border, as he did last year. Galvin
was a potential story.
That Wednesday preparations were going on for two
weekend radio programmes, the Pat Kenny Saturday Show
and This Week. Sometime during the morning Mike Bums,
Head of Radio 1 News, asked the This Week reporters what
items they were lining up. "Are you looking for Galvin,
lads?" he asked. The Assistant Head of News Features,
David Davin-Power, said that they had no plans for it, but
if Galvin became newsworthy towards the end of the week
they would have another look at it.
Elsewhere in RTE that day Ed Mulhall and Betty Purcell,
producers on the Pat Kenny show, were deciding that they
would try to get Galvin for Saturday. In RTE there are
people you can interview and people you can't. There is
also what is known as a "grey area". Anything in the grey
area has to be "referenced upward". Mulhall and Purcell
asked Donal Flanagan, Assistant Controller of Radio 1, to
get clearance to interview Galvin. Word was sent to the
Acting Director General of RTE, Vincent Finn.
And the Broadcasting Branch of RTE sent a message of
applause and support to their British colleagues for their
stand against government censorship. The previous day
RTE's Head of News, Wesley Boyd, had given the Irish
Times his response to events in Britain: "The vast majority
of RTE journalists would be opposed to political censor-
ship, particularly when applied to anyone who had received
a mandate from the electorate, either north or south of the
border."
6. Section 31
For the past decade the vast majority of RTE journalists
have resisted opposing political censorship. In the early
days of the Northern conflict there were scuffles as RTE
journalists sought to report that story as they would any
other. The RTE Authority was dismissed by Fianna Fail's
Gerry Collins in 1972 as the government fought to shape
the reporting of events. Reporter Kevin O'Kelly was jailed,
reporter Kevin Myers resigned .
As time went by the crudities eased, the censorship
became more refined. Producers who didn't play the game
and tried to test the frontiers were quietly shifted out of
curren t affairs.
 The bedrock of RTE censorship is Section 31 of the
Broadcascmg Act': Tms, aher a /0/ 0/ ear.uer /uzzz.I7ess, WaS
made shipshape by Conor Cruise O'Brien in October 1976
and became a statutory order in January 1977. It has been
renewed each year by successive governments, banning a
number of organisations, republican and loyalist, from the
airwaves.
The amendment to the Broadcasting Act allowed the
government to ban "any matter of a particular class (which)
would be likely to promote, or incite to, crime or would
tend to undermine the authority of the state." This would
probably be acceptable to most people. No one wants
adverts for crime. Implicit in it, however, is a specific poli-
tical view of the conflict in the North. Internationally that
conflict is recognised as a clash of political forces, all of
whom are armed and using violence, prolonged over fifteen
years, supported in practical terms and at the ballot box by
tens of thousands of people.
The official view, which is what RTE is by law obliged
to support, is that the conflict represents an outbreak of
crime by small and unrepresentative bodies of republicanism
and loyalism.
The opposition to Section 31 usually comes in two
forms. The Provisionals complain that their civil rights are
being infringed by the broadcasting ban against them. What-
ever the validity of this argument, few are concerned with
the civil rights of Provos. The other opposition comes from
RTE journalists, who complain that they are unable to ful-
fill their professional duties by reporting the conflict impar-
tially. Whatever the validity of this argument, the journa-
lists have worked within the restrictions for a decade.
The major effect of Section 31 has been the distortion
of reality by TV and radio news, from which most people
gel .0e.// m/O/.WaOOE .71701/1 .0e NoM. The ban OEjE/e/-
views with members of Sinn Fein is a minor part of the
censorship. The prime right infringed is the right of the
public to free and truthful reporting.
Reporting abhors a vacuum. The dominant view in the
South for the past decade has been that the "extremes" of
loyalism and republicanism are small and unrepresentative
bodies of violent criminals who must be isolated by the
moderate majority in the centre finding a way to "recon-
cile the two traditions". As the years passed and the "small
extremes" dominated events and one "moderate" solution
after another bit the dust the reporting did not reflect the
reality of events, it continued to propagate the government
view.
Thus, Ian Paisley is still portrayed as an extremist, out-
side the "centre" of loyalism, which is portrayed as revol-
ving around people like Jim Molyneux and Ken Maginnis --
although Paisley is by far the most popular and representa-
tive loyalist politician and his politics are clearly at the very
centre of loyalism, though that centre is far to the right of
the presumed centre which the reporting propagates.
During the 1981 hunger strikes RTE again and again re-
turned to Gerry Fitt for an explanation of nationalist feel-
ing. Fitt honestly and sincerely gave his views, which were
not representative of majority nationalist feeling, though
they were portrayed as if they were. Joe MUlholland, editor
of Today Tonight, later admitted that they "got it wrong"
on the hunger strikes. However, given Section 31 and the
tradition of advocacy journalism which has built up around
it there was no other way they could "get it".
The advocacy of the government line, giving false weight
'Patrick Kinsella: insisting that RTE journalists are concerned about
censorship.

to a mythical "centre" of "moderates" instead of reporting

the reality of eventsrhas led to sometimes bizarre forms of 7. The Meeting
censorship. In May 1976 a Here and Now interview with
Thursday morning, August 8, the day after permission had'
an expert from the London Institute of Strategic Studies
been sought to interview Martin Galvin on Pat Kenny's
had the line " ... after all, guerilla movements always win
show, a high-level meeting took place at RTE. It involved
in the end," cut out. The reference was to Zimbabwe. The
Vincent Finn, Acting Director General, Michael Carroll,
cut was made on the grounds that "we have to be very care-
Director of Radio 1, Donal Flanagan, Assistant Controller
ful, you know." In October 1976 a Feach plan to cover the
of Radio 1, and Gerry McLoughlin, from RTE's legal
Provo Ard Fheis was okayed as long as, a) no one was inter-
department.
viewed, b) no sound was recorded during speeches, c) the
All of these very busy people had to discuss whether or
report did not exceed four and a half minutes. Several
not Pat Kenny could have an item on his show. Martin Gal-
hours before transmission the report was ordered to be
vin is not known to have broken any law in the Republic,
dropped.
neither is he known to be a member of any organisation
Perhaps the classic Section 31 joke was in April 1977
currently prescribed.
when sixty people were injured in a clash between demon-
The meeting gave permission for the interview to go
strators and gardai outside Portlaoise prison during a hunger
ahead.
strike. The RTE crew had been ordered to use silent film.
Before you can interview someone you have to find
The results were described as akin to a Keystone Cops
them. The route to Galvin lay, of course, through the Provos.
movie and the film was dropped. Film of the incident was
The search for Galvin was on.
obtained from BBC and ITN. RTE executives urged that
caution should be used with this film not to depict the
violence as garda brutality.
The fearfulness persists today. Reporters are required 8. Stardust Memories
when interviewing people about the drugs problem to en-
sure that they are not members of Sinn Fein. If the Special The next day, Friday August 9, Mr Justice Frank Murphy
Criminal Court and its procedures are reported on the jour- decided in a special High Court sitting that Christy Moore's
nalists cannot in terview those most affected - those who Stardust song was in contempt of court. The judge declared'
have been before it. In covering recent reports of a split in the song to be "a real and serious threat" to a fair trial,
the Provos RTE sought expert comment from J. Bowyer referring to the actions which the Stardust survivors and
Bell - in America. Bowyer Bell wrote a book on the IRA the victims' relatives are bringing and have been bringing for
in 1970 and marginally updated it five years ago. four years.
 The lines of the song which were found to be most in
contempt were those which expressed a fixed conclusion
that the injuries were caused by one particular factor, re-
lating to the condition of the exits.
.Industrial Council, put together an amendment to the
Judge Murphy decided that the particular statement
made in the song was similar to a statement made in the
Report of the Tribunal of Inquiry but "it went further."
Does it? The Tribunal Report, at paragraph 8.31, said
that Eamonn Butterly's practice of keeping the emergency
exits secured with chains and padlocks until midnight on
disco nights was "a recklessly dangerous practice which
regularly endangered the lives of over one thousand people ;"
Paragraph 9 .39 lists four principal reasons why "a prompt
and efficient evacuation of the building did not take place."
One of these was the rapid spread of the fire. The other
three were: 1) a third of the patrons attempted to leave by
the main entrance, which was not suitable and did riot corn-
ply with the Draft Building Regulations, 2) the absence of
evacuation procedures and fire drill for the the staff, 3) the
locked and obstructed condition of other exits:
Paragraph 9.47 says: "Had the appropriate precautions
been in existence to ensure efficient evacuation on the
night of the fire, the injuries sustained would have been un-
questionably less and the death toll would almost certainly
have been reduced," (our italics).
Four and a half years after all this happened Christy
Moore wrote a song poin ting out that four and a half years
had gone by without compensation for the victims. Because
the defendants are denying liability the song was banned,
the record was taken from circulation.
9. ABusy Day
A lot was happening that Friday. At llam there began a
meeting of the Republic of Ireland Industrial Council of
the National Union of Journalists. This is not a policy-
making body, it supervises the conduct of industrial rela-
tions.
Kevin Moore, Father of the Chapel (shop steward) at
the Independent Group, who would be regarded by his
colleagues as being on the conservative end of the political
spectrum, put down a motion calling for an NUJ campaign
against Section 31. The motion would be taken later in the
day.
During the lunch break Patrick Kinsella, Chairperson of
RTE's Broadcasting Branch and a delegate to the NUJ
motion, calling for a deletion of any attempt at opposing
Section 31 by industrial action. The amendment called in-
stead for a campaign of letters to TDs, asking them to vote
against renewing the Section 31 order. When the motion
was debated later that afternoon the amendment was de-
feated and the original motion was passed.
Back at RTE things were moving fast. That morning
Martin Galvin had attended the Derry funeral of Charles
English, an IRA member who had been killed in a prema-
ture explosion. He carried the coffin along with Martin
McGuinness of Sinn Fein, whose interview had the previous
week been banned from the BBC.
The lunchtime news carried reports on Galvin and the
British TV news showed him shouldering the coffin. A
tremor went through RTE.
Some time after that the moves began to ban Galvin
from Pat Kenny's show. It is believed within the station
that the Director General, Vincent Finn, discussed the
interview with Michael O'Carroll, Director of Radio 1, and
that O'Carroll discussed it with Donal Flanagan, Assistant
Controller. It is Flanagan, however, who has squarely taken
responsibility for the ban, insisting that it was his decision.
The ban was imposed, he told Magill, because of the "chan-
ged context of events", the fact that Galvin had attended
the funeral. Flanagan also pointed out that a year earlier
Pat Kenny had interviewed Galvin and there had been com
ment on this by "people near the government", as indeed
there was.
At around 4pmEd Mulhall, producer of the show, was
called in to talk to Donal Flanagan. The discussion lasted
two hours as Mulhall sought to argue Flanagan out of the
ban. Eventually, Betty Purcell, the other producer involved
in the Galvin interview, was also called in and Mulhall and
Purcell were given an order that the interview would not
go out. At that stage they had not found Galvin and were
simply told to stop looking for him.
Sometime that day the. Department of Foreign Affairs
leaked to RTE the fact that Peter Barry was about to make
a speech touching on the Anglo-Irish talks and attacking
Galvin. Whether this had any part to play in the ban on
Galvin is questionable, but RTE dutifully sent the cameras
t~ the dinner for a US Congressional delegation at which

no.....--..::v...,..,c>~1~ ~:a~~ ~.:o~:~# vvouId have been made after
the di;;';:r~~;~~ bro~ght forward and the puzzled Americans
had Peter Barry as a starter.
Meanwhile, the This Week team had been having second
thoughts .. Galvin had again defied the British authorities
and appeared in the North. He was now the subject of a
personal attack by one of the most senior members of the
government. He had become newsworthy.
That night the RTE News led with what was obviously
the most significant point in Peter Barry's speech - the
reprimand to the British government for leaks on the Anglo-
Irish talks and the insistence that the Irish government was
prepared to veto the results if they were not acceptable.
The British TV news ignored this point (although they had
carried the British leaks) and used the part of the speech
they found most appealing, the demand that Martin Galvin
"go home".
10. Boring
Some RTE staff believe that management leaked the news
of the Galvin ban from the Kenny show to the Irish Inde-
pendent, which was the only paper to carry it on Saturday
. \
morrung.
That morning, around 10 or l l pm, two of the This
Week team, Cathal McChoille and Fergal Keane, told David
Davin-Power that they thought that Galvin had become
newsworthy and was now worth an interview. (As if to
confirm their view, the RTE news had that morning switched
their emphasis on the Barry speech from the Anglo-Irish
comments to the attack on Galvin, following the ITN and
BBC lead.)
Davin-Power is Assistant Head of News Features and was
the editor of that Sunday's programme. As this was a "grey
area" he was obliged to "reference upward".
Meanwhile, at llam, the Pat Kenny show went ahead
without Galvin. Mary Holland was one of the guests, dis-
cussing the BBC strike. She again touched a sore point by
noting that RTE journalists had been slow in expressing
support for their colleagues. She raised the issue of Section
31 and the fact that Martin Galvin had been banned from
this very programme as an example of the acquiesence of
RTE journalists in government censorship.
Two listeners were particularly upset by this. Wesley
Boyd, Director of RTE News, was at home. He does not
cake the Irish Independent at home and this was the first
:ie heard of the Galvin ban. He felt that Mary Holland was
"taunting" RTE journalists. Patrick Kinsella, Chairperson
: the Broadcasting Branch, was also upset. So upset that
~ drove to the studio and demanded the right to reply for
TE journalists.
There was something of a scene in the studio, with Kin-
sella insisting on his right to reply, Mary Holland arguing
zaat Kinsella should indeed be questioned about the issue,
the producers insistent that Kinsella could not have
~ access to the studio simply because of his position in
TE. A compromise was reached. Kinsella went to another
of the building and rang the studio, as though ringing
any other listener was entitled to do. He argued that
.~ journalists were indeed concerned at Section 31 cen-
czship. He did not mention the Galvin ban.
The significance of this is that before lunchtime that
day there was quite an amount of upset among RTE
facarrm:firCs.rtielr cotleagues in the BBe and ITN had been.
widely praised for a stand on principle against censorship.
And at just this point RTE management had publicly ex-
tended Section 31 beyond the statutory order. Everybody
was a bit jittery.
At about 12.45pm, just before the Kenny show ended,
David Davin-Power rang Wesley Boyd at home, "referen-
cing upward" the request for a This Week interview with
Martin Galvin. Boyd turned down the request.
Boyd would get three phone calls on the issue that
afternoon, from Davin-Power, Patrick Kinsella and Fergus
o Rahallaigh, Father of the Newsroom Chapel. The content
of all three would be similar. Boyd said that Galvin had al-
ready got enough publicity, that he was not newsworthy.
He also referred to the banning of Galvin from the Kenny
show.
There is a difference of emphasis in the recounting of
these conversations by the various participants. Boyd in-
sists that he made it clear that his refusal to sanction a
Galvin interview was purely an editorial decision, on the
grounds that it would "bore the pants off listeners". Davin-
Power agrees that the reference to the Kenny show ban was
"by-the-way". However, it was there.
Davin-Power reported the thumbs-down to Cathal
McChoille and Fergal Keane. The two reporters discussed
the matter and came to the conclusion that they too were
being told to acquiesce in the self-censorship surrounding
Section 31. They went to Barbara Fitzgerald, the Broad-
casting Branch Secretary and said they wanted to disasso-
ciate themselves from the This Week programme being pre-
pared, as it was being censored. They wanted NUl backing.
Fitzgerald rang Fergus 0 Rahallaigh at home. He said that
they would get that backing, in line with NUl policy.
The two reporters, however, had no wish to be isolated.
They insisted that there be immediate visible support for
their stand. A hastily-convened meeting of the newsroom
chapel committee was held at 4pm, with the This Week
reporters (who are members of another chapel) in atten-
dance, for information purposes. Patrick Kinsella was dele-
gated to ring Wesley Boyd to check the position.
Boyd recalls emphasising that this was purely an edito-
rial decision. Kinsella recalls Boyd insisting that there was
no point "referencing upward" any. further as the Kenny
request had been shot down and so too would this. There is
nothing sinister in the different emphasis the various par-
ties give to what they said that day. It is clear that both the
editorial basis for the decision and the Kenny show ban
were mentioned. Everyone was feeling sensitive. Boyd was
probably genuinely against having Galvin on the programme
anyway, and would have been even if the Kenny ban had
not occurred. He was also aware of the Kenny ban and
aware that a request for another interview would not be
welcomed upstairs. The reporters were sensitive to any
further public humiliation which would result from a
second ban in the week when they had congratulated their
British colleagues for a stand against censorship.
There were two votes for a mandatory meeting (essen-
tially a strike) from 7pm that evening until midnight on
Sunday. The first was 13-5 in favour, the second, at 7pm,
was about 20 in favour, none against, one abstention.
11. Two Weeks In The Life Of The Media
There were silly claims that the strike was itself a form of
censorship. Wesley Boyd claimed that the strike resulted
from political manipulation, which it clearly did not.
The prime element in this brief kick-back against RTE
censorship was the jitters from which everyone was suffer-
ing that weekend. One of the journalists involved admits,
"It never would have happened if we weren't shamed into
it by the BBC."
What opposition exists to the RTE censorship exists
among news and current affairs journalists. Journalists
largely unaffected by the censorship, in sports, the RTE
Guide and other areas of the station, are members of the
Broadcasting Branch and therefore have a say in whether
any resistance should be mounted. To risk taking a stand
on the principle of honest reporting is to risk being bran-
ded a subversive and shifted quietly to some backwater of
the station. The opposition is sporadic, verbal and to the
outsider seems merely for the record. And since some share
the political viewpoint of the government there is a large
measure of cooperation with the censorship. Last month's
strike resulted from an unusual set of circumstances.
.the free flow of information is a necessary element in
a society that purports to be social democratic. Demo-
cracy is a decision-making process and decisions cannot be
made freely without information and debate. Elections are
but one element in that process, and without information
and debate they are parodies of democracy, popularity con-
tests corrupted by the sophisticated misinformation ma-
chines employed by the political parties and other vested
interests.
Those two weeks in August demonstrated vividly the ex-
tent to which the laws and structures which govern the
from Mount Allan in East Clare and the Land Commission's
subsequent demolition of Mount Allan caused resentment
in the family.
Alexis was the fourth of five brothers. All his elder
brothers followed in their father's footsteps and took up
medicine as a career. The eldest, Oliver, became Professor
of Therapeutics in UCD and is one ofIreland's most eminent
physicians. The next brother, Paddy, who died in 1976,
achieved equal eminence as Professor of Surgery in UCD.
The third brother, Gerald, whom many regarded as the
most able and brilliant of an exceptionally able family,
specialised as a psychiatrist and neurologist but died of
cancer at the early age of thirty-one. He had only one sister
Peggy, and a younger brother, Kyran, who became a Jesuit.
His earliest, Montessori, education was with the Ursuline
nuns in Waterford and he then attended Waterpark College,
one of the more genteel of the Christian Brothers' schools.
By then his father's custom of sending his sons to the
Jesuits at Clongowes to finish their schooling was well es-
tablished. Alexis, however, suffered from bronchial asthma
as a boy - he was absent from school for much of his
Intermediate year - and the family were worried about
how his health might be affected by a boarding school
regime. But, after consulting a medical colleague with a
special interest in asthma his father sent him to Clongowes
in 1931; in the event he suffered only a single asthmatic
attack during his three years there.
Alexis FitzGerald was only one of a number in that
Clongowes class of 1934 who subsequently rose to posi-
tions of prominence in Irish life. One life-long friendship
first formed at Clongowes was with Tom O'Higgins, Senior
Counsel, Minister for Health, the Presidential candidate
who only narrowly failed to unseat de Valera in the elec-
tion of 1966, Chief Justice and, now, a Judge of the Euro-
pean Court. Other classmates included Doctor Tom Murphy,
the President of UCD; Doctor Billy O'Dwyer, Professor of
Medicine at the College of Surgeons; Brian Murphy, Profes-
sor of Law at UCC; Martin Burke, the Chief Architect in
the Office of Public Works; Anthony Murphy, the Chief
Civil Engineer in the ESB; and Barney Daly, the County
Registrar for Mayo. One classmate remembers Alexis Fitz-
Gerald as "a good all rounder" who was always up in the
first half-dozen of an intensely competitive class and whose
inclination was more towards the humane than the scienti-
fic subjects. He played tennis with sufficient distinction to
win his colours for Clongowes but showed little other in-
terest in sports. Even as a schoolboy, however, he enjoyed
a reputation for being exceptionally perceptive and this
contributed to his popularity.
Intellectual development also owed much to home back-
ground. Doctor FitzGerald always read widely and insisted
that his children do likewise, particularly during vacations
at home in Grangemore when elaborate reading programmes
were mapped out. Nor should Lily FitzGerald's intellectual
influence be discounted. An alert and highly intelligent
woman with a keen in terest in current affairs, her some-
times heterodox opinions fostered an independent spirit of
thought among her children.
Their home atmosphere, Alexis recalled in a radio inter-
view with Andy O'Mahony in 1980, was "not oppressively
religious - we all went to Mass but only on Sunday," and
he remembered his father as "more a man of virtue than of
religion," as someone for whom religion was fundamen-
tally "a matter of duty."
Alexis retained cynical memories of the Christian Bro-
thers' attitude towards religion based on their habit of in-
vigilating the Bishop's examination in a manner so relaxed
that it effectively allowed, if it did not actually encourage,
"cogging" and cheating - a practice, incidentally, which
the present writer can testify was still flourishing in 1960 in
that other Christian Brothers' bastion of gentility at Monks-
town Park. But he retained warmer memories of the Jesuits
whose attitudes towards religion he described as "very open
and understanding."
University College Dublin
IW
HEN Alexis FitzGerald and Tom O'Higgins
I went to UCD in the autumn of 1934 they both
i entered the Arts Faculty where they read for
I the same degree in Legal and Political Science.
In 1937 they emerged at the top of their class, both with
first class honours degrees with Tom O'Higgins being placed
first in Economics and Alexis coming first in Politics -
a result which was afterwards a source of private amuse-
ment between them in the light of their later careers.
The predominant intellectual influence on Alexis among
his university teachers was Canon Denis O'Keeffe, the Pro-
fessor of Ethics and Politics. He subsequently recalled how
o 'Keeffe delivered series of lectures both on political science
and on ethics "without ever mentioning the word Christian
from beginning to end." He had especially vivid memories
of an episode which epitomised O'Keeffe's objectivity and
which occurred on the morning of May 1, 1937, when de
Valera's new draft constitution was first published. Recog-
nising as inevitable the speculation among his students as
to how he might react to the new constitution, O'Keeffe
told them: "I think it is all very fine. The only thing I
object to is the piety."
At first, the newly -graduated Alexis FitzGerald toyed
briefly with accountancy as a career but he soon confided
in his family that he regretted not having done law and he
proceeded to an LLB degree, again with first class honours,
in 1939.
Unlike his friend Tom O'Higgins, however, he was never
attracted by the idea of becoming a barrister and he played
little or no part in the I.&H or the other college debating
societies which serve as stamping grounds for barristers in
embryo, despite his having been active in school debates in
Clongowes. But college contemporaries were aware of a
certain inhibition which made public speaking something of
an ordeal and which remained with him throughout his life.
Nor would his personality and his unusually dispassionate
intelligence have been suited to the rhetoric and flamboy-
ance which so frequently characterises the adversarial sys-
tem of the Bar. He chose, instead, to become a solicitor.
In the meantime, however, Alexis FitzGerald retained
close links with UCD where other major influences were
Paddy McGilligan, the Professor of Constitutional Law, and
George O'Brien, Professor of Political Economy and the
National Economics of Ireland.
It was O'Brien who was responsible for his appointment
as an assistant in political economy in October 1941 at a
time when the college was grossly understaffed and when
James Meenan was O'Brien's only other assistant.
Alexis FitzGerald continued to lecture on a part-time
basis in economics and commercial law in UCD for the next in Merlyn Park in Ballsbridge , when he obtained his first
twenty years. His lecturing responsibilities varied but, in position as an assistant solicitor in the General Solicitor's
the mid-forties, he assumed particular responsibility for a Office in Molesworth Street.
course on the history of economic theory. Three mornings The General Solicitor's practice was large and lucrative
a week during term he lectured from nine to ten in Earls- involving, among other things, responsibility for wards of
fort Terrace before hurrying off to begin his day as a prac- court. The appointment rested with the President of the
tising solicitor. One student of those years remembers the High Court and a vacancy in 1941 fell to PJ. Ruttledge, a
content of his lectures as particularly stimulating, his deli- founding member and a vice-president of Fianna Fail and a
very (not surprisingly, perhaps, given his diffidence about cabinet minister since 1932. Ruttledge had resigned from
public speaking), as somewhat less so. the Cabinet because of poor health and that same poor
Towards the end of his life Alexis FitzGerald was occa- health together with his having become accustomed to rely-
sionally heard to express regrets at not having embarked ing on civil servants in his years in the Cabinet made him
upon an academic career but this may well have been no ready to delegate extensively once he recognised the ability
more than self-deprecation about the scale of his success of his assistant. Such was his confidence in his subordinate .•..
as a solicitor; none of his contemporaries remember him
speaking in such terms when he was a young man. The rea-
lity was that full-time academic appointments were virtually
non-existent at the time and part-time appointments of-
fered only a supplementary income.
His major academic interests, apart from economics,
were in history, literature, and political philosophy; his
fascination with theology and biblical studies came later
and was essentially an extension of these earlier interests.
If he had been in a position to pursue an academic career it
would have not been in law.
Law, for Alexis FitzGerald, demanded technical exper-
tise (and his own command of that expertise was out-
standing) but possessed little intrinsic intellectual interest.
And it is remarkable how little of his writing was given over
to law. Nor was he interested in the politics of the legal
profession and he never sought or held any office in the
Incorporated Law Society, the "cartel" aspects of which he
distrusted.
He saw law, in short, merely as a profession. Sometimes,
when his own children were grown, he even joked with
them that being a solicitor was a form of slavery ."1 am not
a barrister. I am an attorney," he told the Senate in 1971
on one of the few occasions when he spoke publicly about
the law in a speech which well reflected his prosaic percep-
tion of his profession:
"Attorneys are agents for their customers or clients,
whose duty it is to express to members of the Bar
what problem their client is faced with and to com-
prehend enough about the law to be able to express it
lucidly to members of the bar. If I saw anybody in
my office spending too much time on his law books,
I would regard it as a waste of time. "
It may well have been because, rather than in spite of,
his conviction that the law was no more than a way to Alexis FitzGerald in 1929, aged 13
make. a living and his consequent ability to eschew any
that Alexis FitzGerald soon found himself effectively run-
emotional engagement in his legal work that Alexis Fitz-
ning the office and its sizeable staff on a day to day basis.
Gerald became the most successful solicitor of his genera-
The managerial expertise he thus acquired at so relatively
tion.
early an age stood him in good stead when he later moved
into practice on his own account. His attention to detail
was painstaking and he took special care that the informa-
The Solicitor tion conveyed in his correspondence was absolutely accu-
rate. "A good letter," he used to say, "will always stand to
LEXIS FitzGerald served his solicitor's appren- you."

A . ticeship with Henry D. Keane, a prominent

. solicitor and well-known character in his native
city of Waterford. He qualified in 1941, the
same year his family moved to Dublin. Family ties were
strong and Alexis was still living in the new family home, .
After some years, however, he decided that opportuni-
ties for advancement within the office were limited and he
feared it might ultimately prove something of a dead end
when he learned that Eamonn de Valera had asked Paddy
Ruttledge about the possibility of finding a place for his
son, Terry.
So it was that, notwithstanding the fact that he had just
married Grace Costello (the daughter of John A. Costello,
Senior Counsel, Dail Deputy and Attorney General in the
Cumann na nGaedheal governments of 1926-32) and could
ill afford to surrender the security of such a relatively good
salary, Alexis FitzGerald decided to strike out on his own
in partnership with another young solicitor, Terence de
Vere White with the encouragement of his academic mentor
and regular dining-room companion, George O'Brien.
White and FitzGerald began business over a flower shop
in Nassau Street. At first neither partner had much time to
devote to their intellectual interests as their energies were
absorbed by the hard grind of building up their new firm.
They were joined in the same year, 1947, by Jack McCann
of McCann and Murphy, a much older man who had quali-
fied in the early twenties; and the firm of McCann, White
and FitzGerald had offices at 72 St Stephen's Green, beside
Rosse's Commercial College.
Alexis FitzGerald placed the beginning of the firm's
growh at about 1950 and one major breakthrough was a
result of his acquaintance with Robert Taft, the United
States Ambassador in Dublin from 1953 to 1957. This
enabled him to make important American contacts which,
coupled with his own specialisation in company taxation
and company law, put the firm in an ideal position to take
advantage of the growing interest of many American com-
panies in Ireland.
McCann, White and FitzGerald similarly benefitted from
the dramatic expansion of the Irish economy after 1958,
particularly during the Lemass years. Increased foreign
investment, the dismantling of protectionist barriers and
the movement towards free trade, the spectacular increase
in the number of banks with offices in Dublin and the
Europeanisation of the Irish economy culminating in Irish
entry into the EEC, all created the climate for expansion.
Foreign and international clients made an increasing contri-
bution to the firm's growing volume of business.
A
T THE end of 1964 Alexis FitzGerald dwelt on
the problems of expansion during his traditional
Christmas Day walk with one of his oldest
friends, Tony Dudley, with whom he had sat
the final solicitors' examination in April 1941 and who had
worked with him as an assistant solicitor in Paddy Rutt-
ledge's office before they went their separate ways. Dudley
had returned to his own family firm of O'Connor and
Dudley (established in 1890) which had subsequently
merged with William Roche and Son (established in 1829).
The outcome was another merger. McCann, FitzGerald,
Roche and Dudley was established in May 1965 and moved
into new and larger offices in 51/52 Fitzwilliam Square.
Terence de Vere White had by now become a successful
novelist as well as the literary editor of The Irish Times and,
after a period as consultant, retired from active practice in
the mid-sixties.
The final merger, with Fred Sutton and Company, which
went back to 1835 and numbered Guinness among their
clients, took place in 1980 when the present firm, McCann,
FitzGerald, Sutton, Dudley was established and moved
some hundred yards into still more spacious offices at 31
Upper Pembroke Street. The largest solicitors' firm in the
country, it employs some fifty solicitors and about 130
people all told.
Although Alexis FitzGerald never sought dominance
within the partnership his ability and the sheer strength of
his personality ensured that he became, first, the nucleus
and, later, the pater familias or father-confessor of the firm.
He was not, as we have seen, much interested in the law for
its own sake. But the fact that he was easily bored helps
explain his gravitation towards the wider world of finance
and international business which in turn placed him at the
centre of the web of the partnership's diversifying interests.
He also took a particular interest in recruitment and for
many years did most of the interviewing. He set store on
background - "If he knew your father you were appren-
ticed," drily remarked one of the innumerable young re-
.••..
cruits he took on - but ability was the criterion which
determined whether you would remain. Innate intelligence
was what weighed most heavily with him. He sought first
class minds like his own but cared little whether potential
entrants had done law or economics or history.
As the firm grew larger he liked to have around him the
people he had picked himself. Camaraderie and, in parti-
cular, the contentment and well-being of those with whom
he worked closest was also important. He took infinite
pains before his annual speech to the Christmas party to
include at least one remark specially applicable to each
person present, from the most senior of partners to the
most junior of clerical staff.
He had the ability to inspire the youngest and most cal-
low of colleagues and the loyalty to the firm among those
who worked there was largely his doing. Even today the
reputation of the partnership rests less upon the entrepre-
neurial skills of individuals than upon team work and the
partners' capacity to complement each other's talents.
His style in consultations was cool and questioning.
"Would that be wise?" he would frequently ask and "un-
wise" was a favourite term of disapprobation. In any dis-
cussion, whether professional or political, he favoured the
socratic technique of seeking to illuminate by way of ques-
tions rather than through direct argument and clients were
invariably impressed by the quality of detachment which he
brought to bear upon even the most heated discussions. He
was, in a colleague's phrase, "never concerned with the
short term view of a problem but he always looked instead
towards his client's ultimate good." And he never allowed
his own firmly held Catholic convictions to obtrude upon
his objectivity in discussing with clients, problems with
moral dimensions.
There is no evidence that Alexis FitzGerald valued size
for the sake of size or that he initially aspired to what he in
fact achieved: the creation in one generation of an institu-
tion which matched, if it did not outstrip, the "big three"
Dublin solicitors - Arthur Cox and Co, A&L Goodbody,
and Matheson, Ormsby and Prentice.
Although Arthur Cox, the only Catholic solicitors of the
three, did serve as the most obvious example to be emula-
ted and it is interesting to note that Alexis FitzGerald came
to play much the same role as confidant to the inter-party
governments that Arthur Cox had played to the Cumann na
nGaedheal governments in the twenties. But he was con-
scious of the hazards of size, especially in ensuring that the
quality of advice to clients was undiminished and that com-
plaints would not go unheard. He felt that it had become
almost as big a job to manage the firm as it had been to -
build it up.
Although, as he grew older, he became increasingly
 ready to delegate his responsibilities for individual clients,
he was continually concerned with economies of scale and
he retained responsibility for office management and policy.
In his later years" he also came to feel that the firm had a
social obligation to take on certain cases which might be
"economically unwise and so to harness the social conscience
of younger colleagues who felt they were working for a
juggernaut - "The Factory" was one disrespectful nick-
name used about the firm by some who worked there. He
once voiced similar sentiments in the Senate when he said:
"I am ashamed of my life at the fees I see going out
from my office to people. I say 'really this is uncon-
scionable in terms of what the person has to pay,' but
it is not unconscionable in terms of what has got to
be recouped to make the operation even moderately
successful. "
It was Alexis FitzGerald's achievement that, despite his
central role in an operation which was, not moderately, but
phenomenally successful, he at once enjoyed the esteem
and admiration of so many in his profession without in-
curring their envy or resentment.
The Costello Governments
HERE is a curious intellectual neurosis prohi-
T
biting many from entry into political life. If it
is based upon any belief that commitment to
action for an idea or ideas need lead to sacrifice
of integrity, the belief is insupportable." So Alexis Fitz-
Gerald wrote in an essay entitled 'Irish Democracy' pub-
lished in the University Review in 1958 when he was at the
height of his powers and which stands both as a personal
political testament and as an all-too-rare attempt to treat
of some of the great questions of modern political philo-
sophy in an indigenous, Irish con text. In the same essay he
observed how many of Ireland's "triumphs have been in
fact the accidental fruits of good fortune."
The accident of his own entry into the arena of govern-
ment and politics was in fact due to the fortune of his
marriage to John A. Costello's daughter, Grace, in January
1946. Although he later acknowledged publicly that he
"was born in the tradition which always voted against
Dev," his family had no party affiliations. Indeed his father's
high public profile as RMS in Waterford, through years
which spanned revolution, civil war, and changes of govern-
ment, made it imperative that he tread with wary impar-
tiality.
One college contemporary recognised Alexis FitzGerald
as an "instinctively Cumann na nGaedheal type of person,"
but one whose interests were as much in European as in
Irish politics at a time when the Spanish Civil War was the
source of heated political argument. Indeed his first clear
memory of Alexis is of his asking to borrow a book on
Mussolini. What appealed to him about Fine Gael was less
the dogged protreatyite element epitomised by men like
Richard Mulcahy and Sean MacEo in who had fought beside
Collins and more the intellectual element embodied in men
like Paddy McGilligan, John Marcus O'Sullivan and Eoin
MacNeill - all of whom were professors in UCD.
McGilligan's influence as Professor of Constitutional
Law, was marked and contributed to the tendency of Alexis
FitzGerald and his friends to deride the 1937 Constitution
for surrendering the traditional powers of a sovereign par-
liament.
Alexis FitzGerald was among those who sought to deve-
lop an independent and intellectual identity, as opposed to
a political justification, for Fine Gael and although he dis-
agreed with James Dillon's opposition to neutrality in
World War II, he welcomed the display of independent
thinking which it represented. He also welcomed the ap-
pearance of Forum, a newspaper published on behalf of
Fine Gael's Central Branch in 1944/50. But intellectual
influence cannot be equated with influence in the parlia-
mentary party or at party headquarters.
Fine Gael, however, was in near-total disarray in these
years, so much so that when W.T. Cosgrave finally stood
down as party leader in 1944 his successor, Richard Mul-
cahy, lacked even a seat in the Dail. Each of the five succes-
sive general elections between 1937 and 1948 saw a prog-
ressive decline in their share of the vote (from 34.8% in
1937 to 19.8% in 1948) which made their coming to power
in the inter-party government of 1948-51 as seemingly un-
likely as was the emergence of John A. Costello as Taoi-
seach.
Costello's unforeseen elevation was a product of such
unpredictable circumstances as the unacceptability of
Richard Mulcahy to the other party leaders and particu-
larly to Clann na Poblachta's Sean MacBride (who had
bitter memories of his role in the execution of republicans
during the civil war), Mulcahy's remarkable magnanimity
in standing down, and the freemasonry of the Law Library
where Costello and MacBride were fellow barristers.
Once chosen as Taoiseach Costello was unencumbered
by the baggage of advisers and henchmen who ordinarily
surround a party leader in opposition. Nor was he indebted
to a party machine which was, at best, ramshackle and, at
worse, non existent. Indeed it was said that Costello him-
self was never a member of a party branch. His familial
relationship with his son-in-law was reinforced by a remark-
able temperamental affinity. 'Alexis FitzGerald and Costello
had the greatest mutual respect and admiration for each
other and nothing was more natural than that Costello
consult his son-in-law about the problems of government,
particularly in, what for him, were the unchartered waters
of economic and fiscal policy. ,
Lawyers in politics, are perhaps, less parti-pris than those
from other walks of life and that Costello was a barrister
and FitzGerald a solicitor was an important factor in their
political relationship. Costello, like most successful barris-
ters, was receptive to new ideas and unconcerned about
their provenance if he thought they could help him win his
case.
And if his son-in-law gave him, as he frequently did,
what amounted to a good political brief then he was ready,
in the argot of the Law Library, to "give it a run".
The issue which had increasingly preoccupied Irish
economists since the mid-forties was how Keynesian poli-
cies could be best applied in an Irish context and this was
frequently the subject of conversation' when Alexis Fitz-
Gerald and Paddy Lynch (then a young assistant principal
in the Department of Finance) who had known each other
from UCD since 1940, dined regularly together in the Uni-
corn restaurant in Merrion Row. Lynch and FitzGerald
agreed that Ireland's central economic problem was chronic
underemployment rather than the cyclical unemployment
identified by Keynes. They concluded that the Keynesian
remedy of borrowing for capital purposes to even out the
cycles must be modified to meet Irish conditions and were
emphatic that the current budget must be balanced. Al-
though Keynes would have justified an occasionally un-
balanced budget, FitzGerald in particular thought this "a
dangerous temptation for politicians, especially Irish poli-
ticians" .
These conversations of 1946/47 bore fruit after the for-
mation of the inter-party government when Costello was
persuaded by his son-in-law to request that Lynch be secon-
ded from Finance to the Taoiseach's Department as his
adviser on economic policy. Lynch's appointment was
without precedent and it was the vital step in incorpora-
ting Keynesian principles in government economic policy.
HE NEW policy was delineated in a major
T
speech drafted by Lynch and FitzGerald and
delivered by Costello to the Institute of Bankers
in Ireland on 19 November 1949, arguably the
single most important speech on economic and financial
policy by a head of government since the foundation of the
state. Its significance did not escape Lynch's former col-
leagues in the Department of Finance who reacted with
alarm to such poaching on their preserves. Jimmy McElli-
gott, then Secretary of the Department of Finance for over
twenty years, made this plain when he encountered Lynch
on the steps of Government Buildings next morning.
"Lynch," intoned McElligott, "you're a very young man
but I want to tell you that the more politicians know the
more dangerous they are."
But McElligott's reservations were in vain because Lynch
and FitzGerald had already secured the support of the
Minister for Finance, Paddy McGilligan. McGilligan was an
independent convert of Keynes and when Lynch showed
him Costello's speech in advance and went through it line
by line, McGilligan did not propose a single alteration of
substance. The outcome was the introduction of the first
capital budget in May 1950 when McGilligan's speech con-
stituted the first explicit Keynesian commitment in an Irish
budget.
Alexis FitzGerald also played a major role in the crea-
tion of the IDA in 1949 when the reputation he had al-
ready won in Dublin business circles prompted the then
senior partner in the accountancy firm of Craig Gardners
to come to him with the idea and when, in his own phrase,
he served "as a conduit pipe" in communicating it to Cos-
tello. And he was also credited with helping to dissuade
Sean Lemass from winding up the IDA when he returned to
office HS Minister for Industry and Commerce in 1951.
Alexis FitzGerald's influence on non-economic issues
is less readily apparent but his pragmatic streak was crucial
in convincing Costello that Fine Gael had effectively ac-
quiesced in de Valera's tearing up the treaty in the 1930s.
Pragmatism similarly persuaded him to share James Dillon's
criticisms about de Valera's "dictionary republic" and he
felt it was nonsense for Ireland to claim membership of the
commonwealth when no Irish representatives attended
commonwealth conferences. By 1946, unlike Richard Mul-
cahy, who still hankered after a commonwealth connection,
he had concluded that the commonwealth issue was irrele-
vant. He did not accompany Costello on his controversial
North American visit in 1948 and he shared in the general
bemusement at home about the circumstances surrounding
the dramatic announcement of the intention to repeal the
External Relations Act at the Ottawa press conference.
His own personal preference might well have been for a
republic inside the commonwealth. But when Costello
was once asked if his government had considered that
option he replied that subtleties of that kind would not
achieve his desired end of demonstrating to the IRA that
the breach with Britain was final and so "taking the gun out
of Irish politics". Alexis FitzGerald played a no less central
role in 1951/54 when Fine Gael were again in opposition
but when it was anticipated that de Valera's minority
government might not long survive.
Costello had resumed his practice at the Bar and, deprived
of civil service assistance, became especially reliant upon his
son-in-law who served as a kind of one-man research centre
and as speech writer. He was heavily involved, for example,
in preparing Costello's response to Sean MacEntee's defla-
tionary budget of 1952 which sought to redress the mount-
ing deficit on the balance of payments. This was a time of
in tensive debate about the repatriation of sterling assets
which, FitzGerald argued, could not be accomplished by
deliberately running a deficit on the balance of payments
as repatriation in any other sense was merely a metaphysical
concept.
His hand may be detected too in Costello's Dail allega-
tions of a split between MacEntee's restrictionist and
Lemass's expansionist policies and in his protests that
Paddy McGilligan's policy had "been set aside in favour of
the Victorian concepts of economy and ... the officials of
the Department of Finance have triumphed over progress."
It was partly because McGilligan refused to serve again
as Minister for Finance for reasons of ill health and partly
because Paddy Lynch had resigned from the Taoiseach's
Department to lecture in economics at UCD, that Alexis
FitzGerald never exerted as great an influence upon the
economic and financial policy of Costello's second govern-
ment in 1954/57. Costello's new choice as Minister for
Finance was Gerard Sweetman who had very much im-
pressed him not only as Fine Gael Chief Whip and by his
energy in opposition but by the mastery of financial legis-
lation he had demonstrated in the Dail. Again, the legal
nexus was important. Sweetman, too, was a solicitor who
specialised in company taxation and who consequently
enjoyed extra-parliamentary access to Costello through the
Law Library during the years in opposition.
Sweetman's youth and dynamism meant that the balance
of power in government decision-making on economic
policy which, during McGilligan's frequent bouts of ill
health during the first inter-party government had tilted
towards the Taoiseach's Department, now swung back to
the Department of Finance. Sweetman, moreover, was
determined to be his own Minister for Finance and he
bristled visibly when Costello, in announcing his appoint-
ment at the first meeting of ministers, suggested that Paddy
McGilligan and John O'Donovan (another civil servant in
die Department of Finance who made the transition to
UCD's Economics Department) would "give him a hand".
Sweetman also found a formidable ally in Ken Whitaker,
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 41
then a senior finance official of his own age whose drive
and personality he found congenial, and he set the seal on
Whitaker's meteoric rise through the ranks of Finance
when he had him appointed as Secretary in May 1956.
Sweetman showed the same command of financial
policy in government as he had done in opposition and he
adopted the export tax relief scheme which became the
foundation stone of Irish industrial development. This was
yet another brain-child of Alexis FitzGerald and a classic
example of his ability to act as a private and powerful
vehicle for transmitting innovative ideas into the right
hands.
But the Taoiseach and his son-in -law became progressively
disenchanted with what they saw as Sweetman's excessive
deference to the deflationary conservatism of his officials
in the Department of Finance. Although they never lost
confidence in Sweetman's ability they did come to question
his judgement and Alexis FitzGerald in particular formed
the view that Sweetman was no more than a highly intelli-
gent technician who knew nothing about economics.
The 1956 balance of payments crisis brought matters
to a head and although, despite Costello's opposition,
Sweetman won Cabinet backing for what Fianna Fail not
unreasonably described as his third budget in four months,
the consequent tensions contributed to the collapse of the
government in March 1957.
Another major issue in the fifties was emigration and
Alexis FitzGerald was a member of the Commission on
Emigration and Other Population Problems which sat from
1948-1954. His "reservation" to the majority report stri-
kingly illustrated his bleak vision of how little Ireland could
do for its would-be emigrants and his moral courage in
saying publicly what others might think but would leave
unsaid. He could not, he wrote, "accept either the view that
a high rate of emigration is necessarily a sign of national
decline or that policy should be over-anxiously framed to
reduce it," and he urged recognition of the significance and
the "providential" role of Irish emigrants in the history of
the Catholic church.
"In the order of values, it seems more important to
preserve and improve the quality of Irish life and
thereby the purity of that message which our people
have communicated to the world than it is to reduce
the numbers of Irish emigrants. While there is a danger
of complacency I believe that there should be a more
realistic appreciation of the advantages of emigra-
tion. High emigration, granted a population excess,
releases social tensions which would otherwise ex-
plode and makes possible a stability of manners and
customs which would otherwise be the subject of
radical change. It is a national advantage that it is
easy for emigrants to establish their lives in other
parts of the world not merely from the point of view
of the Irish society they leave behind but from the
point of view of the individuals concerned whose
horizon of opportunity is widened.
"While we should so cultivate our resources that as
many Irishmen as possible can live their lives in Ire-
land this should not be done in a manner or to the
extent of imperilling the imponderable values and
liberties of our traditional society. I cannot look for-
ward as to an improved state of society to an Ireland
where a greatly increased population can be suppor-
ted only at the expense of a reduced standard of
living. "
42 MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985
The National Observer And The Just Society
LEXIS FitzGerald's influence never rested with
A
the Fine Gael party, over whose fortunes Sweet-
man now exerted an ever-increasing influence,
but with John A. Costello and once Costello
left office that influence lost its focus. The establishment of
the Fine Gael Research and Information Council and .the
publication of the National Observer under the joint editor-
ship of Alexis FitzGerald and his brother-in-law, Declan
Costello, was an attempt to provide an alternative focus
and to attract those who were intellectually interested in
politics by providing them with a platform in public affairs.
Alexis FitzGerald's first editorial put it more irreverently:
.•.
"The conviction which has moved us into existence is
that to obtain the new recruits, to improve the stan-
dards and to freshen the controversy of politics it is
necessary to undertake a complete reappraisal of all
aspects of national policy. All the sacred cows may
be chased around our pastures and we are not with-
out hope that some of them will expire from the ex-
haustion of the exercise. "
The paper's contributors were not confmed to party
members and included Christopher Hollis, Owen Sheehy-
Skeffington, Michael MacLiammoir, Patrick Kavanagh,
Patrick Lynch, Desmond Fennell, Desmond Williams and
Garret FitzGerald. One notable example of editorial objec-
tivity was the reaction to the Fianna Fail government's
publication of Economic Development in 1958 which it
"unreservedly welcomed as a real contribution to the res-
toration of national self-confidence."
The National Observer was short-lived. It appeared
monthly between July 1958 and April 1960 and there-
after more irregularly until it finally expired in December
1960 due to lack of financial support and the excessive
demands it made upon its editors' time.
In the meantime, in 1959, Richard Mulcahy had retired
as leader of Fine Gael. Although John A. Costello expressed
an interest in the succession he was not prepared to give up
his career at the Bar and Gerard Sweetman, who had not
forgotten their differences in 1956/7, engineered the elec-
tion of James Dillon. Alexis FitzGerald's reservations about
Dillon found expression in a National Observer editorial:
"So far from Mr Dillon being an unsafe man the real danger
that he may prove too safe ... a public man's mind must be
always kept open for new ideas, no matter from what quar-
ter they may emerge."
It is unlikely that the party hierarchy regretted the de-
mise of the National Observer and they were equally sus-
picious of the public meetings which Alexis FitzGerald and
others organised in Jury's Hotel under the auspices of the
Fine Gael Research and Information Council - this was the
genesis of his essay on Irish democracy where he reflected
on the:
"Particular need in politics for men who are prepared
honestly to advise parties out of power. Admittedly,
the man who goes fully into politics and joins a party
has got to give up some portion of the good he sees
to make room for some of the good that others see.
He has to abandon the pleasure reserved for those
who never recommend any policy other than the
best, who can always afford the unattainable, un-
realisable perfect. A man who goes into politics and
joins a party is required to have the moral stamina
(and this is a considerable requirement) of making a
 choice between two evils. He will" be required to
suffer crippling compromises, infurating concessions
and sombre boredom. He can console himself with
the knowledge that only through compromise are
institutions built and that if he is to have influence in
. and Alexis FitzGerald put considerable pressure on Garret
his society for his ideas this will never be greater than
when he is at the centre of some great institution like
a political party. "
In practice, however, Alexis FitzGerald's influence was
very much in abeyance with the triumph of the Dillon-
. Sweetman axis in the party. He was not a member of the
group which drafted the Just Society document particu-
larly associated with Declan Costello and his next major
involvement was in the events which led to Garret Fitz-
Gerald's en try in to politics.
When Garret FitzGerald first broached the subject of his
joining Fine Gael with Declan Costello over lunch at the
Unicorn in the spring of 1964 Costello told him of his own
dissatisfaction with the party leadership and of his inclina-
tion to get out of politics. But John A. Costello persuaded
his son that it would be unreasonable to leave a party un-
less it had first rejected his ideas. The outcome was Declan
Costello's hastily cobbled-together social and economic pro-
posals (the so called eight points) which were just as hastily"
accepted by a party leadership alarmed at how his seces-
sion might damage Fine Gael's electoral standing. The leve-
rage this gave him led to the Just Society document which,
although diluted by Gerard Sweetman, formed the core of
Fine Gael's 1965 election manifesto.
When the election was announced both Declan Costello
FitzGerald to run for the Dail in Dublin South East where.
John A. Costello was willing to stand down in his favour.
Although Garret refused and resisted what was a consi-
derable temptation - John A. Costello kept the seat warm
for another term - renewed pressure to run for the Senate
was applied after his outstanding television performance on
the night of the election-count.
This time Garret FitzGerald succumbed but only on the
understanding that he and Alexis would both run for the
Senate. Garret was elected but Alexis lost by the narrowest'
of margins (one-quarter of a vote) after a joint campaign
in which they received much help from Tom O'Higgins.
The first Fine Gael parliamentary party meeting after
the 1965 election saw the sudden resignation of James
Dillon as party leader and his instant succession by Liam
Cosgrave, the solitary candidate, with Gerard Sweetman
once more playing the part of king-maker. Alexis and Garret
FitzGerald and their wives were dining that night in the
Beaufield Mews and a great depression settled upon the
company when Declan Costello telephoned to say that
Cosgrave had become party leader.
In fact Alexis FitzGerald's relations with Cosgrave were
good. They were contemporaries who used go to the same
dances at the Gresham and he had long appreciated Cos-
grave's dry sense of humour; they had also worked closely
together when Cosgrave was Costello's Parliamentary Sec-
retary in 1948-51. But it was inevitable that he would gravi-
tate towards the more intellectual and social democratic
side of the party where Garret FitzGerald, given Declan
Costello's progressive disenchantment with politics, was
becoming more and more the standard-bearer.
Sweetman beat off a challenge to rename the party
"Fine Gael - Social Democratic Party" at the 1968 Ard
Fheis, but Fine Gael's fourth successive defeat in the 1969
election further eroded the credibility of the party leader-
fuip. The conservative element in the party suffered another
major reverse when Sweetman was killed in a car crash in
1970. Although Alexis FitzGerald was bitterly disappoin-
ted by the decision of Declan Costello with whom he was
always very close, not to stand for the Dail in 1969, that
same election witnessed the emergence of Garret Fitz-
Gerald as a central figure in national politics after he had
stood for John Costello's Dail seat and had headed the poll
in Dublin South East.
It was in 1969, too, that Alexis FitzGerald was first
elected to the Senate.
The Senator
EMBERSHIPof the Senate carried with it
M membership of the Fine Gael Parliamentary
Party and his intimacy with such powerful
figures as Tom O'Higgins and Garret FitzGerald
gave Alexis FitzGerald considerable prestige which he en-
hanced by his contributions to party meetings and in the
Senate. For the first time he had an influential position in
the party in his own right as distinct from the reputation
he had long enjoyed as an eminence grise.
Tension between the liberal and conservative wings of
the party increased and the dining-room in Alexis Fitz-
Gerald's home in Nutley Road was frequently the venue for
councils of war which included Tom O'Higgins, Declan Cos-
tello, Garret FitzGerald, Jim Doege and Michael Sweetman
in the late sixties and early seventies. This group were
among those labelled the "mongrel foxes" by the beleagured
Liam Cosgrave when he lashed out in self-defence at the
Ard Fheis of May 1972. Criticism within Fine Gael came to
a head during the Dail debate in December 1972 on the
Offences Against The State (Amendment) Bill about which
Cosgrave had vaccillated and only the dramatic explosion of
two bombs in central Dublin which cost two lives caused
the party to come into line behind his leadership at the last
moment. Within months, however, the healing balm of
office bound up the wounds in the party when, in March
1973, Fine Gael returned to government under Cosgrave
as Taoiseach and with Garret FitzGerald as Minister for
Foreign Affairs.
Alexis FitzGerald played two distinct roles during the
years 1969-73, first as the intimate adviser of Garret Fitz-
Gerald who made few, if any, major speeches during this
period about which he did not consult him in advance; and,
second, his role in the Senate.
"It has been the greatest honour that has been done to
me to have been elected to a house of the Irish parliament,"
44 MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985
he told his fellow senators when he first addressed them on
11 November 1969 and he frequently expressed his grati-
tude to Garret FitzGerald for being the only person ever to
have asked him to enter politics on his own account.
His contribution to the Senate was remarkable in terms
of its impact upon legislation, especially in the financial
and legal areas where he was professionally expert. He took
great pains with his Senate speeches, writing and re-writing
them, although he never lost his inhibitions about public
speaking. Some of his speeches, in the opinion of a senator
who was not of his political persuasion, "stood out for their'
meticulous attention to the most intricate pieces oflegisla-
tion. If any man justified the existence of the Senate it was
Alexis."
The Senate debates revealed how often Fianna Fail
ministers reacted sympathetically to his amendments which
sought to perfect, and not to thwart, their legislative pur-
pose. He won the particular respect of civil servants who
would sometimes approach him for advice and with whom
he would discuss at length, sometimes on the telephone,
thornier details of legislation. One Secretary of a govern-
ment department commented that "you could always tell
that Alexis was speaking in the Senate because the civil
servants took out their notebooks." Finance Bills, in parti-
cular, were food and drink to him. He would apply himself
to the task of shutting off what loopholes he could detect
Later, when they were law, he would examine them again
and again in his capacity as a solicitor seeking to uncover
still more arcane loopholes which might be to the benefit
of his clients.
Oilier speeches, however, especially in his first Senate
term, were remarkable for their philosophical content. His'
speech on the Censorship of Films Amendment Bill of 1970
was a disquisition on the relationship between art and
morality which ranged from Plato and Aristotle to Epicurus
and Cicero, to St Paul, St Augustine and St Thomas to
Bossuet, Rousseau and Voltaire, to Shakespeare and Yeats,
to Goethe and Freud, to Dewey and Alfred North White-
head, to Lord Acton (always a particular favourite), Oscar
Wilde and Jacques Maritain.
But he more commonly addressed the larger questions
of political philosophy such as the nature of liberty and
social justice, the morality of politics and the institutions
of the state. He led the attack in the Senate, for example,
on the Fianna Fail government motion establishing a trio
bunal of enquiry into RTE's 7 Days programme on un-
licensed money-lending when he questioned "the validity,
the propriety, the wisdom or even the constitutionality"
of the proposal and when he attacked the government's
"fear of criticism" as "a source of fatal mischief."
Another early speech attacked "the social injustice of
inflation" and urged "the necessity for economic manage-
ment" and "a commitment to a policy of social justice of
a peculiarly definite kind." He shared that strong streak of
anti-materialism characteristic of the Irish Catholic pro-
fessional class which he sometimes expressed in the folksiest
of language - one old friend observed that, not withstand-
ing his long years of residence in the heartland of Dublin 4,
there always remained about him something of the shrewd
countryman.
"Looking back to the earlier years of my life I think
that society here was happier when we were not over-
all as well off The moment we all got mad was when.
we were standing in the bus queues and ministers
passed in their state cars and shortly afterwards there
 were a few people who had been watching carefully
the different ways of putting money into their poc-
kets without paying the proper taxes on it and they
began to spend it. "
Although Alexis FitzGerald was no enemy of the proper-
tied class and, indeed, he once felt it necessary in 1975 to
remind the coalition government that it was important in
framing economic policy that "the timidity of capitalism
be recognised because whether we like it or not we are part
of the capitalist system," he also shared the profound dis-
taste of many successful professional men for the nouveau
riche. "It is not bad to have a lot of money," he told the
Senate, "but to spend it conspicuously or selfishly is bad."
"A private swimming pool," he insisted, "should be well
and truly taxed." Yet he himself was insulated from the
way of life of the poor and he reacted with emotion and
with horror when he encountered squalor and deprivation
while canvassing in the Dublin South West by-election of
1969.
But if Alexis FitzGerald nevertheless described himself
as belonging to "the extreme left wing" of his party on
social issues, he placed himself unambiguously on the right
in regard to law and order: "nobody would get any support
from me for any measure which threatened the security of
the state because the security of the state is the protection
of our weakest citizens." Always imbued with the pessi-
mism of the conservative, the eruption of the Northern
Ireland cataclysm followed by the Arms Trial induced in
him a mood of black despair. His greatest anxiety was the
threat posed to the institutions of the state.
"I object less to the conduct of the IRA," he had writ-
ten in 1958, "than Ido to the moral cowardice of those
who fail openly to condemn it." He now put that dictum
into practice in the Senate. "If we who are in public life do
not express ourselves with absolute truthfulness and with
absolute fidelity to the state," he warned in 1971, "then
the state is in a situation of danger greater than it has been
since it was founded." He welcomed all measures designed
to strengthen the security forces and repeatedly put on
record his readiness to "accept internment absolutely as an
extreme measure that the state is fully entitled to employ"
<.
if the threat to its survival were sufficiently grave. "I see no
theoretical reason whatsoever why this state should not
intern all armed conspirators," he declared in 1975. "The
only reason why the state should hesitate in doing so is if
it could not do it effectively and would not retain the
consensus of the support of public opinion."
His conservatism also emerged when issues of sexual
morality were discussed, particularly in the debate on the
1973 Family Planning Bill, when he angrily disputed John
Horgan's allegation that opponents of unrestricted family
planning were motivated by no more than the sexual
jealousy of the old for the young. He insisted that "there is
value in the state maintaining what is the old Christian
common law against fornication in so far as it is prudent
for it to do so," although he also quoted Lord Chester-
field's more worldly axiom on the subject: "the pleasure
is momentary, the position is ridiculous and the expense
damnable." But he refused to accept the liberal proposi-
tion "that the law cannot be used to enforce standards of
public morality."
Special Adviser To The Government
HE mid-seventies had been a bad time for
T Alexis FitzGerald. Politically, his role in the
party was less important when Fine Gael were
in government from 1973-1977 as he never had
the kind of access to Cosgrave as Taoiseach or to Richie
Ryan as Minister for Finance that he had enjoyed with Cos-
tello and McGilligan. Garret FitzGerald, moreover, had
been denied the Finance portfolio and, as Minister for
Foreign Affairs, was frequently abroad. Declan Costello, to
his father's particular irritation, had not been made a minis-
ter but was relatively isolated as Attorney General. Perso-
nally, Alexis FitzGerald was caught up in the family tragedy
of the illness and death of his first wife, Grace, in 1972
which accentuated his ever-present vulnerability to dep-
ression and insomnia and which for a time thereafter threa-
tened to overwhelm him when he fell prey to too much
alcohol and too many sleeping pills. But his strength of
character eventually prevailed with the support of his chil-
dren and of his subsequent marriage to Barbara Sweetman,
whose own first husband had also died in 1972 in the catas-
trophic Staines air-crash.
He began to emerge yet again as a figure of consequence
within Fine Gael when they returned to opposition in 1977
and when Garret FitzGerald succeeded Liam Cosgrave as
party leader, although he played no real part in the party
reorganisation which absorbed almost all of the new leader's
energies over the next two years.
Although he was a member of the Fine Gael strategy
committee which masterminded the 1981 election campaign
he attended rarely and he was intensely suspicious of the
marketing and PR techniques which the committee used so
effectively. The difference was one of style as well as of
generation and the very phrase "National Handlers" well
summed up all that set them apart from FitzGerald to whose
more measured and quasi-philosophical contributions they
listened with barely disguised impatience.
But, the election over, it was not the "National Hand-
lers" but Alexis FitzGerald and another long time political
confidant, Jim Dooge, who accompanied Garret FitzGerald
to the secret Sandymount talks with Labour Party leader,
Michael 0 'Leary. Here the terms of the coalition pact were
hammered out and then presented to both parties as a fait
accompli.
Alexis FitzGerald was always an ardent supporter of
coalition, not merely as a strategy for winning political
power but also on ideological grounds. He saw it as a way
of getting powerful in terest groups in society, such as trade
unions, to assume responsibility for their political actions.
The Labour leader found him generally helpful and coopera-
tive in the negotiations on all issues other than divorce. And
he did not object when Garret FitzGerald raised the ques-
tion of his appointment as Special Adviser as soon as he be-
came Taoiseach. That appointment was the first decision
agreed by the new cabinet after ministers had received their
seals of office and met briefly in Arus an Uachtarain (al-
though at least one Fine Gael Minister, John Kelly, demurred)
and it was announced by the Taoiseach at the same time
as he announced the composition of his government.
Michael O'Leary at first assumed that Garret FitzGerald
wanted Alexis to act as Special Adviser to him as Taoiseach
and his appointment as Special Adviser to the Government
caused a flurry of concern among Labour ministers who
feared that what was intended was that he should have an
overview of departmental papers over their heads. But this
'misapprehension, in Labour circles still smarting from their
effective exclusion from the secret Sandymount talks, was
quickly corrected when his terms of reference were clari-
fied.
Alexis FitzGerald sat close to the Taoiseach at the cabi-
net table and, conscious that some ministers never fully
accepted his presence, did not speak without first seeking
agreement that he should do so. When he did speak, he
generally endorsed the view of the majority and his contri-
butions were designed to ameliorate, rather than to provoke
or to compound, controversy.
His more important contributions were made outside
the cabinet room when he was sometimes able to play a
modest role behind the scenes in smoothing out differences
which had arisen at senior official level between Depart-
ments. The delineation of ministerial demarcation lines be-
tween Michael O'Leary and John Kelly after the creation of
the Department of Industry and Energy was a case in point.
Another example was his involvement in a review of indus-
trial policy undertaken in that Department which aimed to
establish a tax-based leasing system to give the banks and
other financial institutions credit for investment to lease
back to industry and about which he opened discussions
with other Departments.
Alexis Fitzflerald believed that his appointment as
Special Adviser marked the apogee of his career. He had
good cause to do so. The appoin tmen twas, and seems likely
to remain, a unique tribute to his extraordinary reputation
for wisdom and for good counsel. But circumstances con-
spired to prevent his making the most of the remarkable
role he had been given. He was only weeks short of his sixty-
fifth birthday when he was appointed and much of the rest-
less energy which had so characterised his contribution to
the Costello governments had long since been spent. Indeed
some of those closest to him believe he was already an ill
man, suffering from the earliest depredations of the cancer
which ultimately killed him.
Nor was his effectiveness enhanced by the floodlight
of the public stage for which he had no relish but which he
could not now avoid. He was irritated and embarrassed by
the media publicity and political controversy surrounding
his appointment. Indeed it was strangely ironic that some-
one who had always disdained the vulgar abuse which was
part of the currency of Irish party politics suddenly found
himself the object of just such abuse. And he was hurt by
the attack which Charlie Haughey launched as Leader of
the Opposition in the Dail on 8 July 1981 when he des-
cribed him as "somebody who is now being imported into
the public service by the back door," and his appointment
as "a scandalous example of cronyism." Such accusations
took their toll notwithstanding the convictions of both
Taoiseach and Special Adviser that they were baseless and
notwithstanding the vigour with which the Taoiseach defen-
ded his appointment in the Dail.
In fact the unorthodoxy of the appointment was a by-
product of Garret FitzGerald's highly unorthodox percep-
tion of the party which he led. Although Garret FitzGerald
and John A. Costello were never close and had little else in
common - even today the Taoiseach habitually refers to
his predecessor as "Mr Costello" - both were curiously
insulated from the mainstream of their party's internal
politics. Indeed their middle years were largely devoted to
professional careers outside politics - the Bar in Costello's
case; his career as an economist in Aer Lingus, as a lecturer
in UCD and as a journalist in FitzGerald's.
Scornful of those whom he despised as party hacks and
uneasy in the company of those on the right of the party
whose star was in the ascendant during Liam Cosgrave's
government, Garret FitzGerald sought the comfort and
support in the cabinet room of some with whom he was
both socially and intellectually at ease. Hence his appoint-
ment not only of Alexis FitzGerald but also of Senator Jim
Dooge as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Once exposed to the extraordinary pressures of the
Taoiseach's office, however, Garret FitzGerald quickly
formed intimate working relationships with departmental
officials, some of whom had already won his confidence
when he had been Minister for Foreign Affairs and whom
he had seconded from that department. So it was that,
although Alexis FitzGerald was given a room just down the
corridor from the Taoiseach's, he had to compete with
others for the Taoiseach's ear and he rarely enjoyed quite
the kind of unrestricted access he might have anticipated.
Indeed he was occasionally heard to complain that he could
get no time with the Taoiseach. It happened at least once
that a paper which he prepared on the assumption that it
would be circulated to the cabinet never got beyond the
Taoiseach's desk.
The frenetic tempo of Garret FitzGerald's first govern-
ment, moreover, hamstrung by the precariousness of its
Dail majority which made for a hand-to-mouth existence,
was singularly ill-suited to Alexis FitzGerald's reflective
temperament and philosophical disposition. Crisis manage-
ment was the order of the day and others in the Taoiseach's
Department felt that the very fertility of Alexis FitzGerald's
mind and the breadth of his interests made it difficult for
him quickly to focus on a single issue. Worse still, from
Alexis FitzGerald's perspective, was the fact that he was
quite out of sympathy with the Taoiseach and with the pre-
vailing departmental mood on the single issue which so
dominated the short life of that government: the hunger-
strikes in Northern Ireland.
Mention has already been made of the deep depression
which the eruption of the Northern Ireland crisis induced
in Alexis FitzGerald and he was present with Tom O'Hig-
gins and Michael Sweetman on the historic occasion when
Garret FitzGerald first met John Hume in Ivan Cooper's
house in Derry in December 1969. His own instincts, how-
ever, led him to distrust Garret FitzGerald's self-confessed
loyalty to Northern Ireland, as distinct from his loyalty to
this state, and he tended to warn him against too obsessive
an involvement in Northern Irish affairs. Such advice fell
on deaf ears at the height of the hunger-strikes and led to
some loss of intimacy with the Taoiseach.
Indeed one of Alexis FitzGerald's oldest friends, who is
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 47
also one of the most discreet and evasive of witnesses,
unequivocally asserted that "he had absolutely no interest
in the North - none. He felt it would be much better for-
gotten than taken seriously." It was one of the few issues
on which he was closer to Liam Cosgrave than to Garret
FitzGerald.
But this negative attitude towards Northern Ireland must
be set in the context of his positive and intense commit-
ment to the institutions of this state and his fears for their
survival; and we have already seen how strongly he spoke
upon this subject in the Senate in the early seventies. Al-
though he welcomed the proposed deletion from the Con-
stitution of the article giving a special place to the Catholic
church on the grounds that it showed a "lack of generosity
one never expects to find in a legal document" and had
given Ireland "a bad name", he explicitly repudiated "the
view that the chief obstacle to the unity ofIrishmen in this
country is the influence of the Catholic church." But he in-
sisted that "the main objective of public policy here must
be, not unity, but peace." He was not among those who re-
joiced in the collapse of the Northern Ireland government
in 1972. "We have been overpleased with the destruction of
Stormont," he warned and, in a classically conservative
statement, he argued that:
"The objective of destruction is not a good one and
we have not fully savoured all the consequences of
the fall of Stormont. If loyalties of passionate men
are set footloose it raises questions as to where they
are going to be fastened. "
He returned to the theme of Irish unity ill a Senate
speech in July 1974 when he predicted that "the unity of
Ireland is a unity which will. be achieved no more success-
fully than unity within a nation is ever achieved." What
sets such speeches apart is their historical sense of pride
in the achievements of Irish nationalism in the twentieth
century: "the very success of our winning, establishing,
maintaining and developing successfully Irish indepen-
dence." That success, he insisted:
"Was due to patience, constant acceptance of com-
promise, constant recognition of the daily realities we
had in the building up of independence .... There is
nothing inevitable about these matters. There are
ruins of states in Eastern Europe which conducted
their affairs on the basis that their histone claims
were due for realisation and would be certainly rea-
lised. "
It was sentiments such as these which also set him apart
from party colleagues in his readiness to pay generous tri-
bute to Eamon de Valera in an essay published in Studies
on the occasion of de Valera's death and in another essay
published in The Irish Times on the centenary of his birth
in 1982 where he wrote that "de Valera's major achieve-
ment was in rendering legitimate the institutions of the
. State and creating that broad consensus of support which
gives them the strength they have." He appreciated, too,
de Valera's "practical political skill" as well as "the reality
of his religious commitment." And it is in this essay also
that we find the crystalisation of a political philosophy
which must have sat uneasily with the desperate day-to-
day concerns of a government striving to settle the hunger-
strike.
He deplored the excesses of nationalist ideology and in-
sisted that "nations have no more (they may have less)
divine rights than kings whose rights have long since been
abandoned as insupportable." In politics, he argued, "there
are problems which are as insoluble as the incurable con-
cerns which afflict the physical body."
Such pessimism contrasts starkly with the optimism
which characterises Garret FitzGerald's approach to the
political process and is another reason why he did not re-
new Alexis FitzGerald's appointment as Special Adviser
when he formed his second government. Neither man regar-
ded the experiment as a success and some of those who
were closest to Alexis are convinced that, although he
would have liked to have been invited to serve again, he
would have declined.
Last Years
LEXIS FitzGerald had still been senior partner
A
in McCann, FitzGerald, Sutton, Dudley in July
1981 when he was appointed Special Adviser to
the Government. He then immediately severed
'all connections with the firm, which was a very consider-
able financial sacrifice, in order to avoid any possible con-
flict of interest. He returned to the firm as chairman after
the government fell early in 1982 but he did not reoccupy
the pre-eminent position he had filled for the previous
thirty years. His responsibilities were largely administrative
and he did less and less work directly for clients, but he
would make exceptions in the case of personal friends.
Although his health began to fail visibly shortly thereafter
his intellectual curiosity was unimpaired.
He had a particular intellectual passion, which began
some time in the early seventies, for theology and for bib-
lical studies and he often spoke to friends about "how
wonderful it was to discover a new intellectual influence in
one's fifties."
He read as voraciously as ever and one eminent authority
reflected that the wealth of glosses and annotations scribbled
in his personal copy of the bible would have done credit to
a professional scholar. He became specially enamoured of
the massive and scholarly six-volume work on The Glory of
God by the German theologian Hans Drs Von Balthasar
and he may well have been the first person in Ireland to
read the two volumes (of some 800 pages each) which have
been translated into English.
One of the last times he appeared in public was when he
went to hear Hans Kung when he sat in, what were for him,
conditions of acute discomfort for over three hours. But his
air of self-mockery was as evident in regard to theology as
in other things and he shrank from taking it too seriously
or from having others take him too seriously. His was essen-
tially a simple faith and he was never a pious man who
sought to impose his theological interests on those who did
not share them .
His interest in theology was very much part of his more
general intellectual and political interests. He became very
in terested in Wittgenstein near the very end of his life as he
was attracted by Wittgenstein's view that religious belief
could exist independently of philosophy.
The importance of the church, in his view, was as a con-
tinuing community which provided a service for people's
relationship with God and with each other rather than as an
end in itself. He had a strong sense of weakness, perhaps
even of evil, and his profession as a solicitor left him few
illusions about human frailty. But neither his bouts of
depression nor his belief in the virtue of Christian scepti-
cism undermined his sense of hope about humanity.
Yet his pessimism led him to recognise the possibility
that the Christian position might become a minority posi-
tion. He was fond of paraphrasing Cyril Connolly's aphorism
- "it is closing time in the Gardens of the West" - and in
his 1980 interview with Andy O'Mahony he spoke of the
need to avoid the "anarchic consequences of a collapse of
authority". But, for him, authority must be founded on
respect and he worried about the failure of the Catholic
church in Ireland to offer "the excitement of a challenge".
He admired intelligence in bishops as in statesmen and he
despaired at the contemporary decline in the intellectual
calibre of Irish church leaders.
"Courage in bearing a decline in natural powers is ...
the ally and the servant of noble living," wrote Alexis
FitzGerald in his obituary essay on de Valera, and he
commended him as an example of the Platonic text "that
what life is about is learning how to die." Alexis Fitz-
Gerald had learnt that lesson well and, even at the end, he
never lost what his own obituary in The Times described
as his "quizzical, almost impish sense of humour and great
personal charm." Indeed those who were closest to him
were amazed at the extraordinary demands he would make
upon his fading reserves to make his visitors relax and to
put at ease, above all, those who were uncomfortable in
the presence of the dying.
In an autobiographical fragment written in 1975 or 1976
in which he referred to himself as having constantly expec-
ted death for many years, Alexis FitzGerald wrote that if
he died then:
"History would record that without a penny in his
pocket by hard work (a) he became the youngest
university lecturer at that time appointed and for
twenty years so continued, although only part-time,
in two entirely different subjects and faculties, in one
case inaugurating in Dublin the first set of lectures on
a new subject; (b) he believes that at least as much as
anyone else he saved the Fine Gael party for which
he worked for twenty-five years without even form-
ing an ambition of holding any office until elected
Senator in 1969 ... ; (c) he built up the biggest firm
of solicitors in Ireland with the emphasis on skill and
rapid advancement for promising young people. "
He might have added Paddy .Lynch's considered post-
humous opinion that "he had more influence on economic
policy than any politician or civil servant since the state was
founded." But he could not then have been expected to
know that the quality of his counsel was yet to achieve, in
his appointment as Special Adviser to the Government,
recognition of a kind never accorded to anyone before and
unlikely to be accorded to anyone again. •
MAGILL SEPTEMBER 1985 49
 here won't be any English League
T soccer on English television before
October. There may be no soccer at
all on BBC and lTV this season, except
for international matches and the FA
Cup final.
Bad news for armchair sports fans
across the water, this was not neces-
sarily bad news for Irish soccer fans.
In fact, thanks to some brilliant wheel-
ing and dealing by the RTE Sports
Department the Irish sporting weekend
was to be revolutionised by live screen-
ing of fifteen top English League
matches on Saturday afternoons
throughout the winter.
The Sports Department plan was to
broadcast the live games each Saturday
except when rugby internationals or
top racing meetings claimed priority.
Alas, I use the past tense to describe
what would have been one of R TE's
greatest broadcasting coups because
Kenny Sansom, compulsive gambler Graham Rix, banned from driving
the Utopian (if soccer is your game)
plan has been scuppered by ... The Did the legislators North of the border great (no sarcasm intended) Karl
Boys From Merrion Square. lift a finger to protect the game down McGinty claimed thatShels had been
Not content with foisting Eoin here? No. And indeed' why should taken over by an' American/Irish
Hand upon us, rendering the Famous they? millionaire named Carey. Mr Carey,
Fried Chicken game a laughing stock As things stand you won't be getting together with Irish shipping magnate
through maladministration and gener- English soccer live in the months (I didn't know we had any either)
ally cocking-up everything they touch ahead. There is hope, however, for r Paddy Finnegan, announced that he
the men who have emptied Lansdowne understand that RTE intends to fight intended to make Shels "not just one
Road have now turned their attention back. The Famous Chicken League of the top clubs in Ireland but one of
to armchair sports fans. At their recent does need television exposure and the the top clubs in Europe."
meeting the League of Ireland clu bs - few bob that goes with it. Let us hope This promise was made in the Shel-
all twenty-four of them (there is now that common sense prevails and that bourne Hotel (no relation) at a bash to
a second division) - vetoed RTE's RTE can prevent our football adminis- launch the new Shels. Among those in
plans for live English soccer. trators dealing yet another blow to attendance were Mr Tone E. Byrne,
There is an international agreement the nation's football fans. chairman for life (retired) of the old
that rules that television can only Shels, his friend John Giles and his
show soccer with the consent of the friend Tim O'Connor, RTE television's
local football association. This regula- new Head of Sport. Later that evening
tion is designed to ensure that, for o you remember Shelbourne? The
example,
from
RTE would be prevented
screening Manchester United/
D old Shelbourne that is - the club
the three distinguished
me in my humble
gents visited
hospital bed to
that seemed to be forever traumatised cheer me up. When I expressed my
Liverpool in direct opposition to Shel- as directors fought with each other, customary scepticism about the new
bourne/St Patricks. But as this was not took each other to court (on the last million dollar Shels I was assured that
going to happen in this case why did occasion for assault), accused each things were on the level. Carey really
the Chicken Chumps exercise their other of everything from larceny to did exist. He was a friend of Jimmy
veto? Why did they deny Irish soccer fraud and finally towards the end of Carter. What is more, according to
lovers this unprecedented treat? last season split so that there were in Tone E. - who despite selling his
You won't believe this but my effect two boards of directors? majority shareholding, will still rep-
mole at the crucial meeting is empha- Well, the good news is that there is resent Shels in Merrion Square -
tic; the boys wiped Man Utd/Liverpool a new Shelbourne. Having narrowly millionaire Carey's family "goes back
live off the R TE screens to protect the avoided relegation last season Ireland's five generations." f must admit to
game ... wait for it ... not their own oldest soccer club was, as it were, given being less than convinced by this last
Chicken Game, but the game in the a new image during the summer. testimonial, for, as I pointed out to
North where they play on Saturday . Lying in a hospital bed recovering the ex-chairman for life, as I under-
afternoons. Such solidarity would be from surgery (having the chips re- stand it all families go back five gene-
touching if it were not for an astonish- moved) I was delighted to read in my rations.
ing fact. For the past two seasons live Evening Herald the following headline: Since that night the New Million
English League and Cup games have "Shels In Million Dollar League". To Dollar Shels have appointed Paddy
been transmitted on Sundays in direct be fair I can't remember the exact Mulligan manager and signed some
competition with Chicken football. wording but the story written by the decent players. When I met Brian
 Clough's friend last week he was opti-
mistic. "We are 33/1 for the Chicken
League," Mulligan informed me, "you
should get on now." I pass on the tip
for what it's worth.
egular readers will remem ber
R David Dein , the Arsenal director
whose friendship with the players
caused so much trouble when Terry
Neill was manager. Neill felt strongly
and bitterly that Dein's gossiping with
out-of-favour players cost him one of
English football's best jobs. Dein, a
whizz-kid of the type Arsenal would
not have entertained in their hallowed
halls years ago, is rich. He literally
bought his directorship for £300,000
(sterling) .
Since Neill's departure, Dein has
risen to become vice-chairman. He
continues to socialise with the stars,
notably Graham Rix, the former cap-
tain, Tony Woodcock, the England
striker, and Charlie Nicholas, the man-
about-town. Irish international David
O'Leary is not a member of Arsenal's
~low-life set. David goes home after
games and is not therefore one of the
four Highbury players currently banned
for drink/driving offences. Rumour
has it that toxic substances other than
alcohol are also being dabbled with
behind manager Don Howe's straight
back.
As a result of all this Arsenal's 300
shareholders were in an angry mood
when they met in a London hotel this
week. The club has made a mediocre
start to the season. Former skipper
Rix is among the four banned from
driving, his successor Kenny Sansom
is a self-confessed compulsive gam bler,
and many of the rumours of dressing-
room unrest are confirmed in a book
published by Tony Woodcock last
week. As someone close to the High-
bury dressingroorn put it to me
recently, "There is a sickness in that
club."
Fairly or unfairly, David Dein is
held responsible by many traditiona-
lists for the club's newly-acquired low-
life image. Moves to unseat the vice-
chairman failed this week because with
1,167 shares he is the club's largest
single shareholder.
Ironically, the man most likely to
suffer for all of this is Don Howe, one
of the strictest disciplinarians in the
English game. Honest and dedicated
though he is, Howe is unlikely to sur-
vive a spell of bad results. Given the
cosy relationship between Dein and
'the more colourful characters in the
dressingroorn , the chances are that the
next Arsenal manager will need player.
approval before he gets the jo b.
here will be two Chicken Leagues
T this season, a Premier (sic) Division
and a newly-constituted First Division.
Things have already started to go
wrong. Sporting Club Thurles (that
name has an unconvincing ring to it),
. elected to the new league, have dropped
out before a ball was kicked. This club
.had no ground, no players and as far
as this observer can make out was
little more than a figment of some-
body's imagination. -e:
EMFA (nobody knows what the
letters stand for) is real and will rep-
resent Kilkenny in Division One.,
EMFA's manager is Jimmy Rattigan.
Previewing the new season Jimmy
heaped praise on player/coach Milo
Breen. Milo's credentials for the job
look impeccable. He spent thirteen
years with EMF A before moving to
Waterford last season. He has returned
now that EMF A are in the big-time. So
far, Rattigan tells us, "Milo has had
99.9% turnout and commitment from
the squad of eighteen players." An
interesting statistic that. According to
my calculations somebody is leaving
some crucial part of their anatomy at
home.
 he draw in the two All-Ireland
T football semi-finals has suggested
to many an improved standard in the
game outside of Kerry and Dublin,
but a more realistic assessment would
suggest that the standard in the two
premier counties has declined to the
level of the others.
Certainly, there is little about the
present Kerry and Dublin teams to
suggest that either is in the same league
as their predecessors of three, five or
ten years ago and this is an estimation
based not on nostalgia but on cold
calculation.
Take the Kerry team.
Certainly, the goalkeeper, Charlie
Neligan is as good as he has ever been
Jack Maloney assesses the quality
of the Dublin and Kerry football
teams and concludes that Gaelic
football is in decline.
and, arguably, the full back line of
Paudi O'Shea, Sean Walsh and Mick
Spillane has claims to be as good as
that of Jimmy Deenihan, John
O'Keeffe and Ger O'Keeffe. The half
back line of Gerry Lynch, Tom Spil-
lane and Tommy Doyle is not as im-
pressive as that of Paudi O'Shea (when
he played right half back), Tim Ken-
nelly and Paudi Lynch, although, to
be fair, it is not far behind.
The unfavourable comparison begins
from there onwards. Jack O'Shea,
in spite of some majestic performan-
ces - for instance in the second half
in the first match against Monaghan
and at centre back in the second match
seems to have 10,8tthe elan that
made him one of the all-time "greats"
of even a year ago. Ambrose O'Dono-
van is not at all in the same class as
Sean Walsh, was, for instance in the
finals of 1980 and '81. O'Donovan,
regrettably, in terms of the great Kerry
teams, is an also-ran.
But it is among the forwards that
the most unfavourable comparisons
emerge. Quite simply, the sheer pace
and class that was stamped all over the
Kerry forward line of Spillane (Pat),
Moran, Power, Egan, Liston and

Sheehy, of the 1980 and '81 vintage
is not departed.
Pat Spillane is almost in the same
class' as he WaS then but all the others,
with the possible exception of Liston,
have lost their sparkle and of course
John Egan, perhaps the most brilliant
of them all, has departed.
T here was a magic moment for
Kerry -ironically in the year that
they failed to make it five in a row, in
,1982 - that summed up the class of
that team. This was in the semi-final
against Armagh. It was a passing move-
ment out of defence which yielded a
mere point. But in the execution of
the move, which began in the Kerry
goalmouth, nine Kerry players were in-
volved, two of these twice, and not a
single Armagh hand or foot touched
the ball.
It started with Jack 0 'Shea fielding
a high ball on the Kerry goal line. He
kicked across field to Paudi Lynch
who had a little difficulty in control-
ling it but then passed swiftly to Paudi
O'Shea. He handpassed it on to Ger
O'Keeffe, who passed on to Mickey
Sheehy, who was way out of his custo-
mary position, back deep in the Kerry
defence. He kicked up along the right
wing to Tom Spillane, who gathered
the ball at speed, running back towards
the Kerry goal. He transferred swiftly
to Ger Power, who punched on up the
wing to John Egan. Power then accele-
rated onwards, taking a short pass at
full speed from Egan, just inside the
Armagh half. Power carried the ball on
deep into the Armagh half, before
transferring in to Jack O'Shea, who
had run the length of the field and was
now on the verge of the Armagh square.
He kicked back inwards to Owen Liston
who kicked a point.
It was in the Brazilian football
class and underlined the cohesion and
sheer speed of the Kerry attack.
Although there were flashes of
Kerry greatness, especially from the
two 0 'Sheas, Pat Spillane and Owen
Liston (before he was rightly sent off'
in the replay against Monaghan), there
was nothing of the class of that move .•..
of only three years ago.
T he contrast between the present
Dublin side and that of the mid-
seventies side is even more stark. John
O'Leary is as good as Paddy Cullen,
but the full back line of Ro bbie Kelle-
her, Sean Doherty and Gay O'Driscoll
is hardly matched by the line of Mick
Kennedy, Gerry Horgan and Ray
Hanley. Dublin had a marvellous half
back line eight years ago of Tommy
Drumm, Kevin Moran and Pat O'Neill
- it was in an entirely different class
to that of Pat Canavan, Mick Holden
and Ned McCaffrey.
The Brian Mullins of today has
more grit and guile than the Brian
Mullins of yesteryear but he has no-
thing like the same mobility. But,
more critically, at midfield, Jim
Ronayne wouldn't have held a candle
to Bernard Brogan, perhaps the clas-
siest player in the Dublin team of the
seventies.
The Dublin half forward line of
Anton O'Toole, Tony Hanahoe and
David Hickey, was perhaps the greatest
the game ever saw when they were
at their height. Only Barney Rocke
matches their class today from the half
forward line that now includes Ciaran
Duff, when not out of favour for what-
ever reason.
Jimmy Keaveney was one of the
outstanding players of yesteryear -
he has no equal in the present full
forward line, although Bobby Doyle
and John McCarthy, of the team of
the last decade, were not in the same
class as their peers.
Overall, little has been learned in
Gaelic football in the last five years.
The innovations were all introduced
by Kevin Heffernan and Mick O'Dwyer
almost ten years ago, and nobody
seems to have had a new idea since
then.
The uncertain rules of the game
haven't helped of course and neither
has uncertain refereeing.
But then the weather is worse now
than it was then as well. •
AT A RECEPTION last week to an-
nounce the opening of Ireland's first
"Satellite Dish Store" a demonstration
was given of the extra channels now
beaming down into Ireland!
Mr Derek May, Managing Director,
said "Satellite TV is a fact of modern
life and the Irish people shall definitely
want more choice as extra channels
become available through this exciting
development. "
The Satellite Store intends to sell
to the public and trade, with the pre-
sent retail price of £2,800 plus ten
per cent VAT. For that a customer can
expect six extra channels in English
with at least that amount in other lan-
guages.
Government legislation is expected
shortly to regularise this fast develop-
ing area which already has generated
a great deal of interest.
Derek, Gerard and John May have
been in the television aerial business
for over twenty years and they see this
as a logical step in their efforts to pro-
vide the best for their customers.
It is worth noting that ordinary TV

receivers are all that is necessary to Commenting on the sponsorship Mr

connect up to the Satellite Dish and
associated equipment. The vital poin t
is a reputable company to install this
technical equipment with a commit-
ment to a good back-up service. John
May Aerials Ltd has earned a first class
reputation over the years and their
staff are now in process of training.
The dish aerial can be mounted in a
corner of anyone's garden and are
attractive to look at compared to the
unsightly aerials dominating the city
skyline.
*****
GILBEYS OF IRELAND has spon-
sored a 1940s bi-plane which is avail-
able for sports events, festivals and
other public occasions. The aircraft
is decked out in the Smirnoff logo
and colours and will perform aerobatic
displays throughout Ireland.
The bi-plane, now Irish based, is a
1940s Starnpe which was used by the
French Air Force. One of only three in
Ireland, the structure of the aircraft
is basically wood and linen braced
with steel. This ensures a very strong
body. which is particularly suitable
'for aerobatic displays.
Mark Wilson, brand manager for Srnir-
noff said, "Flying and aerobatics are.
exciting sports which fit excellently
with the brand image we wish to pro-.
mote. In addition we believe that the
public of all ages have a special nostal-
gia for the old bi-planes which are
beautiful aircraft."
*****
RADIO 2 FINALISED arrangements
to present the first man and woman
over the line in this year's Radio 2
Dublin City Marathon with a spectacu-
lar extra prize.
The winning man and winning
woman will each receive a gleaming
new Nissan Micra HI-DX to reward
their marathon efforts, in addition to
the traditional Dublin Crystal trophies.
The Mieras, each valued at almost
£7,000, are famous for their economy
and recently emerged as the most
reliable cars in their class in a major
survey in Germany.
This development in Ireland's big-
gest mass participation sporting event
should provide it with an even further
boost, in addition to the new faster
course and £5,000 extra prize fund for
leading runners. A huge increase in
top-class international participation is
expected as a result.
THOSE WHO seek an insight into the
acceptance of Section 31 out in RTE
might have a look at the March 18 issue
of Fortnight. There, one of RTE's
most respected and responsible pro-
ducers, Peter Feeney, published a letter
which defined the limits of what is
"politically acceptable" in RTE.
"Solutions, theories, ideologies
"heard on radio stay within what
is politically acceptable. The
determination of what is accept-
able comes from a consensus
that emerges from opinionmakers
(politicians, journalists, commen-
tators, spokespeople for pressure
groups, churchmen, etc). The
Provisional IRA operate outside
that consensus."
That was the first we heard of this
"consensus". Who set up the structure
for this, who determines which of the
conflicting solutions and theories are
"consensual"? We know the Provos are
outside it, but who is inside it? Is the
UDA part of it? What about the British
army, surely they must be part of it?
What about the people of, say, Bally-
murphy who are not in the IRA, are
they part of it? Not to mention the
people of Dublin's inner city? How do
they take part in arriving at this con-
sensus?
There is, of course, no consensus.
And the problem is not whether the
Provos are on TV or not. The problem
is the "deconsensualising" of whole
areas of political debate and investi-
gation.
Peter Feeney is, of course, dead
right in his conclusion if not in his
analysis. What is reported on Radio
and TV is what is "politically accept-
able" to those who control it.
J
Example: in 1983 some RTE jour-
nalists did preliminary work on a
major case involving a miscarriage of.
justice, one which is now frequently
quoted in criminal law. The debate
on the Criminal Justice Bill began.
The story was squashed because it
might look as though the programme-
makers were undermining the gardai,
and therefore being subversive.
•
Example: during the count in the
Fermanagh-South Tyrone by-election
following the death of Bobby Sands
RTE journalists were openly saying
- and only half in jest - that they
were rooting for the unionist, Ken
Maginnis. Not because they particu-
larly supported his politics but be-
cause if he won they could do their
job and interview him. When Owen
Carron won the microphones were
packed up.
When there is a development within
the "consensus" it.is reported and ex-
plained. When the development is
outside the "consensus" it is reported,
left unanalysed (except by those
within the "consensus"), unexplained.
The voice of Owen Carron is neither
here nor there, the stilled voices of
the 30,000 who voted for him are
ruled out of the imaginary "consen-
sus" because they are not "politically
acceptable" to those in power.
There is nothing wrong with all
this if you accept that kind of society.
What is wrong is when you purport to
subscribe to a social democratic form
of society. Then you have to start
inventing crude devices like the "con-
sensus" as defined by the vested in-
terests in power. The "consensus" in
1943, as defined by Frank Aiken,
was that James' Dillon's speeches
should not be reported by the media.
It's amazing the kind of people who
can become "subversive" when their
opponents control the "emergence".
of a "consensus".
 IN THE COURSE of researching the
article on censorship it occurred to us
to test the extent to which informa-
tion is kept from the public. In theory
we employ all those politicians and
civil servants and when we want to
know what's happening we have a
right to the information, within ob-
vious limits.
We asked routine questions. Only
one related to policy. We asked no-
thing which members of the public
were not clearly entitled to know. In
two cases we asked similar questions in
other jurisdictions, for comparison
sake.
*******
GIVEN THE MANNER in which the
Irish Business story on ACC was banned
we felt entitled to ask the state what
exactly is the legal authority under
which a judge can hold proceedings
in camera. This is a matter of'Irnrne-,
diate public inferest. ---
We rang the Department of Justice.
We were told they don't give legal ad-
vice. We asked was there no one in the
Department who would or could in-
form the public of the legal authority
under which secret court proceedings
were being held. We were told to hire
a solicitor, who might be able to answer
the question.
* ** *** *
WE THEN RANG the Attorney Gene-
ral's office and asked the same ques-
tion. We were told that the Attorney
General's staff advises the Attorney
General on how to advise the govern-
ment on legal matters. They do not
advise the public.
An official, being helpful, used an
analogy. "If you hire a barrister he
will give you advice on your case. But
he wouldn't, of course, advise your
opponen ts."
So, according to the Attorney
General's office, the public is the
government's opponent.
*******
WE RANG THE Department of Justice
to ask wlo was the last person to be
hanged in the State. "Sorry," they said.
"We don't give out that information."
We rang the Home Office in Britain
with the same question. They said,
"Certainly, sir (honest), hold the line."
62 MAGILL SEPTEMBER ~85
They came back after about a minute
and said that the last two people
hanged were Gwynn Evans in Liver-
pool and Peter Allen in Manchester,
for the same murder, in 1964. The
last woman hanged (we hadn't asked)
was Ruth Ellis in 1955.
*******
_ .going.to.make a comment."
WE THEN RANG the Garda Press
Office. How many members of the
force have been charged with criminal
offences in the last year. "I don't
think we have that statistic." They
don't. Or if they had they wouldn't
tell us.
We rang the RUC and asked the
same question. "That statistic would
be in the Chief Constable's report."
They immediately put a copy in the
post. Eight members ofthe force were
charged with twelve criminal offences
last year, as a result of 3,045 com-
plaints from the public.
*******
WE FELT AN urge to know what the
Taoiseach that we elected had to say
about unionist attempts to ban Sinn
Fein Councillors from attending coun-
cil meetings in Northern Ireland. We
thought it was something which might
have crossed his mind. We decided to
ask the Government Information Ser-
vice.
"I don't think he has anything to
say on that," said someone in GIS.
"The Taoiseach himself doesn't meet
with Sinn Fein Councillors. Northern
Ireland is outside the jurisdiction,
anyway." So has he no view on it at
all? "Try ringing Peter Prendergast."
We did.
"The Taoiseach's on holidays at the
moment," he said. "Try ringing Dick
O'Brien in Foreign Affairs - it's really
Peter Barry's area."
We tried Foreign Affairs. "I've
never seen any comment on it - I
don't know if they would say anything.
We'll check and get back to you."
Later that day they had checked
and got back to us. "The Department
has never made a comment and is not
* ******
A WARM welcome back to the Irish
Press. As regular readers, however, we
are a bit disconcerted by the lunge
down-market which the front page has
taken. The Irish Press always had a
good front page, but nowadays there's
something askew. "Ouch, Minister",
said the first one back, setting the tone
for things to come. The tabloid style
sits odd on the broadsheet page. For
one, the top line of the headline
shouldn't run over to the right of the
page, being squashed up into the mast-
head by the regular right-side photo.
Push the photo up and hold the head-
line in a rectangle on the left, folks.
Other gems have included "New
York Joyride", "Don't Go Mad",
"Steel On The Brink" and "Jamie IS
a He-Man" (Ouch, Tim Pat). Our
favourite was "Washout For Home
Holidays", as the frontpage lead on
the day of the largest single plane
disaster in aviation history.
The rest of the paper hasn't gone so
far down-market, except the Maureen
Cairn duff page, which would be right
at home between Micheline and Fr
Trendy in the Sunday World. It's
early days yet and it is interesting
watching a paper retrain its guns on
another part of the market. But please
spare us "Gotcha", "Phew, What A
Scorcher" and "No News Today".