Memories of papal visit tarnished by abuse scandals

I was 10-years-old when Pope John Paul II made his celebrated visit to Ireland in September 1979. I can still vividly recall standing on a train station platform as the Aer Lingus 747 carrying him descended on Dublin, escorted by the Irish Air Corps.

I was among the 1.25 million people (almost a third of the Irish population) on their way to the Phoenix Park for the historic mass. We were herded like exported cattle onto a packed, seatless train carriage and on arrival at Ashtown made the short walk to the park. There was a carnival-like atmosphere as we anticipated our audience with the Roman Catholic Church's most senior figure. This pontiff was box office, to put in mildly. Not even the Rolling Stones were as rock 'n' roll as this Pope when it came to star power.

•The Papal Cross can evoke mixed feelings towards our Catholicism. PHOTO BY DARREN KINSELLA

We munched on ham sandwiches and packets of Tayto as the Pope said mass. The sound quality was poor and I couldn't understand his accent very well. But I remember being excited when the Popemobile started its tour of the park, craning my neck to get a glimpse of the main man. Much to my disappointment, he didn't come anywhere close to us. After mass had ended, it was impossible to get near the train station due to the large crowds and like thousands of others we had to trek, pilgrimage-style, to the city on foot.

That evening, as luck would have it, we happened to be on Sean McDermott Street just as the Pope was passing Our Lady of Lourdes Church, home to the shrine of Matt Talbot. There had been weeks of speculation that he would stop to visit the shrine but locals were left disappointed on the day when the Pope's entourage sped past the assembled crowd. The Popemobile came so close to us that were it not for the crush barriers and Garda presence we almost could have reached out and touched it. We screamed "your holiness!" as he approached. He smiled in our direction and blessed us. That moment was one of the highlights of my childhood but my precious memories of the papal visit have since been tarnished by scandals involving the Catholic Church.

It's hard not to cringe today when you look at archive television footage of hypocrites like Eamon Casey and the late Fr Michael Cleary warming up the crowd as they awaited the Pope's arrival in Galway. But their transgressions were mild in comparison with the evil depravity of other priests.

Once a stronghold of Catholicism, Ireland's devotion to the church has been rocked by revelations of child sexual abuse by members of religious orders and more recently the Tuam babies' scandal. To some extent we have almost become inured to controversies involving the Catholic Church. It took a member of the clergy, Fr Brian D'Arcy, to bring home the gravity of the case of the dead babies when he drew parallels with Nazi Germany during a radio interview on Newstalk.

Every church scandal erodes our Catholicism but not necessarily our Christian faith and beliefs. If it's a challenging time to be a Catholic in Ireland, you can only imagine how difficult it is for decent, law-abiding members of the clergy who abhor the abuse of children.

The Papal Cross in Dublin serves as a poignant reminder of more innocent times, when Ireland wore its Catholicism with pride. But for many victims of church abuse, it is a symbol of oppression. If a papal visit were to happen today, I imagine the mass would be celebrated in a much smaller venue than the Phoenix Park.

Sport is the antidote to anti-social behaviour

With the 2014 World Cup about to get underway, we are reminded of the important role that sport can play in the development of young people.

There may be a few notable exceptions, but in general soccer stars are extremely positive role models for our kids. Today's generation of top-tier players may be over-pampered and excessively paid (to put it mildly) but they do give our youngsters something to aspire to. Only a tiny minority of young footballers reach the dizzy heights of success enjoyed by Ronaldo, Van Persie or Messi. But so what? We should encourage them to chase their dreams.

•Teenagers should be encouraged to participate in sport to prevent them going down the wrong track. FILE PHOTO

A few days ago I noticed a bunch of teenagers loitering in a children's playground. Like any group of young lads hanging around, they looked more menacing than they actually were. A Garda patrol car happened to be in the park at the time. It slowed down as it approached the playground but the teens defiantly stood their ground. Realising there was nothing sinister going on, the gardaí drove off.

This particular playground has been vandalised by mindless thugs on numerous occasions. Expensive equipment has been set on fire and the surface has been badly damaged, costing the local authority tens of thousands of euro to repair it. There was nothing to suggest that this particular group of teenagers had engaged in such reckless behaviour. While they were largely harmless, their use of foul language in front of pre-school children made the atmosphere threatening and uncomfortable for parents.

The teens were a pitiful sight, really; sitting on swings and hanging out of the climbing frame like a bunch of five-year-olds. If boredom was a crime, these guys would have been guilty as charged. It was a bank holiday weekend and they had absolutely nothing to do but sit in a children's playground. Just a few metres away was an all-weather football pitch with goalposts and basketball hoops. There were enough of them there to organise a five-a-side match but they chose instead to do nothing.

Boredom can be extremely dangerous when it comes to teenagers. Kids from decent families can do stupid, out-of-character things when they are bored, from abusing alcohol to smoking a joint to shooting up heroin. A chaotic lifestyle often starts with anti-social behaviour such as vandalism and graffiti and quickly moves on to joyriding and more serious forms of criminality.

Teenage boys, in particular, are more prone to disaster if their hormonal angst and energy is not channelled in a positive way. Early intervention through sport is the best way to divert them away from a path paved with misery. Be it soccer, boxing or Gaelic Football, there are clubs in every community in Ireland full of dedicated volunteers who can help steer your teen in the right direction and make them believe in themselves.

Participating in team sports engenders a sense of camaraderie and instills confidence in young people. It promotes good health, making those who want to achieve sporting success less likely to smoke or drink. In a world of Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, it forces our youth to socialise and interact with actual people instead of virtual friends.

With secondary schools now closed (except for exam students), parents should ensure that their teenagers are kept occupied by taking up a sport or joining a summer camp. Don't let boredom win and potentially destroy your child's life.

SF have a chance to prove their economic credentials

Depending on your viewpoint, the results of the European and Local Elections can be interpreted as either a seismic shift in Irish voting patterns or a warning shot across the bows of the Government parties.

As Fianna Fail candidates discovered to their cost in the 2011 General Election, hell hath no fury like a battle-weary electorate scorned. And at the ballot box last week voters enthusiastically exacted their revenge. The message for the Government parties couldn't have been clearer - the public are mad as hell and aren't gong to take it anymore.

Unlike the civil unrest that greeted austerity in places such as Greece, in this country we give the impression that we are compliant pushovers in the face of property tax and water charges. But boy do we vent our spleens on polling day.

•Sinn Féin is now the largest party on Dublin City Council. PHOTO BY DARREN KINSELLA

The voting shift to the left saw major gains for Sinn Féin, anti-austerity parties and Independents. Alliances will be formed between like-minded councillors on local authorities throughout the country. Sinn Féin is now the largest party on Dublin City Council. When grouped together with other left-leaning councillors, they will have a powerful voting lobby.

But this type of power and control brings with it great responsibility. Councillors who would have traditionally voted against unpopular measures now hold all the cards. The question is: will they have the stomach to support unpalatable but necessary cutbacks or be able to come up with viable alternatives? Will they be able to vote through Dublin City Council's budgets? It's easy to oppose everything when you haven't got the numbers to ultimately influence the outcome but that's not the case anymore following the May 23 election.

With the prospect of this Government lasting its full term looking increasingly unlikely, Sinn Féin and their allies have a valuable opportunity to prove they can be trusted with the economic management of our local authorities. If they fail, a fickle electorate will migrate en masse back to Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and Labour when it comes to electing TDs to the 32nd Dáil.

Crime can bring out the dark side in all of us

There's a memorable scene in Guy Ritchie's film 'Snatch' where Vinnie Jones' character jams a man's head in the window of his car and starts to drive off. The hapless victim is forced to run faster and faster as the car accelerates before he is unceremoniously released and collapses onto the road. I imagine that's what I'd like to do if I was carjacked.

But this is just a fantasy and my reaction to such a traumatic event may not be as swift or dramatic as in the movies. In reality, would I drive off with a dangerous criminal still attached to my car, hearing him plead for mercy as I put the foot down? The honest answer is probably not.

•How would we react if confronted by a drug-crazed intruder in our home? FILE PHOTO

But that's what happens in society when we are faced with new forms of criminality. Fear can bring out the worst in us and put dark thoughts in our heads.

Just look at Ryan Tubridy's out of character reaction when he recently interviewed a self-confessed domestic abuser on his radio show. RTE's golden boy is not the type of person you'd normally associate with violence but you could forgive his lack of restraint when he told the cowardly thug that he would have broken his legs had he subjected his loved ones to such abuse. Quite frankly, I've a whole new respect for Ryan Tubridy. It was an honest response to being confronted with a firsthand account of this monster's history of violence against his wife. I doubt Tubridy would ever follow up on such a threat but I can understand his thought process.

Most people don't have a natural propensity for violence but do possess a primal urge to protect their families. How would you respond if confronted by a drug-crazed intruder inside your home while your children slept close by? Would you be paralysed by fear or would your survival instinct kick in? It's impossible to know whether you would meet violence with violence unless you were actually in that situation.

I personally believe that burglars' human rights are diluted as soon as they illegally cross the threshold of a property, but I also realise that it is morally wrong to physically harm another human being. That's what separates most decent, law-abiding members of the community from low-life criminals and petty thugs.

While media reports of aggravated burglaries and carjackings can feed into our insecurities, it is important that we don't get caught up in the hysteria generated by these events. Such incidents - while disturbing and horrific experiences for the victims - are still relatively rare in this country and there is no evidence yet that we are facing a carjacking epidemic similar to the one that plagued post-apartheid South Africa. I'd like to think we're someway off from having our vehicles modified to include extreme anti-theft devices such as flamethrowers or Tasers.

As with most forms of crime, the most effective deterrent to would-be carjackers is prevention. By adopting a commonsense approach - such as keeping valuables out of sight and making sure your car doors are locked at all times - drivers can help avoid becoming the next victim.

Reasons to be fearful of Government's property intervention

The Government has announced new measures to kick-start lending in the first-time buyers' market as part of its 'Construction 2020' plan.

Under the plan the State will share the risks with the banks and offer 95 per cent mortgages to young borrowers who fit the lending criteria. Any such scheme will only apply to newly built houses under a certain value.

Despite some banks shouting from the rooftops about being open for business, the reality is quite different and mortgage lending is nowhere near where it needs to be. The Government's hope is that by reducing the risk to the lending institutions, they will start to act like properly functioning banks. House hunters will also be incentivised by only having to stump up a five per cent deposit.

•The way we were: A familiar Dublin landscape during the Celtic Tiger years. FILE PHOTO

Clearly, something needs to be done. Years of stagnation in the construction industry has led to a shortage of family homes, particularly in the capital. This is seeing a rise in the value of certain property types across the city and - worryingly - an increase in rents as greedy landlords cash-in on the situation.

But the reluctance by the banks to lend is only part of the problem. Many young couples bought shoebox size apartments during the boom to get a foot on the property ladder. Their expectation was that they would trade up to suitable family homes after a few years. Some have since gone on to have children and now need extra space but find themselves trapped by negative equity.

Other families have had to put their lives on hold while they wait for the Government to sort out the mess caused by the pyrite scandal. While there is finally a State-led process underway to deal with this sorry mess, it has taken years of campaigning to get to this point. So far the Exchequer has made €20m available for a remediation programme. It is a welcome step in the right direction and gives hope to the innocent families hurt by the negligence of others. The psychological and financial burden placed on many of those affected by pyrite has been considerable and - along with the likes of Priory Hall - is one of the most shameful legacies of the property boom.

The situation outside Dublin also remains problematic with ghost estates continuing to be a blot on the landscape in parts of the country. Some will have to be demolished. These developments are widely considered to be scars from the Celtic Tiger years and few will lament their removal. It says a lot about a planning process that allowed such estates to be built outside the commuter belts where there were few employment opportunities, inadequate services or no public transport.

It's hard to believe there was a time when gullible investors might have been tempted to invest in a three-bed semi in the middle of nowhere to add to their growing portfolio of properties in Bulgaria. Irish dinner parties (remember them?) were once dominated by conversations about property values. Those who didn't participate in this modern day gold rush were not just considered to be risk averse - they were nothing short of fools for failing to cash in on the boom. But as we all know now, the boom was just a credit-fuelled illusion. Wealth was judged on how much you were able to borrow, not on your ability to repay it.

While the Government's latest motives for stimulating the first-time buyers' market and the construction industry may be well intentioned, it is vital that they get it right as there are reasons to be fearful. The last thing the Coalition needs to do at this point in our 'recovery' is artificially inflate a new property bubble. Because if we can't learn from the mistakes of the past decade, then clearly there is no hope for us at all.

Sometimes Irish politics can be too local

A friend of mine gets annoyed when I refer to a certain former Taoiseach as 'Bertie'. He believes it confers on him a cosy familiarity and gives unwarranted credibility to Ahern's man of the people image.

When you look back on Bertie's - sorry, Mr Ahern's - tenure as Taoiseach, there is something distinctly Irish about how he portrayed himself as just an ordinary Joe, sipping on a pint of Bass with his best mates in Fagan's. Such whimsical folksiness seemed out of kilter with his day job. Can you imagine Tony Blair or David Cameron popping across the road for half a bitter in Ye Olde London Tavern after a hard day's work as British Prime Minister, chewing the fat with some salt of the earth Cockney geezers? Somehow you can't.

•Bertie Ahern gets an early makeover. FILE PHOTO

And what about Ahern's successor, Brian Cowen, the man we affectionately refer to as Biffo? This was a politician who marked his elevation to the leadership of Fianna Fail and the highest office in the land with a rousing ballad in front of an appreciative home crowd. But that's just the start of his talents. Cowen is also a noted mimic, although it has to be said he does a pretty lousy impression of a Taoiseach.

•A baby-faced Biffo

Let's go back further. It took a tribunal of inquiry to confirm what we long suspected about the source of Charles Haughey's wealth, yet many of us still refer to the former Taoiseach as 'Charlie' as if he were some casual avuncular acquaintance and not the crooked, dishonest politician he was found to be. Haughey personified the nod and wink politics that would eventually result in the loss of our economic sovereignty. But he was met with messiah-like affection by many of his constituents in Dublin North Central for decades. To them, whatever their misgivings, 'Charlie' could do no wrong.

•Head the ball: Charles Haughey on the campaign trail in 1989. FILE PHOTO

In Ireland we have a tendency to celebrate the conviviality of our politicians. We like the easy access we get to them at their clinics in the local pub or community centre. Fair play to that councillor for buying two books of raffle tickets at the school fundraiser. And Janey Mack, wasn't that TD great to show up at me granddad's funeral even though they had never met when he was alive?

But such over-familiarity between politicians and their constituents isn't necessarily healthy for our democracy. Politicians should not be put in a position where they feel pressurised into making representations on behalf of their staunchest supporters. For example, they could be asked to intervene in a planning row or may be approached for help by the family of a convicted criminal.

With the local elections taking place on May 23, our council chambers will soon be filled with many new faces along with some familiar ones. We will want our councillors to keep abreast of local issues and represent our interests fairly and effectively. For our part, we should let them do their work without them feeling a sense of personal duty to us in return for our vote. In this country, politics can sometimes be too local to the detriment of the national interest. If politics is to change, we need to change with it.

Putting child safety before sex offenders’ rights

A disturbing newspaper article was recently circulated on social media, reporting that 12 paedophiles who had been released from prison were now living in my community and in three nearby towns. Four of these individuals were considered at “high-risk” of reoffending by gardaí.
 
A closer look at the report showed that it dated back to November 2012. But its re-emergence last week still had a chilling effect on local parents. This type of story changes you. You become wary of every random stranger; you eye slow-moving cars and vans with suspicion. Your kids can't understand why they're suddenly not allowed out on the green unsupervised to kick a ball or call around to their best friend's house. 
 
How do you explain to them that it was ok to do it yesterday but not today? Sometimes the 'don't talk to strangers' chat isn't enough when there are sexual predators at large.

This week the issue of sentencing for sex offenders was in the news when a man was given four years in prison for sexually assaulting two teenage girls on the Luas. Controversially, the judge decided to suspend the final two years of the term with conditions attached. 

•A man was sentenced last week for sexually assaulting two teenagers on board a Luas tram. FILE PHOTO

Over the years there has been much criticism of how the courts have sometimes dealt with convicted sex offenders. Judges may well have the legal scope to hand down suspended or short prison sentences but when they do it can create a perception of leniency in the public mind. 

All crimes of a sexual nature – be they carried out against children or adults – should be dealt with severely and consistently by the courts. Attending treatment programmes should be a mandatory condition attached to all early releases for convicted offenders. 

That said, if I had my way there would be zero remission granted to sexual predators who target children. Putting them on a sex offenders' register is not enough. I believe they should be electronically tagged for a substantial period of time after their release and that residents living in close proximity to convicted paedophiles are entitled to know exactly where high-risk offenders are located. Gardaí could help ensure that mob rule does not prevail.

I've no doubt that the more liberal-minded in society would take issue with my approach. But in my personal opinion, breaching the human rights of sexual predators would be a small price to pay for the protection of our children.