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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Queen's visit will change Ireland for ever ---old enemies will put hatreds aside

Posted on Friday, April 08, 2011 at 06:29 AM
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The Queen's schedule while she is in Ireland is remarkable and a testament to how all has changed utterly in Irish-British relations.

She will visit the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin which honors all those who fell fighting for Irish freedom--and against the monarchy she represents.

One wonders what she will think as she commemorates Fenian dynamiters, IRA volunteers and 'traitors' to the British upper calls like Sir Roger Casement.

It can only be healthy however, to walk in another nation's shoes even for a short time. And it will be good for Ireland too to acknowledge the major effort by the British monarch to lay the past to rest.

The notion a few years ago that the Queen would visit Croke Park, bastion of the GAA, Ireland's home grown games of hurling and football set up in direct opposition to British games like rugby and soccer, is incredible.

For decades, GAA members were now allowed to play soccer or rugby, the infamous ban rule which has long since been banished.

The Hogan Stand there is called after a Tipperary footballer gunned down by the British who attacked the crowd at a Croke Park game during the Irish war of Independence on Bloody Sunday, November 21 1920 .all in the name of the British monarch.

That scene is vividly caught with some Hollywood panache in the movie Michael Collins.

The killings were in retaliation for the Michael Collins inspired wipe-out the same day of the so called 'Cairo Gang' British intelligence operatives who had infiltrated the IRA.

BY allowing this step the GAA has covered itself in glory once again. This week it stood foursquare behind the rights of Catholic men to join the new Northern Ireland police force and members shouldered the coffin of the murdered policeman Ronan Kerr.

As other bastions of Irish life have brought disgrace on their heads such as the Catholic Church and corrupt government, the GAA has been a beacon of hope.

They ended the ban, allowed soccer and rugby internationals in Croke Park, declared their hand early in the peace process and have now welcomed the British queen to the very bastion of anti- British monarchy sentiment in Ireland.

If only other Irish institutions had shown such bravery.

All in all, the queen's visit will bring about a new era where bitter enemies will toast each other's hero's and revisit the old certainties of their sad and sorry histories together.

Hopefully a new chapter will now be written.



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110 comments

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sirpeter | May 08, 2011, 08:05 AM EDT
Realist..I'm saying fu*k you in the ear.You and your loyalist scum type.A loyalist Orange Order man doesn't change his spots. Your KKK orange organization will be silenced.FallsRNat might think the lambeg drum is musically very good but it's nothing more then a burning cross which can look impressive.But it's meaning is oppression. Like the KKK and it's impressive rallies YOU and that KKK Orange Order will fade and die.It was built up by the hands of evil. Nobody will ever get me to except that sh*t.Not even a peace process.

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mamaginnty | Apr 29, 2011, 05:57 PM EDT
"The drum doesnt resonate now like it did "you must be a deep sleeper if you do not hear them practice for the Walk, May, June and July they still bang the drum around Nationalist area's, They should be ( musically very good ) with all the practise, the word should read..torment. I dare you to walk through one of thier lines during ..Practice. Catholics were banned this year from celebrating a march st Patricks day in a north town.

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johnymac60 | Apr 27, 2011, 12:27 PM EDT
Sorry, Mr Falls, I disagree with the assertion that anti-catholic bias has passed away. It's still alive and well in Belfast, mucker. It's just hidden a little deeper under the surface than it has been. And as for your Orange order visit, would you visit a KKK meeting as well? Say sure they haven't hung a ni&&er in this years now. They are all good lads. Knowing you are a Taig, What do you think these lads would say or do to you when you visit their wee pub for a Guinness after the parade party? I'm all for the peace process, but we aren't outta the woods yet. Let's be realists and not invite the wolf to supper.

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barneyjo | Apr 25, 2011, 07:39 PM EDT
@everybody - YEOH!!! SPOT THE FIANNA FAIL VOTERS!!!!!!

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Realist | Apr 23, 2011, 05:51 AM EDT
FallsRNat: sirpeter has no credibility. He has just made a complete fool of himself in the face of his own comments being thrown back in his face. His reaction to this, as you can see below, was to call me "scum" and finish with, "Well fu*k ye. Fu*k ye right in the ear". He is his own worst enemy and people will no doubt draw their own conclusions from his 'contributions'.

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FallsRNat | Apr 20, 2011, 06:31 PM EDT
sirpeter - at the end of the day, unlike youse, i know i'm not a victim, the beating of the drum doesn't resonate now like it did during the troubles & I have to say that some of the flute bands are musically very good & have competed in European , me mate sean was in portugal watching a cultural festival with all bands - prods, RCs, hindus, muslims evry man & his dog were there. The fallsters are going to try to organise a similar event here - youse know we have held informal talks with the AOH, Shankill Young Defenders & approached french, spanish & eastern european marching bands, the logistics may take a couple of years to organise, but we could have a major festival on our hands. I understand that some Irishmen in County Mayo are trying to get a similar thing going there, so who knows we could have 1 at Easter in the south & 1 in July in the north.

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sirpeter | Apr 20, 2011, 03:58 PM EDT
FallsRNat..Wonder why the lambeg drummer stopped? Was he just giving ye a taste of his drumming skills or was he giving ye the old king billy eye.

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ancavker | Apr 19, 2011, 01:11 PM EDT
I am not arguing that, and agree with much of what you say. However, you are now qualifying what you have previously stated. I am all for condemning the mistakes, but it has to be on both sides. You condemned the south, and the whole mixed marriage thing, well that is past too. The church in the south no longer holds any real sway, and the educational system is evolving too.

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FallsRNat | Apr 19, 2011, 12:50 PM EDT
ancavker - the reason i don't go on about the north & its anti catholic bias is because its disappeared, ancient history. The only people trying to drag us back into the stone age are the dissidents, they must convince us we are victims or their support dries up. This is exactly what has happened here in the North, nobody even the loyalists are suggesting that we go back to the bad old days. 10 of us Fallsters went to watch an orange parade, i'm sure that the lambeg drummer deliberately stopped by us as we were wearing Irish rugby shirts, but while there was a little banter between us, everybody had a good day - this of course is what the dissidents fear, it's never been about bombing the brits out of ireland, that's never gonna happen, but they need to keep us & the ulsterman apart otherwise the CIRA/RIRA know their history, they are, they just haven't worked it out yet. Don't underestimate the power of peace, time will come soon (its already happening) when people from our side of the community are quite rightly giving these people up to the forces of law & order.

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ancavker | Apr 19, 2011, 09:38 AM EDT
Falls: And of course the north was just a bastion of progressiveness and tolerance. As Reagan said there you go again, you claim you are unbiased, and yet, and yet, it is only one side that gets criticized.

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FallsRNat | Apr 19, 2011, 08:09 AM EDT
demonstrating against the queen's visit, anti british slogans daubed on dublin pubs, banning orange marches, forcing mix marriages to raise children as catholics, catholic schools state funded - eh, i'm catholic even this society isn't for me - i wonder why the loyalists don't give 2 figs for the south.

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sirpeter | Apr 17, 2011, 10:46 AM EDT
Realist..Like all loyalist scum you and your kind see what ye want to see,hear sound where there is no sound and replace fact's with fiction. There is alot more insecurity on your side of the fence Buster. There always has been. The only good thing is you lot are 300 miles away from me. I hear over and over the south must reach out to the Loyalist,s,whenever did the loyalist's reach out to the south? Well fu*k ye. Fu*k ye right in the ear.Not everyone on this island will pander to ye.

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Realist | Apr 17, 2011, 04:40 AM EDT
sirpeter: Lol....my friend, you sound like you're in tears. You deny advocating violence against HM Queen Elizabeth II but from an earlier post it is abundantly clear you espoused just that. Now, when presented with your own words, you've chosen to further compound the embarrassment with the usual menu of petty name-calling, foul language, and filth. Hey, you've been caught out, though in all honesty any school kid who can read (or could be bothered) would run rings round you. Furthermore, it seems you find the murder of a defenceless 79-year-old man, and those woman and young children that were with him at the time, as somehow funny. I ask again, what's wrong with you? You claim to support Sinn Fein yet you issue statements like, "got what he deserved like any British soldier in my land". Following the deaths of the two soldiers in Antrim and the PSNI officer in Armagh a couple of years ago, Gerry Kelly described it as "murder" and Martin McGuinness stated that those involved in or supporting these acts were, and I quote, "traitors to Ireland". "there is a war on"? Well, not according to Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA. They are both on record as claiming "the war is over". "The British either walk out or get thrown out"? Is that your attempt at 'outreach' to the British Unionists of Northern Ireland who've been there for over 400 years? Enshrined in both the Belfast and St Andrews agreements is the principle of consent. I suggest you give it a read (or have someone read it to you). The more I scan your "contributions" and the barely disguised anger and insecurity with which they are delivered, the more I think you haven't really thought this through properly. You know, you really should consider joining the rest of us in the real World of 2011.

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sirpeter | Apr 17, 2011, 12:43 AM EDT
Apr 15, 2011.Quoet"sirpeter has been explicitly advocating violence against the elderly Royal couple for SOME WEEKS now.Unquoet.I hope someone pushes her down some stairs accidentally on purpose. That's it!!!! You're some pri*k!! A fu*kface of the highest degree. As for that murderer Mountbatten BOOOM!!! Got what he deserved like any British soldier in my land. Just because the stupid brits refused to believe there was a war on..That was his stupidity. Now listen to this you little sh*thead. Believe what you want but as long as there is partition and British soldiers in ANY part of Ireland there is a war on.The RIRA OR THE CIRA DON'T CARE WHAT DEALS ARE DONE. What part of my history have you failed to learn from and understand yet?? The British either walk out or get thrown out. We are now asking them again to hurry up and walk out. Realist and FallsRNat enjoy the peace and fall to your knees and thank Sinn Fein for it. By the way you dipsh*t her falling down the stairs was to prevent her coming to Ireland as to prevent something worse happening to her.WW1 was started by a dumb move by a royal family.

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sirpeter | Apr 16, 2011, 08:38 PM EDT
sirpeter: On 5th February 2011 at 02:17 Eastern Standard Time you wrote, and I quote, "Liz Windsor can rot in hell as well as her bloodsucking dysfunctional family..I hope someone pushes her down some stairs accidentally on purpose. This one Irishman who won't be greeting the head of the British armed forces. Still we can only hope something might happen..The last time was when we scattered Mountbatten's Imperial ass from Sligo to Donegal in 1979.The crabs ate like royalty that day tee-hee..A great day for Ireland. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. I hope she knows the risks."

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