Miscellaneous

Julia Langdon, Political Correspondent of The Guardian, recently came to Ireland with a number of British journalists at the invitation of the Government. In this article she recalls the wonderful time she had.

ON SATURDAY 5 NOVEMBER at 2.00pm the prison officers in Mountjoy met in the visiting box, which is just inside the main gate. The meeting was interrupted by the acting prison governor who addressed the meeting and told the prison officers that if they were not willing to go back to work they were to leave. At 7.30pm, when the day shift ended, the last of the prison officers left the prison. The prison was now being run by Gardai.

CONGRATULATIONS to Mick Mills on his appointment as our Twenty Seven Thousand Pound Ombudsman. At that salary one assumes that his job is intended to be merely titular and to involve little or no work. (It is our experience that the actual work involved in any job is in inverse proportion to salary - it's the poor buggers on £80-l00pw who really sweat.)

IN SEPTEMBER 1983 AN article appeared in Magill entitled "The Seeds of a Police State" in which commpelling evidence was put forward that Osgus Breathhnach, Nicky Kelly and Brian McNally were ill-treated by members of the gardai. Eviddence was put forward in the article that not alone did a significant number of gardai perjure themselves in the subb~equent trial but that there was a conspiracy among cerrtain gardai to commit perjury. 

IN THE Dynasty-style carry-on over who would be President, one phrase which kept recurring was that so-and-so would be "unacceptable to Charlie Haughey". Less often, but still pretty often, it was said that some other so-and-so would be "unacceptable to Garret FitzGerald".

Nissans grass is greener

Nissan Datsun's town and country Prairie does not have an equal vehicle type worldwide. It's new, it's innovative, and it's designed to fill a marketing void. And no doubt it will succeed. But the name Prairie belies this estate car's true attributes in as much as it carries out its suburban duties in an efficient, comfortable, and very driveable fashion, and yet will outperform some saloon cars, carry heavy, large and awkward loads, and convey the family complete with excess baggage on a camping holiday to the most inaccessible parts of this fair land.

Mary Raftery reports on the internal feuds over the leadership and direction of An Taisce.

The Anti-Amendment Campaign was touring the heartland. Monday was Mullingar and the rest of the week would include Birr, Tullamore, Carrick-on-Shannon. The Campaign was even going to visit Boyle, the very home of PLAC and SPUC. The Campaign was travelling in a mini bus. One of the blokes was wearing an earring in each ear.

Colm Toibin writes about a day at Naas District Court. 

The day the gas pipeline started going through his land, the story goes, the farmer got an idea. He began by saluting the men who were working on the line, then he began talking to them and buying them drinks in the local pub. His wife brought them out tea. But it took him a while to raise the subject.