Death in the valley

The death has occured of Mr Bertie Kennedy of Ballyneale, Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. Mr Kennedy was 37.

 

He became ill last August, suffering from pains in the chest and breathlessness. In all, he was seen by six doctors.

 

According to his wife, all the doctors asked him where he came in contact with chemicals. Mr Kennedy did not

 

smoke and when lung cancer was diagnosed one of the doctors remarked that he had never seen this sort of

 

cancer in a farmer before. Bertie Kennedy told Magill last May that one of the doctors said that his cancer had

 

something to do with chemicals. His wife said that another doctor had asked him where he had come in contact with

 

asbestos.

 

Bertie Kennedy had no contact with asbestos. Nor had he any contact with chemicals. The problems on his farm

 

began in 1981 when his cattle began to behave strangely. Last May he told Magill: "I heard them in the barn one night

 

and I went out to see what was happening. When I went in they were holding their heads up and sniffing the air.

 

Then they all suddenly bolted down to the bottom of the shed and started to pile on top of each other. Three and four

 

high they were. I've never seen anything like it before and I've been in Ballyneale for 27 years. One bullock got his

 

back broken with all of them piling on top of one another. The shed was 135 feet long and they all piled themselves

 

into the top 15 feet. "

 

 

The problems, he told Magill, recurred the following winter: "These were different cattle in different

 

sheds. They started to tremble and bolted into the corner. They could be standing there looking like they were dead

 

to all the world and then they'd go all of a sudden.

 

 

One day they were standing in the field and they started shaking and one bullock ran and they all bolted out of the

 

field. But then they came back into the yard and gathered around me like flies. "

 

 

Bertie Kennedy's problems occurred at the same time as Paddy O'Meara, whose land is on the other side of the Suir

 

river, had problems. Mr O'Meara attributes the problems on his farm and his own health problems to the Merck Sharp

 

and Dohme factory in Ballydine. Both the Department of the Environment and South Tipperary County Council have

 

been aware of Mr O'Meara's problems for almost two years. They have never monitored his land and never

 

attempted to get evidence of his medical condition. The Department of Health has also been aware of his problems

 

and has also done nothing about it.

 

 

Bertie Kennedy's problems also started at the same time as John Hanrahan's. 116 cattle have died on John

 

Hanrahan's farm since 1981. Hanrahan attributes his cattle's deaths to the Merck Sharp and Dohme factory in

 

Ballydine. The Hanrahan's dog died of cancer in the same month as Bertie Kennedy's dog died of cancer.

 

 

It is a year now since any of the land around the factory has been monitored. The monitoring ceased at the

 

suggestion of Mark Lynch of the Department of Agriculture and with the agreement of J.P. O'Callaghan, County

 

Engineer for South Tipperary. The reason given was that John Hanrahan refused to hand over veterinary evidence

 

which he had obtained at his own expense. There was no reason given why the land of the other farmers should

 

not be monitored.

 

 

The Department of Agriculture wanted the information which John Hanrahan had commissioned in order to know

 

what to look for in his animals and soil. When he refused, on the basis that he is holding it for a court case, they said

 

they could do nothing. Earlier this year, however, they asked him if they could do tests on his land without the

 

information. He hesitated, but a month ago notified them to say that he would cooperate with them. He has since

 

received no reply. The Department, on the other hand, are still saying that he won't cooperate.

 

 

At the moment then there are no monitors around the Merck Sharp and Dohme factory and no plans for any. There

 

was no post mortem done on Bertie Kennedy. When Magill contacted his doctors in May they responded by

 

attacking Bertie Kennedy and his wife for speaking to the press. Garret FitzGerald's "personal concern" about the

 

matter has not even resulted in one of his representatives visiting the farm. The inter-departmental 'committee has

 

come to nothing. At a recent County Council meeting Senator Michael Ferris said that if there was anything the

 

council should be doing about the situation and which they were not, they should now do so. "If something happens

 

afterwards we should never forgive our management team or ourselves for sitting by," he said.

 

Once more with Feeney

 

 

This is what John Feeney wrote in his column in the Evening Herald on Monday June 27: "But towards the end of the

 

evening (a function in honour of Brian Lenihan), Brian Lenihan, accompanied by exMinister Gene Fitzgerald,

 

approached Bracken's leader, Mick Gilmore, and demanded republican songs. Gilmore refused claiming that his

 

group were serious musicians playing their own repertoire. There ensued a disagreement in front of several

 

hundred which was resolved when Gilmore agreed to play two pieces to placate Lenihan.

 

 

"But when 'Bracken' played A Nation Once Again and a ballad to James Connolly Lenihan refused to vacate the

 

stage and with both fists stuck in the air led the audience in wild republican cries. Mr Lenihan left the stage in

 

Mulhuddart only after issuing some very loud political remarks at the end of A Nation Once Again.

 

 

"One often wonders at how different political parties are behind closed doors - would FF behind closed doors

 

recognise its own public facades."

 

 

First of all John Feeney was not at this function in Mulhuddart. Secondly, several people who were at the function

 

have confirmed that it was not held behind closed doors either literally or metaphorically. Anyone who paid £1 could

 

get in and the doors were left open due to the warm weather.

 

 

Brian Lenihan and Gene Fitzgerald did not demand republican songs. No disagreement ensued. Lenihan did not

 

refuse to vacate the stage. He did not lead the audience in "wild republican cries".

 

 

The editor of the Evening Herald was informed of these inaccuracies on July 7. The paper has not as yet printed any retraction.

 

 

Feeney had a story about Eric Clapton on Monday August I. He refers to Clapton as "millionaire leader of The

 

Animals" and informs his readers that "The Animals are currently enjoying quite a boom and a revived cult of their

 

biggest ever hit 'The House of the Rising Sun'." Eric Clapton? The Animals? Wrong again, sonny.

 

A serious issue

 

 

One of the phonemena of the present Dail is the attempt of the Ceann Comhairle Tom Fitzpatrick to ensure that the

 

chair is listened to, that the chair is respected, that the chair is obeyed. The following sequence is a wonderful

 

example of Tom Fitzpatrick at his best. It is a report of what happened in the Dail on the morning of May 11.

 

 

As usual, the Taoiseach announced the business of the day. Brian Lenihan popped up to demand that a statement

 

be made on . . . But Brian had been missing yesterday, when the matter had been dealt with. Silly Brian. TDs chortle.

 

Brian sits down.

 

 

"More cock and bull stories", cracked the eloquent Alan Dukes.

 

 

They kicked things around for a while, then Jim Tunney got up. There was an issue he wanted to raise on the

 

Adjournment later on. He had tried twice before, but each time the Ceann Comhairle had allocated the Ad-

 

journment half-hour to someone else.

 

 

"I think, in so far as I have asked twice to have this matter raised and you refused, that you do not appreciate the

 

gravity of the matter." Now, Gentleman Jim Tunney doesn't usually get stroppy, doesn't descend to gutter level with

 

Alan Smartass Dukes. But he was now about to say something that would set the very foundations of democracy

 

atremble: "Two Fine Gael colleagues got matters on the Adjournment and I failed to get one."

 

"The Deputy", said the Ceann Comhairle, "will withdraw that remark."

 

What remark? one might ask, as indeed did Gentleman Jim. He had, he said, made a simple statement of fact. "I

 

cannot withdraw a statement of fact." Sounds reasonable.

 

Jim: "If my stating that the last two matters on the Adjournment were matters raised by my two Fine Gael colleagues

 

offends the Chair, I will withdraw it." Good man.

 

"It is not a question of offending the Chair. The Chair interprets it as an attack on the Chair - and I ask Deputy Tunney to withdraw it."

 

"I did not intend it that way."

 

"Deputy Tunney will give an unqualified withdrawal."

 

"An unqualified withdrawal of what?"

 

"Of the allegation that the Chair has not been fair in calling matters on the Adjournment."

 

 

At this point Gene Fitzgerald, who finds it hard to sit still for very long, piped up: "On a point of order, the Deputy

 

never said that."

 

 

But the Ceann Comhairle was insistent. Then Gentleman Jim rose to his feet and spoke nothing but the truth. "Since I

 

came to the House I have always been one who respects Standing Orders. I made a simple statement to you, Sir, as

 

the records will show, that the last two matters raised on the Adjournment were raised by colleagues of mine in the

 

Fine Gael party."

 

 

"That is an obvious reflection on the Chair and I am asking the Deputy to withdraw it." Note that word "reflection". A

 

moment ago we were discussing an "allegation". It has suddenly become a "reflection", but none the less for that it

 

must be withdrawn.

 

 

At this point Charlie Haughey came in, using restrained and diplomatic language, genuinely attempting to cool things

 

down and get the Dail to work. Haughey is sometimes quite good that way.

 

 

"What Deputy Tunney is saying could perhaps be interpreted as meaning that events have resulted in Fine Gael

 

having an undue preponderance of Adjournment time, by accident or by other means. But there is no necessary

 

reflection on the Chair."

 

"I want any reflection on the Chair withdrawn."

 

Haughey, patiently: "I wish to suggest that the matter is open to an interpretation which is not a reflection on the Chair."

 

"In so far as there is a reflection on the Chair I want it withdrawn."

 

Tunney, compromising but honest: "If the Chair regards it as a reflection on the Chair I withdraw it. But I do not

 

regard it as a reflection." Good man, Jim.

 

 

Have you ever seen a dog with a bone? "Is the Deputy withdrawing it in so far as a reflection on the Chair has been

 

made?"

 

Keep your cool, Jim: "If the Chair is sensitive to what I have said and regards it as a reflection, then I have no

 

hesitation in withdrawing it." Can't say fairer than that.

 

 

"I am taking it that the Deputy is withdrawing it in so far as he made a reflection on the Chair?" Now, in some

 

neighbourhoods we would say that this guy is pushing his luck.

 

 

"I", said Gentleman Jim, "made no reflection on the Chair."

 

"I am not letting this go.

 

I am not worried about myself, but I am asking Deputy Tunney, in so far as he made a reflection on the Chair, to

 

withdraw it."

 

"The Chair", said the weary Jim, "is more than hypersensitive to what I said."

 

"The Chair is not."

 

Tom Fitzpatrick then announced: "In the context in which Deputy Tunney said that, I am ruling that it constitutes an

 

attack on the Chair and I ask him to withdraw it."

 

Tunney: "If the Chair thinks so, then I withdraw it. "

 

 

It will be noted that this withdrawal, which satisfied the Ceann Comhairle, is substantially the same qualified

 

withdrawal which he had refused to accept earlier.

 

 

Later on that day there was a row about potatoes and Ray Burke was thrown out.