WE look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1985...
Editorial
SPOTLIGHT on BBC Television is a current affairs programme, and its programme on the Irish language concentrated on the present upsurge of interest in learning the language.
It's a pity, nevertheless, that it didn't spend a couple of minutes sketching in some historical details about the language which would have been both informative and interesting. The majority of those interviewed said they were learning Irish in an effort to express their Irish identity. This would seem to be the most natural thing in the world, given the fact that the Irish language is the most fundamental characteristic of the Irish for almost 2,000 years.
The people on this tiny island on the Western seaboard of Europe, have been using, shaping and adapting the language to suit their own needs. It is unique to this island and is as much a part of us as the mountains, the valleys and the climate. Yet the people in authority both North and South, and both lay and clerical, are continually trying to downgrade its importance, hence the spectacle recently of Proinsias Ó Mianáin having to spend a fortnight on hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail in Dublin because a Catholic priest decided to implement his own little downgrading ceremony in a church service for Irish speakers in West Donegal.
This may not be surprising given the colonial nature of our history, but what is surprising is that many of those 'intellectuals' who would consider themselves highly educated people and set themselves up as experts in all aspects of the Irish way of life both past and present, have not even got a rudimentary knowledge of the language that has been dominant here for almost 2,000 years.
This would be bad enough if it was just an accident of history, which over the past 150 years has left the majority of us without a knowledge of our native tongue. But many of our leaders deliberately shun the Irish language and are even proud of their ignorance of it. Could anyone imagine a Professor in French or English History without a knowledge of the French and English language? Yet we have literally dozens of Irish history academics in Ireland without a knowledge of the Irish language. This would lead me to the conclusion that we must have the most highly "uneducated" intellectuals in the world.
That being the case, the ordinary people of Ireland will have to show up these intellectual charlatans for what they are, and if the 'Spotlight' programme is anything to go by, then the ordinary people of West Belfast would seem to have made a good start.
Leisure centre won’t be closed!
SDLP Councillor and leisure services committee head, Mary Muldoon, told over 200 people at Monday night's meeting in the Ballymurphy Tenants’ Association premises that the SDLP would fully support the committee elected by local people to defend the leisure centre.
She further stated that if the centre was to be closed she would endorse the setting up of local management committee to ensure the centre continues in operation.
Alliance Councillor Will Glendinning, who had boycotted the original people’s opening, also lent his support to the committee's demands including a call for local people to be allowed to express their national identity by erecting an Irish flag and Irish plague. Dr Joe Hendron also reflected the unity of approach among the area's political representatives when he defended the flying of the Irish tricolour which, he said, has been flying in his area “before we were born and will be when we are dead."
None of the political representatives present voted against a motion in favour of the tricolour flying at the Whiterock Leisure Centre.
Fr Des Wilson praised the large attendance at the meeting and stated that years ago people wouldn't have considered trying to gain control of their own communities.
Fourteen community groups joined with the political parties in calling for a series of demands including: Protest action to prevent closure; support of the cultural rights of local people; lobbying for support throughout Ireland; and the extension of the centre facilities.
After the meeting, Gerry Adams expressed his "cynicism" at the presence of other politicians at the meeting, given their earlier boycott of the 'People's Opening'. He said it was important that all the politicians who attended the meeting were accountable to the committee elected by local people as the whole issue involved questions of cultural and political rights.
He added: "If the unity which emerged at this meeting is to be more than a cosmetic exercise, in the lead up to the May elections, then it is very important that such unity be maintained. A continuance of this unity is essential, not for the sake of the political parties involved, but for the sake of the Nationalist people who are being threatened by the Unionist councillors."
SUCCESS: Admiring the trophies on show during the CBS open day back in January 1985
Hardships faced by our senior citizens
A UNIQUE survey carried out by the Twinbrook Tenants and Community Association, has brought to light a wide range of hitherto unpublished hardships being suffered by the elderly.
Following six months of extensive research and cooperation with Twinbrook's Senior Citizens the survey report slams the Government policies which force "our most respected of citizens... to live in poverty, deprivation and isolation".
Tenant Association community workers, Damien Gibney and Frank Liddy, who pioneered the survey said old folk are often unaware of the benefits they are entitled to.
Explained Damien Gibney: "We have seen the adverts on the TV asking neighbours to call in on the elderly during the winter to ensure they don't die of hypothermia.
“However, while this is comendable we feel that until the state faces up to its responsibilities there will be many more instances of hypothermia and many more instances of depression and misery."
120 pensioners in all took part in the survey and as result the majority received additional DHSS grants and assistance from the Housing Executive.
