We look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1983.
Three top Catholics downgraded at NIHE
THE Andersonstown News has learned this week that a highly embarrassing scandal involving allegations of discrimination against Catholics is set to rock the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
According to a source close to Housing Executive management, three senior Catholics, down-graded in recent re-shuffles, are angry at a lack of action by the statutory complaints agencies and are preparing to publicise their plight.
After this year in a similar incident, a NIHE director of personnel in Armagh, Mr Oliver Kearney, was removed from his post following a complaint by Harold McCusker, and subsequently described by a chief Executive official as “politically unacceptable”.
The three Catholic section heads are:
1. A Belfast Regional Personnel Manager who was demoted and his post given to a Protestant. This man is now taking a high court action against the Executive for breach of contract;
2. A training manager who was down-graded and replaced by an officer from the Civil Service;
3. A second Senior Personnel Officer, working in the Executive's city centre offices, who has been relegated from a post to which he was appointed in 1981. This position has now been filled by a Protestant.
These disclosures will prove especially disturbing for Executive chiefs coming hard on the heels of an announcement that the F.E.A. would be investigating allegations of anti-Protestant bias within the organisation. In 1977 the Ombudsman found the N.I.H.E. guilty of maladministration in a case in which a Catholic from Andersonstown was not allowed to take up a position to which he was appointed.
Huge crowds at Clonard Novena
FR Wadding, Rector at Clonard Monastery, has described this year's Solemn Novena as a “tremendous success”.
It is estimated that each day the eight sessions, beginning in the early morning and finishing, on a week day, at 11 p.m, attracted around 16,000 people. So great was the response that urgent consideration is being given to an expansion to the Novena in 1984.
“The Novena went extremely well, indeed even better than we had expected,” Fr Wadding told the Andersonstown News.
“Since we began back in 1969 there has been a steady increase in numbers but this year the crowds were exceptionally big. Of course we were blessed with the good weather which meant we were able to put hundreds into the gardens.
“The hardworking priests, were thrilled and extremely impressed with the turnout,” he said, and continued, “one Redemptorist remarked on the tremendous spirit of prayer and piety which was so evident.”
The four Redemptorists, Fr John O’Donnell, Fr Tom Faulkner, Fr Clem Mac Mánus and Fr John Hanna have all returned to their monasteries vehicle visiting bishop Fr Ireneo Amantillo is also back in the Phillipines.
Fr Wadding had a special word of thanks for the people from all over West Belfast who had attended the Novena. “It is an occasion which depends on the people for its success. The Novena is the people and they were absolutely magnificent.”
Editorial: Life on the dole
IN a few days time thousands of young people will be leaving school and embarking on what ought to be the most exciting, hopeful and self-fulfilling period of their lives, when they should be moving towards adulthood, gaining skills and attaining self-confidence from gainful employment.
Yet, exactly the opposite will be the case. Young people leaving school now, have absolutely no hope for the future. No hope of a job, or any chance of developing whatever talent they possess, whether it be wielding an artist's brush, a spanner, a pick or a pen. To us this is the real tragedy of our generation and one that society will disregard at its peril. That young people should have taken so much without becoming cynical and bitter, shows how resilient and understanding they really are, especially when you consider that the only response from the Thatcher Government to their plight was to deprive them of the few paltry shillings they used to get for three months after leaving school.
But if Thatcher is prepared to sacrifice a whole generation of young people in her own country on the altar of monetarism then we shouldn't really expect her to worry at all about young people in our country. In fact we should count ourselves fortunate that the young people in West Belfast have at least the opportunity to work for the noble objective of British disengagement from our country, and self-determination for the Irish people, which may go some way to relieve some of the frustrations and tensions caused by enforced idleness.
We have stated often in the past that the education system here, over which we have a considerable amount of control if we so wish, is lacking in its primary objective of preparing young people for life in circumstances that have changed radically over the past 20 years and in our view it amounts almost to a public scandal to continue along the old traditional lines as if nothing had happened, when we are, in fact, in the middle of what can only be termed a National Emergency.
