We look at the stories that were making the headlines in the Andersonstown News this week in 1985
Irish to go out on the airwaves
THERE has been intense speculation throughout this week that moves are afoot within Irish language circles to launch an all-Irish radio station.
According to information received by the Andersonstown News, the radio would service the Irish speaking community in Belfast and be run on a daily basis. Among Gaelgeoiri the venture is being seen as a unique way of promoting the Irish language and at the same time increasing the pressure on the official broadcasting powers to step up their provision of Irish programmes. However, when contacted yesterday evening, representatives of both the Gaelic League and the daily Irish newspaper Lá refused to comment on the matter.
Enquiries by this paper have revealed that earlier this week a powerful transmitter was donated by Irish enthusiasts in the South to their Northern counterparts. It is believed this radio was used by Conradh na Gaeilge in campaigns in South Dublin and in Mayo over the last few years. A reliable source close to one of the city's main cultural groups said the radio would be run in a totally open fashion, similar to commercial pirate radios such as Sunshine in Dublin. He predicted the new service would be launched on or around St Patrick's Day to attract maximum publicity and that it would be used for solely cultural purposes.
"If this scheme is implemented the organisers will be seeking the backing of all the political parties right across the board with emphasis being placed on winning the approval of the two major Nationalist parties,” he said.
Last October the media pressure group MEAN staged a series of demonstrations aimed at winning more broadcasting time in Irish from the BBC and UTV. At that time a packed meeting in the Conway Mill, which was attended by both Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams and Brian Feeney of the SDLP, approved the setting up of an alternative Irish radio service.
Writes our Irish language editor Eoghan Ó Néill: "In our 6th October 1984 edition we predicted that Belfast Gaels would set up their own pirate station if the BBC or UTV didn't announce any improvement in the air time allotted to Irish. A number of people at that meeting confirmed to me that they had ready access to a radio transmitter.
“Similar tactics have been used in Ireland and Wales in the past by campaigners for increased broadcasting in the respective native languages. In fact, Raidió na Gaeltachta was set up only after Irish enthusiasts in Conamara had launched their own pirate radio.”
Lenadoon Pensioner furious at lack of action on dampness
A LEDADOON pensioner is accusing the Housing Executive of having a "couldn't care less attitude" to demands for urgent repairs to her damp-ridden home.
Mrs. Elizabeth Hagans says her gable end home at Glenveagh Drive has always suffered from damp, but that it has got "steadily worse" over the last year.
CONCERN: Trish Holland with Mrs O’Hagan in her home
"As a result of dampness in the gable wall, both the kitchen and main bedroom smell of dampness," she said. "A black mould which is impossible to decorate over, has grown on both walls and a beauty board.”
According to Mrs. O' Hagans, the Housing Executive has refused to accept that the mould is being caused by dampness and blame instead condensation.
Sinn Féin spokesperson Patricia Holland said her party had been pressing the Executive to carry out urgent repair work on several gable end homes in Lenadoon with similar problems.
"The Executive's response to our call has been to allow cosmetic repairs which while covering up the damp moulds on walls temporarily does nothing to tackle the root problem of the dampness," she said. "We will be asking the Executive to install cavity wall insulation in Mrs. O'Hagan's home," she added.
A spokesperson for the Housing Executive said the problem reported by Mrs O'Hagan had been" extensively investigated". This had involved checking the cavity for blockage and investigated the possibility of a leaking roof. The results of this work had confirmed to the Executive that the problem was one of severe condensation rather than dampness, said the Executive spokesperson.
"To combat this condensation the working kitchen wall was dry-lined and panelled," he said. However, according to the Executive, a plan has now been drawn up to install cavity wall insulation in some gable end homes in Lenadoon which have been experiencing this type of problem. A starting date for the scheme has not been confirmed.
Editorial
WHAT happened in Newry last week, and in Strabane the week before, were both examples of man's inhumanity to man. Only a person of depraved mentality would not be saddened by both incidents and driven to the point of despair that there will ever be a solution to our political problems.
But despair is a luxury we cannot afford because the future of our children and our children's children depends on us finding a solution to this most intractable problem which has been with us for hundreds of years and of which the three in Strabane and the nine in Newry were its latest victims.
In our opinion, it is fruitless to indulge in self-gratifying condemnations prompted more by the appetites of hungry media hacks than by any real concern for the victims involved. As a newspaper, it is our duty to analyse the situation to the best of our ability and offer observations.
Both sets of corpses were bequeathed a legacy of division by courtesy of countless English Governments over the centuries, and forced into a position where, like the English Bard, they "would take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them." We cannot avoid the reality that all the victims, whether in Newry or Strabane, died defending what they believed in. And it was fitting to a degree that they were buried with the full trappings of that belief – the Union Jack for the R.U.C. and the Tricolour for the Republicans (except that these funerals were harassed. The ultimate in obscenity in our opinion).
The R.U.C. have allowed the British Government to make them the foremost protectors of the Six County State. A State which is looked upon as immoral by a large section of the Nationalist population, and which a sizeable section believe is right to oppose by force of arms. Unfortunately for us all, this pressure from the British Government has meant that the R.U.C.'s "law and order" role in society has been relegated to a minor one, and has placed them in the front line of the war against the British presence in Ireland. As long as this position pertains then we are very much afraid that more "Newrys" and indeed "Strabanes" will take place.
It may be that there are some members of the R.U.C. who would like to be relieved of the burdensome task of defending the Six County State first and foremost, and be allowed to do some "ordinary" policing for the first time possibly in the history of the force.
