Eoghan Harris: Listowel must take sides or forever live in the shadows
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Last week I was left livid by the antics of two sets of bully boys. By the craft unions of the ESB and by the mob who marched into Tralee court to shake the hand of a convicted criminal. Ironically, in that bad week, the most most inspiring event was the funeral of Ciaran Mac Mathuna.
Cor Cuil Aodha's rendering of Sean O Duibhir a Ghleanna gave us an echo of what a Greek chorus might have sounded like. Sean O Mordha spoke for many when he said it literally lifted the hairs on the back of his head. But there were light moments too.
His son Padraic recalled how Ciaran was well aware that the public continually confused him with Proinsias Mac Aonghusa and Sean Mac Reamoinn. Accosted on Henry Street one day, he waited patiently while a Moore Street woman worked it out and finally triumphantly proclaimed: "You're Proinsias Mac Liammoir!"
Ar dheis De go raibh a anam ceolmhar.
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Let me now turn to the trade union threats. Last Sunday, Brian Lenihan said he would take a look at pay in the semi-State sector. Next day some leaders of the craft unions in the ESB were bragging that they hoped Lenihan would bring it on.
Jack O'Connor of Siptu also got in on the act. Ludicrously, so did Larry Broderick, leader of the Irish Bank Officials' Association, who spoke of "taking down the Government". Who do these people think they are -- the Government?
To frame my reply, let me first say something nice about Fintan O'Toole. In the course of a Newstalk chat with him last week, Sean Moncrieff lightly tagged him as a "leftie Trotskyite". Fintan warmed the cockles of my heart by smartly replying, "I'll accept the first but not the second."
Fintan is a serious socialist. But Trots, followers of Leon Trotsky, are the silliest kind of socialists, dreaming of mass general strikes as a prelude to a worldwide socialist revolution. Trotskyism has always attracted British luvvies like Vanessa Redgrave, but it leaves real workers cold -- sometimes literally so as Trot trade union leaders have often led workers into winter strikes with no settlement in sight.
RTE News did not subject the threats of the craft unions -- whom James Connolly cuttingly called "labour aristocrats" -- to any searching scrutiny. That was left to Lunchtime with Eamon Keane on Newstalk 106. Eamon brought in Professor Ed Walsh to explain that ESB craft unions can now force a Government to climb down because they enjoy a monopoly.
Walsh said that apart from Cyprus and Slovenia, we have the highest electricity costs in Europe. But that is only one of two reasons the chairman of ESB is paid more than Taoiseach and ESB employees enjoy regular raises. The other reason is that the ESB craft unions are ready to turn off the lights -- in schools, hospitals, the lot.
Walsh believes the Government should stop giving in to that blackmail. He used the word "war", and warned against appeasement. He said there was a surplus of qualified electricians in central Europe. He said the Government should prepare for a confrontation by getting a European labour agency to supply enough electricians to man the networks if needs be.
The most important aspect of any interview is the total after-image it leaves behind. Eamon Keane's interview with Ed Walsh left us with three distinct impressions: that ESB employees at all levels are paid too much; that they get away with it because they are ready to ruthlessly abuse their monopoly power; and that the Government should now plan to put these bully boys in their place.
Contrast these clear impressions with the ambivalent after-images left behind by Morning Ireland's cosy chat with Professor Bill Roche of UCD, who specialises in industrial relations. Here the after-image was as soft as caramel. Both interviewer and interviewee seemed more sensitive to the hurt feelings of the public sector unions than to the general interest of the Irish people -- who must carry both the public sector and its fat cat trade union leaders on its bowed and possibly broken back.
Soft interviews do no service to either side. That is why the best trade union performance of the week came from Willie Noone of Siptu. Under pressure from Eamon Keane, he convincingly explained why a broad-brush approach to the semi-States would not work.
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Let me now turn to Listowel. By today I imagine most commentators will have hard things to say about how the sexual assault victim is being treated by many in the town. My anger is as acute as theirs. But I want to make two specific points on my own behalf.
First, without Donal Hickey of the Irish Examiner, Anne Lucey in The Irish Times and Newstalk 106, I believe the Listowel case story might have been buried on the margins of the Bishop Murray affair. As in the public sector story, RTE News was again found wanting.
Last Thursday morning, Newstalk's Breakfast Show had a scoop interview with Fr Sean Sheehy. The priest gave a master class on how to make a mess of pastoral care. Somehow he chose to shake the hand of a perpetrator but not the hand of his traumatised victim. Later that day, Eamon Keane carried out an amazing interview with Danny Foley's fiancee, Michelle O'Sullivan, who gave another master class, this time on how to circle the wagons.
Meantime RTE News, hung up on Bishop Murray's resignation, did not seem to realise that Listowel was now the story. It was left to Gerry Ryan to get to grips with it. Gerry was good on the moral issues involved -- but he lacked the hard interviews with some of the principal players which made Newstalk's coverage so compelling. And which are so demanding in terms of balance, because sometimes you cannot get both sides.
That's what happened on TV3 News. Reporter Paul Byrne was so chuffed to get the Foley family's side of the story, that he failed to balance it with an equally powerful commentary on the victim's side. The result was an appalling after-image which left anyone I spoke to with the distinct impression that TV3 thought the Foley family were hard done by.
Last, let me say something to the decent people of Listowel. As someone who went to national school in a small town, I both love and loathe small towns. And on the debit side, I hate their habit of closing down when some local hero behaves badly.
That's what's happening in Listowel. The people of the town are kicking for touch. They demand that we stop "demonising" the people of the town because "they have done nothing wrong".
Listen up, decent people of Listowel. That's the same defence as the former Dublin bishops. They too claim that "they did nothing wrong". But that's not true.
What they did wrong was that they did nothing. The people of Listowel will be doing the same unless they lift their voices and vindicate the victim. And if they don't do it soon, the town of Listowel will learn that injustice leaves an indelible stain.
- Eoghan Harris
Originally published in
