De Cork Boy's Perspective

De Cork Boy's Perspective

A little late but still great

By Patrick Hurley

"Battman" Returns!

A Micheal, beware the mandarins!


Congratulations to new taoiseach, Offaly man Brian Cowen. We wish the Clara man all the luck in the world as he takes the helm of Ireland, Inc.. He will need it as, by all accounts, the Celtic Tiger is in expeditious demise.

The feline phenomenon was predicated on the input of Brussels largesse, in the form of billions of Euros in EC structural funds, during the 1990s . The southern Irish state had been entitled to the lolly because of its designation as one of the economically undernourished of the European Community. Of course, another essential element of the Irish boom was the old reliable, U.S. corporate investment i.e. inputs from those "evil U.S. imperialists". Though the Celtic Tiger’s politicos and functionaries like to intimate strongly to the contrary, the decade or so of affluence was certainly not as a result of any economic brilliance exhibited by Dublin. All it had to do was to manage and distribute the largesse. Pour billions of Euros into a small country like Ireland and why wouldn’t it boom? In fairness, the bold initiative of visionary Education Minister Donagh O’Malley in the 1960s, in making secondary and third level education widely accessible, ideally positioned the Irish people to successfully exploit the largesse when it came along.

Now that the economic doldrums are once again on the horizon, an increasingly subdued Celtic Tiger is no longer classified as a hardship case. The Brussels largesse is no more. New members from the east have long ago displaced Ireland on the EC dole queque. Long a net beneficiary, as a mature member of the community, the Celtic Tiger is now expected to be a net contributor. This time round there will be no generous handouts to jumpstart the Irish economy. Now the politicos and functionaries will really have to roll up the shirt sleeves and rely soley on native ingenuity and initiative. Reality is slowly permeating the trendy leftie Europhile salons of Dublin 4. The Euro party is well and truly over.

Cowen’s predecessor, Bertie Ahern, has exited on the crest of a wave. Ahern, of course, is the quintessential "northside Dub". However, both his parents were from West Cork. Ahern senior from Kilbrittain and mother from Bantry. Both were active with the West Cork IRA Brigade. In later life, Ahern the elder was a well-known figure to the thousands of clerical students who passed through All Hallows Seminary in Drumcondra, on the northside of Dublin. He was a highly regarded grounds manager at the institution for many years. Ahern the younger has the dubious distinction of having been described by "de Boss" himself, Charlie Haughey, as "the most cunning, the most ruthless, the most devious of them all". Now, that’s an endorsement!

Irish American Corkonians were delighted to learn of the inclusion of two Cork ministers in Taoiseach Cowen’s new cabinet. Batt O’Keefe from Cork Northwest has been named minister for Education. For many years, O’Keefe has been a staunch supporter of the New York County Cork Association. He has been a regular attendee at our functions on "the other side". The word is that "Battman", as he is affectionatley known, is personally close to Cowen.

The Irish American Cork jury is still out on the new Foreign Affairs minister, Michael O Martin, from Cork South Central in "de" city. The feeling is that O Martin has remained very much aloof from Irish American Rebel expatriates. Certainly, he has rebuffed many New York County Cork Association overtures over the years.

A certain humble graduate from West Cork - not looking at anybody, in particular, and certainly not looking into any mirrors - recalls O Martin as the very radical chairman of the Donogh O’Malley Fianna Fail Cumann, in the University College Cork of the early 1980s. Ah, the radicalism and zealousness of youth! There’s nothing like political office and "de" ministerial mercs and perks to knock the anti - establishment edges of "de" boy!

As he assumes his new portfolio, O Martin should be careful not to become envelopped in the reality-averse, desensitizing cocoon spun by Iveagh House - Ireland’s Foggy Bottom - mandarins. Blindly, following the diktats of the "Yes Minister. No Minister. Three bags full Minister. Here’s your script and stick to it, Minister," Foreign Affairs brigade can have adverse repercussions for the aspiring politico. As disparate political characters as "de reel taoiseach" Jack Lynch and "de Boss" Charlie Haughey, quickly grasped the essentiality of bringing the Iveagh House mandarins expeditiously to heel. It remains to be seen whether O Martin will assert himself and stare down the mandarins, or will he be content to vegetate and allow them to call the shots?

As one who is considered potential taoiseach material, O Martin would do well to ponder the fate of his predecessor at Iveagh House, Louth man, Dermot Ahern. Poor Diarmada was demoted to the Justice portfolio in the cabinet re -shuffle. As if following the pied piper, he danced merrily and unquestioningly to the tune composed by the mandarins in collaboration with the extreme leftist group ILIR and assorted anti - American apparatchiks. Thus, did Poor Diarmada aggressively intrude into the domestic affairs of the United States, overtly lobbying for insane debilitating amnesty legislation, which would have been severely detrimental to our cultural, economic and security interests. Adhering verbatim to the mandarins’ reality-challenged script, not only did Poor Diarmada embarass Ireland and the Irish American Community, he also earned a rebuke from the one hundred-member Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus.

One must conclude that Poor Diarmada’s starring role in this mandarin-contrived debacle was a major reason for his political demise. Incredibly, after his embarassing U.S. performance, he was still being touted in some quarters - no doubt by loyalists in deep denial - as a challenger to Cowen for the top job. His demotion signals that that fantasy has well and truly dissipated. So, beware Micheal O Martin! Beware! Aire a mhic! Political misfortune can only befall those promising ambitious ministers who fall under the powerful hypnotic sway of the mandarins.

Ironically, in his new portfolio as minister for Justice, Poor Diarmada will now find himself responsible for enforcing some of the toughest immigration policy in the world - Ireland’s. I mean like . . . poetic justice or what! Irish Americans can only salivate enviously when contemplating Ireland’s commonsensical, no nonsense, hard edged immigration policy. It gives new meaning to the lyrics, "If only we had old Ireland over here!" As the discerning Corkonian will have by now deduced from Poor Diarmada’s surname, Ahern, he is also of Rebel County origin. Father was a schoolteacher from the Coppeen area of West Cork, who navigated his way north to the "Wee County".

Another Soldier of Destiny of the same surname who also did not fare well, in Cowen’s ministerial reshuffle, is Michael Ahern from Cork East. Unfortunately, Michael was demoted to the backbenches from his junior ministerial post.

The current scuttlebutt is that with Batt O’Keefe’s elevation to the cabinet table there are now two Fianna Fail factions in the Rebel County. "Battman’s" brigade is close to Cowen and apparently has the mission of curbing the power and ambitions of O Martin. Then, of course, in O Martin's case, there is Micheal's Mafia championing the good minister and his political interests, which might not always be reconcilable with those of "Battman". T’is a treacherous business, indeed!

As the sage said, "Politics is a fickle mistress!"

Patrick Hurley is a past president of the County Cork Association of New York. In 1987, Hurley was a co-founder of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement, which went on to secure thousands of Green Cards for Irish and other European immigrants to the United States. Active in GOP and Conservative Party politics, he is a former candidate for political office in NYC. Patrick Hurley is a 1985 graduate of University College Cork.