Around Ireland Crooning for Ireland

By Patrick Markey

Before he died, Waterford entertainer Val Doonican was famous in the United States and Europe for his velvet-toned crooning and classy performances.

But back in his heyday in the 1960s, the Irish government reportedly also viewed Doonican as a probable secret weapon in the government’s propaganda campaign to draw attention to the crisis in Northern Ireland, according to recently released state papers.

The Sunday Business Post reported that Eoin Neeson, director of the Government Information Bureau, in a report submitted in September 1969, remarked that "the possibility of getting internationally known variety artists — Val Doonican for example — to promote the situation via a popular song is also under consideration." Neeson said such a song was "already in existence."

Doonican’s musical version of the Troubles was never released publicly and he made no mention of his role in government intrigue.

The 46-year-old Michael Valentine Doonican, then at the height of his popularity, had a huge following both in Britain and the U.S., where an estimated 10 million people watched him appear on the U.S. version of "This is Your Life" in May 1970.

Millennium heartbreak

Declan McLaughlin was proud to perform for the thousands of revelers who gathered in Derry to ring in the new year.

But, as the Belfast Telegraph reported recently, his performance was one of his most poignant.

As McLaughlin and his band, The Whole Tribe Sings, played for 10,000 people in Derry’s Guildhall Square, McLaughlin’s father lay dying in a nearby hospital bed. Felled by a heart condition, Hugh McLaughlin urged his son to continue playing the millennium gig and not stay with him.

"Dad was very annoyed when he heard that we had already canceled two concerts and he told me to play on regardless of what happened," Declan said. "I knew that he did not have long left when we went on stage on Friday night and it was very hard to perform under the circumstances."

McLaughlin played for over two hours and then rushed to his father’s bedside. His father slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness and eventually passed away in the early hours of New Year’s Day.

Mo’ millennium blues

Avril Bannerton didn’t have a happy new year. In fact, the end of the Millennium proved no reason to celebrate for the Dublin businesswoman.

The Sunday Business Post reports that Bannerton, the director of Millennium Mania, the event that was supposed to be Ireland’s biggest Millennium bash, claims to have lost more than £300,000 and will go into liquidation.

The huge party, which was to have featured acts such as Bjorn Again and the Saw Doctors, was canceled. While others are savoring their New Year’s memories, three companies involved in the Mania planning have ended up in a legal tussle over what happened and why.

Millennium Mania planners claim to have sold 3,500 of the 9,500 tickets for the party, and expected another 3,000 walk-in tickets on the night. Refunds have been issued to ticket-holders while those who paid by credit card were refunded. Ticket ranged from £55 to £95.

But, the paper reports, confusion still fogs the exact reason why the event was scrapped. Two legal actions have been threatened against the company. Millennium Media blamed concerns over "public safety" and also blamed Cill Dara Security Services, which had been retained to provide security.

CDSS denies it was responsible for the cancellation of the event. CDSS said that it is now suing Millennium Mania. Another company, Pierce Kavanagh Coaches, based in Urlingford, Co. Kilkenny, is also suing Millennium Mania.