Inside FileThe man behind the wire

By Ray O’Hanlon

“Exclusive Internet Chat on the eve of the historic Irish peace referendum.” The faxed – ah, the good old fax – message from MSNBC had an almost cozy, fireside air to it. The man taking the chat questions would be Martin McGuinness. In the end, it was Mitchel McLaughlin. No odds. Things are moving on one way or another. Instead of fighting over Irish history, we can now “chat” about it on the internet. Let your fingers do the talking.

McLaughlin fielded questions during the chat stretched along the wire from Galway to Honolulu. Needless to say, the Derry man fielded the questions with the kind of skill “IF” fully expects from veteran Sinn FTiners. But one or two of the interrogators were a little more probing than the rest. One guy called “Redhand” asked McLaughlin what he hoped to accomplish “backsliding on Republican principles by entering a new Stormont government and not getting any agreement for complete British withdrawal from Ireland.” Was this not contrary to Republican principles?

Came the reply: “Of course the Republican movement is a democratic organization and our policies are decided by our membership. We are committed to seeing the British military forces withdrawn from our country so we can rule ourselves. We believe we can have a truly inclusive democracy that all can belong to.”

Another inquisitor, “DT,” asked if the agreement was not similar to Michael Collins’s plan to achieve the Republic by pragmatic steps. McLaughlin reckoned there was a key difference: Britain’s changing role in world politics. “Another is that Republicanism in Northern Ireland has developed and we’re now in a position to represent our interests and hope to see a united Ireland within a generation.” McLaughlin believed there would be a nationalist majority in 15 to 20 years.

A caller from Vancouver wanted to know more about British military withdrawal: “Mitchel, come on, be specific here, not the generic answer that the uninformed want. I’m coming home in two months for good. What is the plan to have the British out of South Armagh, soon?”

McLaughlin: “I can’t speak for the British government. They’re a very big army. I must work with others to create conditions that they will withdraw. I’m not big enough or strong enough to dictate when they do so.”

A caller called “Cromwell” asked how Sinn FTin communicated with the IRA. McLaughlin replied in part that it was relatively simple and straightforward. Everyone lived in the same country. A later caller accused McLaughlin of evading the question, to which charge he replied: “No, I can’t be more specific.” “IF” was wondering if the Shinners use the web. www.provo.com?

Ireland a Pulitzer battleground

The “IF” hunch that the quest for a settlement in Northern Ireland is turning into a battle royal between U.S. media outlets eager to score a Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting is beginning to confirm itself. The wee North was packed with press heavies last week and getting a hotel room in Belfast was about as likely as getting a go on the swings in Ballymena of a Sunday. At last count, the New York Times and Washington Post each had four writers assigned to cover the referenda and their aftermath. There was talk of a Boston Globe special supplement and TV types were tripping over each other in search of interviewees. When you’re hot, you’re hot.

No tanks, Gerry

Gerry Adams bombed. At least that’s what the New York Times suggested in a piece last week comparing the moment when Adams appeared on stage with republican prisoners at the recent Sinn Fein _rd fheis and such classic moments such as Michael Dukakis riding in a tank and George Bush looking at his watch during a 1992 presidential debate with Bill Clinton.

Image being everything these days, the Times reported that the picture of Adams and the future alumni of Belfast’s famous Felons Club turned a lot of Protestants away from voting “yes” last Friday.

Adams arrives in New York this week. “IF” reckons he should leave the watch back in Belfast and not arrive at the Plaza in anything armored. Once inside, he should avoid any overt triumphalism. Perhaps everybody should join hands and say the rosary in thanks. Then again, even that would be a red rag to some folk back in the wee sod.

The real Titanic pulled ’em in too

Every seat taken, yet another full house. Even less room than steerage. All eyes fixed on Titanic. But where was Kate and Leo? Not here. This was not the movie, but a slide show that has just concluded a successful land voyage from coast to coast in the U.S.

The man behind the show was Fr. Eddie O’Donnell, an Irish Jesuit priest. The show was linked to the promotion of “The Last Days of the Titanic,” a bestselling book of photos taken on board the doomed liner by the globe-trotting Fr. Francis Browne S.J.

Fr. Browne’s collection was hidden away in the Jesuit archives in Dublin until the mid 1980s. But just as the final resting place of Titanic was being discovered in 1985, Fr. O’Donnell was about to make an astonishing find of his own.

Rummaging in the archives, he came across a large trunk with chalk writing on the top. The inscription revealed that inside the trunk was the entire photo collection, in negative form, of Fr. Browne, who had died in 1960.

“There were 42,211 negatives of photos taken in 35 countries over a period of 59 years. I was stunned,” said Fr. O’Donnell.

This was truly a treasure. But it was a fast fading one. Had the discovery been made a few years later it might have been too late. As it was, it took _100,000, obtained in a grant from Allied Irish Banks, to save the great collection for posterity.

The discovery launched a series of books featuring the Jesuit’s works – the Titanic tome is the 12th – and the next up will be a volume containing Browne’s photos taken on the Aran Islands in 1925 and ’38.

Meanwhile, Wolfhound Press in Ireland has committed to publishing 35 future books, a figure which exactly matches the number of slide shows on Fr. O’Donnell’s just concluded tour. Profits from book sales will go to the Jesuit Solidarity Fund, which helps the unemployed in Ireland, north and south.