Remembering the European Rainbow Gathering in Rosenallis in 1993

It’s like a scene from Dances with Wolves. A young woman with braided blonde hair rides a pony, bare-back across the camp, chased by screeching barefoot children and skinny black and white barking dogs. Smoke wafts in the damp morning air, drifting out across the heather, the forest and mountains that surround and shelter this secluded site.
There is a cacophony of other noises - singing, talking, and laughter, the chopping of sticks, the fast flowing river dipping over the rocks, sounding horns and always the incessant and infectious rhythm of drums.

The Rainbow campsite

The camp circle is set out by imposing tepees. Between them a maze of assorted and motley tents. But this is not the central plains across the great expanse of middle America. It is the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Laois.
This strange and spectacular camp is on the farm land of Mick Clear in Ballyhuppahaun, Rosenallis, the 11th European gathering of the Rainbow Tribe.
‘The Rainbow’ is the name given to the gathering of a growing band of over 1,500 loosely affiliated travellers, united in the common bond of respect for the elements and nature and the back-to-nature lifestyle.
Variously labelled as hippies, new age travellers and good lifers, the group themselves prefer the term (if one must be used), Rainbow People. The movement which has its genesis in the first Rainbow Gathering in Colorado in 1972 has been gaining momentum through communes and gatherings across the United States and Europe.
“It’s an ecologically based peace rally. We’ve assembled to meditate in contemplative prayer and to give honour and respects to all those who evaded the not so positive evolution of the earth and human kind. A sort of hippy All Saints Day,” explains Michael John, an American who was at the first gathering in Colorado.

Unity in the community

“People dig it because we provide a forum for love and respect. Everyone gets something different out of it. You can talk, bitch, moan and be happy, whatever,” he continues.
At present he is moaning as he has lost a black duffle bag in Naas containing the colourful founding flag of the rainbow nation.
Curious locals calling in their droves to the gathering are bewildered by the bizarre and colourful clothing, the organised chaos of the sprawling encampment the strange alternative lifestyle of the hippies who have trekked for miles in a caravan of vehicles from bikes to buses and decommissioned ambulances, fire brigades and army trucks to the remote mountain side site in Ballyhuppahaun, Rosenallis.
The Rainbow travellers are from everywhere - Argentina, Spain, France, South Africa, Israel, England, Norway, the States, Australia, New Zealand, Dublin, Limerick, Galway, Belfast and a few new recruits from the surrounding towns of Portlaoise, Mountmellick and Tullamore.

The food circle

The Rainbow People themselves have become a novel tourist attraction, the most recent contingent to call on them being a troop of boy scouts from the International Scouting Jamboree at Ballyfin 1993, who are camped on the opposite side of the mountain.
The local farmers have nothing but praise for the ‘Rainbow’. “They’re dead sound. The nicest people you’ll ever meet, lovely people. You’ll see some sights up there alright,” says John Conroy who lives in the area.
The Gardai too speak highly of the travellers who have become the talk of every town throughout the midlands.
“They are causing no problems that we are aware of and we are quite impressed by their organisation. There is no hostility whatsoever towards them. There is something in their way of life which we could all probably learn from,” said one Mountmellick Garda.
This view was confirmed by a senior spokesman of Laois County Council who said they had not received a single complaint about the gathering, which he emphasised was being held on private property.
Although bemused by their lifestyle the Rosenallis community have welcomed their temporary neighbours, viewing the influx as a boost to tourism…a crock of gold of sorts at the end of the Rainbow, which has also benefited other nearby towns like Tullamore, Portlaoise and Mountmellick.
The campsite is a hive of activity throughout the day and while there are no leaders, a strict code is observed. Order is maintained by two basic devices, the ‘Talking Stick’ and the ‘Magic Hat’.
As all the decisions are reached by consensus, there are regular ‘councils’ or ‘circles’, such as to decide if he media are to be allowed take photos and report. The ‘Talking Stick’ is passed clockwise giving the speaker the floor, each in turn voicing their opinion until a consensus is reached, in what seems close to the ultimate democratic process.
The ‘Magic Hat’ is the communal way of paying for food and general purpose items and everyone contributes according to their means, and is the only source of income to the gathering.
The ‘Magic Hat’ principle is based on mutual trust and respect. If the money runs out the gathering goes without.
The secluded site strictly prohibits alcohol, drugs or electrical appliances.

Rainbow Earth

The camp operates on Rainbow time - two communal meals are served daily when the food is ready - prepared in four busy cooperative kitchens with mealtime signalled by the sounding of a conch (a horn like sea shell).
The meals are simple nourishing salads, sprouts, porridge, fruit and Indian style unleavened Chapatti bread. There is a special play area and kitchen for the children, (where more regular and less spicy food is prepared) while there is a constant supply of herbal teas from the Chai kitchen.
The Rainbow People may be unorganised, but no way disorganised.
The gathering comes equipped with its own library; gravity based hot shower system, a children’s’ play area with an ingenious popcorn device and a sweat lodge (intense sauna).
No bathing is permitted in the Owenass River which cuts through the camp, there is not a speck of litter anywhere and a recycling centre is located at the site entrance. The press photographer who quenches a cigarette butt on the grass is chided by Hugo from France, who offers to dispose of it.
The gathering comes in stark contrast to everyday consumer society and has an abhorrence of commercialism.
“This is not a ‘festival’ as ‘festival’ suggests that you pay for something and somebody else is responsible for providing the entertainment and activity. Here everybody is responsible for themselves and nothing happen unless we make it happen,” explains Hugo.
“If something is left undone one day, everyone makes sure it is done twice as well the next day,” says Guy from New Zealand of the basic co-operative philosophy at the gathering which greets visitors under the banner proclaiming, “Welcome Home to Mother Earth”.
Latrines dug in the earth are located way up on the heathered slopes. Utensils are never washed in the river but in the water drawn from it.
When the gathering is over this week the Rainbow travellers will head back to their respective lives. Some have regular jobs; others are students, artists, buskers and commune dwellers. Some follow the seasons and travel fulltime.
“The gathering is a healing time for us and the earth. There is a lot of energy and a strong spiritual aspect. We are not getting together in a hedonistic way, but in a healing way. It’s very easy to lose ourselves in the TV and fridge, when we come to Rainbow we lay ourselves a bit more naked,” says Martin from the South of England.

Back to nature

Time stands still in the Rainbow gathering, its inhabitants oblivious of the stress and pressures of modern living, drawing much of their influences and rituals from the Native American, Celtic and Indian customs.
All over the camp people join in workshops on everything from yoga to juggling, meditation, chanting, re-birthing, ‘focalizing’ (the networking of the Rainbow philosophy), making beaded jewellery and playing the Australian didgeridoo.
Others just relax, dance and sing and join in the beating of the bongo, bodhrans, congos, djembe and tom-tom drums. The anthem of the Rainbow People rings into the night…
“The river is flowing, flowing and growing, the river is flowing back to the sea. Mother Earth shall carry me, a child I will always be, and Mother Earth shall carry me, back to the sea. The moon she is waiting, waxing and waning, the moon she is waiting for us, to be free. Sister Moon watch over me, a child shall always be, Sister Moon watch over me, until we are free.”
The beating of drums drives others on to dance in the dark for hours and hours, some of them in an Amazon tribal dance in which they will not stop until dawn. Music from the tents and tepees is nonstop. Instruments from all over the world are played. The songs - everything from Chicago jazz and blues to the ethnic folk songs of Bombay and Brazil.
At night the camp is pitch black. The only light from a candle, or the odd torch.
Some chose to sit and share ideas around fires in talking circles, the principal one at the centre of the camp around the fire pit which forms the symbolic hub for the main circle which is set out in the form of a Celtic cross or medicine wheel.
The conversations range on everything from the dangers of intruding media, astrology, and the warm welcome they had received in Ireland, global warming, the Dalai-Lama and the quality of the previous nights drumming which it was agreed was better than the best entertainment from the top hi-tech London clubs.
Out of the darkness a young man approaches the gathering notice board. Mostly it is requests for lifts to places like Spain, England, Morocco, Dublin and Feile in Thurles.
But in thick black marker someone has written:
“What is this, the chosen few? Are we not all equal?” Anxious to reply at 2am in the morning, he borrows a pen and writes, “Not the chosen few, but the few that have chosen!”
“Now I can go asleep,” he says, and disappears into the night.

*I first wrote this article for the Leinster Express in 1993 and published a sequel in the Hot Press the following year after joining the 1994 Rainbow Gathering in Slovenia. I will post that follow-up on the site shortly.

*The 2010 European Rainbow Gathering takes place in Finland from July 11th to August 10th, with the Full Moon Celebrations on July 25^th. For directions follow your heart and the Rainbow signs.

One third of households are now the ‘working poor’

Public servants are queuing up for social welfare in an effort to make ends meet. Clerical officers and staff officers are applying in their droves and qualifying for emergency social welfare assistance to meet mortgage repayments and household bills.

Ironically, while the Government is taking away with one hand in pay cuts and pension levies it’s having to fork out with the other as full time public sector workers are feeling the pinch and struggling to meet their financial commitments.

One well paid principal officer in the Department of Education told the Sunday Independent, “This is not at all unusual now, in fact it’s quite common, everyone in the civil service knows about it. Even staff officers with kids are getting hand outs from the social welfare. It’s amazing what’s going on and a bit strange that the Government are cutting wages and having to top them up with welfare payments. You would wonder sometimes, what’s the real saving.”

There is a raft of social welfare entitlements for which even people in work can qualify if they make a sufficiently strong case. The Department of Social Welfare, MABS the money advice bureau and citizen advice centres confirm that they are over run by families seeking assistance and applying for family income supplement (FIS) rent and mortgage allowances, school books and clothing subsidies and other emergency social welfare payments. Low paid public servants average about €450 a week.

The news comes as a further 70,000 SIPTU members joined the work-to-rule in the public sector last week, swelling the numbers from IMPACT, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, CPSU , Unite, the Public Service Executive Union and the three teacher unions already involved in the go-slow, to almost 250,000 public service employees.

One local authority official told the Sunday Independent that some people in the public sector are struggling and are no longer hiding it. “At one staff meeting this week a colleague announced, ‘I’m on family income supplement and I’m not afraid to say it. It’s nothing I’m ashamed of.’ These people have children, their partners are not working and they’re under the threshold to qualify for social welfare, there’s no question about it. But it’s a pretty crazy situation for people on a salary if they have to top it up with family income supplement, what’s the agenda? People are struggling, like lots of families are struggling, especially those who bought a house at the wrong time, they’re scared and at their wits end.”

This is borne out by the latest data from the Money and Budgeting Service (MABS) whose end of year report for 2009 showed the number of people seeking help with debt and mortgage repayments more than doubled last year to 24,800. The bulk of new clients were married, aged 26 to 40 with children and a mortgage.

“We are seeing more and more people seeking advice and support from low pay categories who are in difficulty with paying for utilities and other debts. We help people who are finding it hard to make ends meet whether they have a wage or not, we wouldn’t know where they work as we don’t collate that kind of information,” explained MABS spokesman Michael Culloty.

On Wednesday the Government confirmed that the unemployment figure for last month was 436,936, a rise of 13,000 since December and a jobless rate of 12.7%. Data from the Department of Social Welfare also revealed that unscheduled social welfare payments by the State in 2009 rose by €244 million to a total of €1,048m, an increase of 23%. €508m of this went on rent supplements and related payments.

Father Sean Healy of Social Justice Ireland

In a policy statement this week Father Sean Healy of Social Justice Ireland called on the Government to recognise the problem of the “working poor” which accounts for 39.6% of all households, a total of 116,000, where the head of the family has a job.

Family Income Supplement (FIS) is a weekly tax-free payment available to married and unmarried employees with children. It is designed to give extra financial support to people on low pay and the income threshold varies according to family size. If you are getting FIS you may also be entitled to the fuel allowance and the back to school clothing and footwear allowance.

Displaying once again the remarkable courage and emotional maturity which was commended by the trial Judge Peter Charleton the couple at the centre of the horrific attack and rape by Polish man Edward Piotrowski (45) have spoken out for the first time. The pair have broken their silence to encourage other women who are victims of rape to come forward, put their trust in the authorities and seek justice.

The couple were understandably reluctant to talk about the shocking events of November 25^th, 2007 when they were beaten, abused , raped and threatened with their lives by  a vicious Piotrowski a former Polish soldier from Nysa in the south of the country and with an address at Clonmullen Hall, Edenderry.

Convicted rapist Edward Piotrowski

“He’s in a place now where he won’t see the light of day for a very long time and he deserves what he got as we’re going to have to live with what happened for the rest of our lives but at the end of the day we will have to get on with our lives as well. We’re already given this two years of our lives and want to move on now and be happy,” explained the woman who said of her attacker, “In my opinion he’s not normal, he’s a psychotic person. Before the evidence I hoped he’d plead guilty and spare me going though it but he didn’t. I don’t believe he’s sick or has an illness, he’s just a bad person and deserves what he got.”

The pair were pleased with the severity of the sentence imposed on Piotrowski who got five life sentences, although they admitted to being afraid at times, very stressed and nervous as they awaited the outcome of the trial and the deliberations of the jury. During this time they and the woman’s family in Poland had been subjected to death threats but were reassured by the protection and security afforded by the Gardai.

In fact they could not speak highly enough of the Gardai, their handling of the case, the professionalism and support afforded to them at all times and also the counselling provided by the Rape Crisis Centre and the manner in which family, friends and workmates rallied around them and provided crucial morale support.

“Very often people don’t know what to say to you or how to talk to a rape victim, but I got great support. People who knew what happened I sensed they were on my side. I understand if they don’t know how to deal with the situation and are afraid to hurt your feelings. Work colleagues were great even a smile means a great deal and just asking ‘how are you’, they were all happy with the result and the sentence.

“The Gardai were brilliant all the time. I was working with one female sergeant and she’s the most amazing woman I ever met in my life, she is so confident and she gave me the confidence to go ahead and was always there for me. I had no fears he would be cleared when I saw all the work on the case by the guards and their efforts, I had confidence in the justice system. You have to believe in the system and tell the truth. You’re going to get justice once you tell the truth, it is difficult, but you must believe and you will see light at the end of the tunnel.”

They were anxious to get this message across to others.

“I would encourage other women to come forward and fight for justice, it’s hard work but there is justice in the end. We are very satisfied with the sentence and the ongoing help and back-up we got from the Gardai was incredible. At the end of the day we would not get justice without the Gardai and the courts. The court experience is not simple there is no point in saying it is, your private life is delved into, but if you want justice you must take the stand. It is difficult but I would recommend to anyone else to go ahead as there is no point in sitting back and taking it. I would say to other rape victims there is great support available, there is help available, don’t suffer in silence. I know that so many women are afraid and don’t come forward and that was also my first instinct. It’s your body, so private and personal but I believe all women should come forward.”

The importance of counselling and community support in helping them get through the last two years and the three week trial was also to the fore in their minds.

“There was intimidation of my family in Poland and he said to me that he would kill me or get someone else to and I felt he is going to do it one day, so you are unsure should you go for it or not. When my family was threatened I did have doubts as someone you love life is at risk and I felt I wanted to give up at that time. But the Gardai told me that I was able for it and gave me the confidence. Tell the truth and you will be fine, he has to pay for what he has done to me.”

She has no intentions of returning to live in Poland and resoundingly regards Ireland has her home.

“Ireland is my home now,” she smiles. “My boyfriend is Irish and all his family are so nice to me. When something like this happens you realise that the people really love you. I didn’t expect so much support from the system and community here as a foreign person. There really is great support here and I don’t believe I would get so much help in Poland.”

Were they now glad to have come forward to share their experience with the press?

“Sure, we’ll see,” answers the woman with a raised eyebrow, a strong trace of an Irish accent and more than a hint of a healthy suspicion of the media.

John Gilligan being led to court (image courtesy of independent.ie)

Two pairs of ladies panties, prison officers accused of lying and a video tape which John Gilligan has never viewed as he maintains the Governor of the prison has refused to give him a video player.

Strutting like a bantam cock into court the silver haired, stocky and smiling John Gilligan is a diminutive but dangerous character. Styling himself as some sort of latter day Perry Mason, Gilligan lugs his legal files and papers into court in a large Dunne’s Stores better value beats them all shopping bag.

As he takes the piss out of Portlaoise prison, taunts the authorities, challenges the Judge to step aside for being biased, Gilligan is certainly the one getting value for money here as he turns the court into a three-ringed-circus.

His prosecution for having a mobile phone in his cell, cell 17 on E block in Portlaoise prison has now run on for over eighteen months. Locals in Portlaoise know when Gilligan is up in court as the Main Street is closed down for the massive security operation required to bring the crime boss to and from the prison. “Gilligan must be up today,” they say, as the sirens herald his arrival surrounded by dozens of prison officers, gardai, armed detectives and soldiers in battle fatigues.

“The whole thing is a bloody joke sure. He’s just having a laugh and is turning the whole thing into a circus,” shrugs one officer.

“I’ve been on murder trials that didn’t cost as much or last as long,” confirms another, signalling their frustration over this marathon mobile phone trial.

Gilligan may be the court jester here, but he’s far from anyone’s fool.

Sitting next to the convicted drugs kingpin there is a strange and sinister dynamic at play. This 57-year-old  silver fox could be anyone’s grandfather but Gilligan will forever be carved in the Irish psyche as the gang boss responsible for the death of Sunday Independent journalist, Veronica Guerin, even though he was tried and acquitted of her murder.

“These days, he’s more a danger to himself than anyone else. There are plenty of young turks out there, coked off their heads and looking to make a name for themselves as the ones that gunned down Gilligan. They’re psychopaths and they’re our customers,” is the inside view of one senior officer.

While Gilligan went down for a lengthy 28 year stretch on a drugs rap, later reduced to a 20 year sentence on appeal, prison authorities indicate that he could be back on the streets in less than three years. Gilligan has been in prison for over ten years and in latter times has tried to present himself as a model inmate after previous episodes where he ended up back before the courts for threatening to kill two prison officers and their families.

These days he seems bizarrely chummy with some prison officers, chatting and joking on first name terms. Cross examining prison officers in the witness box last week Gilligan was ever so nice as he called on each in turn to confirm that he was always of good behaviour, courteous and respectful. To a man they agreed he was mannerly and made no problem for them.

“Sure, over the last six years I’ve been a very, very good boy,” remarked a seemingly chuffed Gilligan to the amusement of the court which is full of people in uniform. His son Darren (33) is waiting for him with a lever folder of documents.

“Is it okay, can I sit here,” the son asks the prison officer.

“Of course you can, yeah,” replies Gilligan asserting his authority.

But this trial is far from a laughing matter. There is a great deal at stake. Gilligan sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel with his release date in sight. He needs to find a chink in the State’s case on this mobile phone charge as it could potentially tag on a further five years to his time in jail, if the penalty is applied consecutively. At the rate this trial is progressing Gilligan will be due for release before it’s concluded.

People have died for making calls from mobiles in Portlaoise prison. In October 2007, armed robber John Daly was gunned down shortly after his release from Portlaoise apparently in retaliation for the crackdown on contraband that followed his infamous call to Joe Duffy’s Liveline programme from his cell. Gilligan too is no stranger to such breaches of prison rules as he brazenly conducted a lengthy interview with Hot Press magazine from behind bars in 2008, resulting in another major clampdown much to the ire of other prisoners of which at least one later seriously assaulted Gilligan.

The gist of the State’s case in this instance is that on the night of July 29^th, 2008 prison officer Martin Dunne overheard John Gilligan having a muffled conversation in Cell 17 in E wing, which had its spy hole blocked. He reported his suspicions to his superiors and the next morning shortly after 8am, a search party was sent into remove Gilligan from his cell and look for contraband. In two separate searches by Chief Officer Tom Dunne, ACO’s Crowley and Gary Chisolm, and officers, Leslie Sides, Damian Ging and Jim Fortune they found a Nokia mobile phone hidden in cling film in a bin, a phone charger, a makeshift phone charger head, a Meteor SIM card, a syringe barrel, eight and a half blue tablets and two pairs of ladies G-string panties.

The mind boggles.

In his defence John Gilligan is challenging the credibility of the State’s witnesses, the continuity, consistency and veracity of evidence, as one of the key evidence bags containing the mobile phone was wrongly labelled, July 28^th, 2008, when it was secured in the safe in the Chief’s office. He alleges victimisation and even intimidation as he contends that three other prisoners serving time with him - Joe Clarke, Paddy Forde and Derek Devoy - were assaulted by prison staff.  He sought the court’s approval to have all prison officer witnesses to be removed from the body of the court until they give evidence so that they cannot copy cat. Judge Gerard Haughton agreed. He regularly interrupts prosecuting State solicitor Donal Dunne, charging him with leading the witness. Very often the Judge agrees and sustains the defendant’s objection. When the answers to his cross-examination of prison officers under oath are not going his way Gilligan regularly accuses them of lying.

Gilligan resorts to an article in The Irish Examiner as evidence that there are hundreds of mobile phones confiscated in Irish prisons annually and yet he is being singled out for prosecution.

There are some curious exchanges as Gilligan seems to relish cross-examining prison staff.

“How many phones were found in the prison in 2009?” he asks Chief Officer, Tom Dunne.

“A large number, I couldn’t put a figure on it. Everything written in newspapers is not accurate. I think certainly those figures are not accurate.”

“How many prosecutions then,” presses Gilligan?

“It depends on the circumstances. To my knowledge there are not too many prosecutions taken,” replied the Chief Officer.

Quizzing, ACO Gary Chisolm about the filing cabinet in his cell. “The filing cabinet, describe it, what’s it like?”

“It’s only small, about your height,” the riposte.

Gilligan pressures officer Leslie Sides as to where he found the eight and half blue tablets.

“On the locker shelf,” he replied.

“That’s totally untrue. It’s a standard locker, there’s no shelf. Where were the tablets,” asked Gilligan.

“Concealed in a sock,” confirmed officer Sides.

“What colour socks,” asked Gilligan?

“White,” replied officer Sides, but again Gilligan argues, “I’ve no white socks.” Following analyses the court heard that the tablets turned out to be perfectly legal.

There are regular and lengthy adjournments to verify John Gilligan’s claims that he is being obstructed and prejudiced in his defence. Gilligan maintains that he has not been allowed access to a video recorder to view his video-taped interview with investigating Garda officers.

“This is an abuse of my human rights, my constitutional rights. They come here and are being economical with the truth and misleading the court. I won’t mislead the court, as I have respect for the court. I made a request to Governor Downey for a video and other items and he wouldn’t even write them down,” charged Gilligan to Judge Haughton.  Moments earlier Gilligan accused the Judge of being against him. “They are constantly trying to improve their case but their case is faulty in roughly ten ways and you are biased, not impartial and independent towards me and you change the goal posts all the time. I have sent a letter of complaint about you to the President of the District Court.”

“If I’m satisfied a request was made for a video player and not granted I’m going to strike out the charge,” the Judge crucially cautioned the prosecution, adding, “I’ll rise until you establish the situation.”

“Would it be okay, if I go and stretch my legs?” Gilligan jests with the prison officer detail guarding him.

“I can’t help you there. The only video evidence I know anything about is before Liam O’ Neill,” (the Chairman of the GAA Leinster Council) quipped Officer Sean Dempsey, the Laois senior football team manager, in reply.

After a lengthy recess and a trawl through the Governor’s parade log book, Assistant Governor, Mr Martin O’ Neill gave extensive evidence, corroborated by Chief Officers Martin Murphy and Joe Nolan, that there was no written trace of John Gilligan ever requesting a video player to view the tape which was handed over to him on August 5^th, 2009. There were numerous entries of him requesting copies of warrants, photo-copying, post, dry cleaning, shirt ironing, a play station, and a list of lost property, phone calls and on several occasions, a barber for a haircut. No mention of a video recorder and John Gilligan accused Mr O’ Neill too of lying. Judge Haughton ordered the trial to proceed, saying it was incomprehensible to believe on the basis of the evidence and in view of all the assistance otherwise given to Gilligan, that a request for a video player had ever been made.

With the case having run through from 10.30am, at 4.30pm Judge Haughton brought it to a conclusion for the day, proposing to resume on Friday, February 12^th.

“Any difficulty with that date, Mr Gilligan,” he queried.

“No, I’ll be available,” replied the defendant as he readied his documents back into the Dunne’s Stores bag.

Outside, three jeep loads of heavily armed soldiers flank the steps of the court house and line the footpaths on either side.

The posters in the shop windows along Main Street were for The Great European Circus. “Come See the Amazing Snake Man,” they dared.

And as if to prove the point, when the case resumed on Friday John Gilligan attempted to crack the whip and have prison Governor Edward Whelan jump through hoops in a series of tense exchanges as the prisoner cross examined and repeatedly accused the Governor of lying.

The prison itself it seems was more like a zoo than a circus at one time as John Gilligan maintained that the inmates were not just tolerated but facilitated in having budgies, parrots, cockatoos, fridges and plasma screens and even allowed to have mobile phones in their cells.

Governor Whelan insisted that within days of officially taking up his post on April 30^th, 2007 he ordered a security review of E1, instructed a thorough search and the removal of all prohibited articles. He denied Gilligan’s contention that the clampdown only came after John Daly had phoned Joe Duffy’s Liveline and the new strict regime was ordered by his boss, the Minister for Justice.

Proving that he was still nobody’s clown, Gilligan also produced documentary evidence that he had already been punished on a P19 disciplinary report for having contraband, including the blue tablets which had been deemed to be ecstasy by the prison authorities but later established as legal medication. He alleged double jeopardy and a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights under article 6:1.

The court heard extensive evidence from security officers from Vodafone, 02 and Meteor concerning the alleged use of a mobile phone from his cell by Gilligan.

Ms Noreen Keating, Fraud and Security Manager with Meteor, gave details of what prosecuting solicitor Donal Dunne described as a “continuous stream of traffic” over two days in July 2008. In total there were 181 texts, calls, top-ups and internet access. All the outgoing calls and texts were to six numbers registered to women and men in Tallaght, Ballyfermot, Ballymun, Lucan and Swords.

The case before Judge Gerard Haughton trundles on and is scheduled to continue at 2pm on March 11^th and resume again on March 29^th.

Ill fated cover originally intended for the Jan 09 issue

Glossy magazine has only published once in twelve months

The Irish entrepreneurial spirit is renowned worldwide and many are now hoping that it is such endeavour which can rescue the economy from the current recession. However, the omens are ominous if the fortunes of the ‘Irish Entrepreneur’ business magazine are anything to judge by. The magazine which is devoted to celebrating success and the all conquering attributes of the Irish entrepreneur is itself struggling to survive.

The monthly magazine only managed to produce one issue last year. That was as far back as January 30^th, 2009 last when a special edition was distributed free of charge, exclusively with The Irish Times. Meanwhile Morrissey Media which publishes the glossy were selling annual subscriptions at €100 for ten monthly magazines.

The ‘Irish Entrepreneur’ faired a little better in 2008 when it put out five magazines including a redesigned May edition which was launched by the outgoing Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and engaged PR guru, Terry Prone as Editor. Terry Prone’s relationship with the Vanity Fair lookalike mag was short lived, for one issue only. Other high profile contributors and editors like John O’ Keeffe, George Hook (and yours truly) have also parted company with the business magazine.

The template for the magazine was to profile and fete the country’s business elite and in the process celebrate their success and garner advice to help cultivate and foster the best of the Irish business dynamic. Apprentice boss Bill Cullen, always a favourite with the magazine’s founder and publisher Maree Morrissey, featured as the cover story on the second ever issue in June 2003. The inaugural edition in November 2002, with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds as the featured ‘entrepreneur’ was a flop and it was back to the drawing board.  The magazine’s final issue of 2008 was billed as a ‘Survival Special’ that November and featured such business luminaries as Bill Cullen, Fergal Quinn, Ivan Yates, Louis Copeland, Amanda Pratt, Louis Fitzgerald, Sean Gallagher, and Robbie Fox with advice and mentoring on how to beat the downturn.

Among those credited as Contributing Partners in the last published issue, a full year ago now in January 2009, were International Business Wales, Enterprise Ireland, Ulster Bank, Inter Trade Ireland and BT. It also published a list of the 100 greatest self-made Irish Entrepreneurs.

The promotional blurb for the ‘Survival Special Edition’ from Maree Morrissey and her partner and co-director David Bradley boasted a circulation of 30,790, comprised of newsagent sales, various distribution deals with ISME, Enterprise Ireland and Ulster Bank along with 7,890 individual subscribers. There has been only one other issue published since then, featuring New York based hotelier John Fitzpatrick as the cover story, along with an interview with the Foreign Minister of Somaliland, Abdillahi Mohamed Duale.  It was distributed free with The Irish Times last January. That issue offered a prize fund of €250,000 in a competition for aspiring entrepreneurs who subscribed to the magazine, a promotion which was still running on the company’s website up until a few weeks ago. The magazine’s website has also recently been shutdown. Irish Entrepreneur brought the Naked Cowboy to Dublin from New York as a publicity stunt to promote its last issue, which was printed by Polestar in Cholchester in the UK. Its previous issues had been printed by Jomagar Graficas in Madrid, Spain.

Morrissey Media was originally based in Wexford, moved to offices at No 3 Dublin Road, Naas in 2008 but has since relocated to Baggot St in Dublin. The last remaining member of staff was laid off in May.

Irish Entrepreneur’s competitors in the sector are Business & Finance which has an ABC circulation of 15,008 and Business Plus which has a certified circulation of 11,210.

Maree Morrissey and David Bradley in Harley-Davidson Route 66 mode - but is it the end of the road for Irish Entrepreneur magazine?

Maree Morrissey, who regularly features on TV3’s Midday programme offering business advice, was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to contact her. She is not usually this bashful or backward about coming forward. The publisher always had a propensity to stand in the photographs alongside the captains of industry, CEO’s, and leading politicians profiled in her magazine. In the September 2008 issue for instance, with Bill Cullen and Jackie Lavin of The Apprentice fame, once again adorning the cover, Maree Morrissey is pictured no fewer than five times, down from a total of nine in the previous July issue.

Neither is Ms Morrissey slow to give business advice. On RTE’s ‘Young, Irish and Wealthy‘ programme she had these pearls of wisdom to offer:

“Entrepreneurs regardless, will always find opportunities in a downturn. This is our time.”

“Every business in media is sustained by advertising revenue. How the hell are you going to have a business that isn’t going to have any ads?”

“This kinda workin’ round the clock thingy lark, doesn’t work, that’s an Irish mentality thing. ‘Ah Jasus, I work 60 hours a week, I work 80 hours a week.’ I pity people who do that. The smart guys are workin’ in the morning. They’re up at 5 o’ clock, they finish work by two and they’re probably out starting ten new business ventures by half past two and then they’re off and they’re doing they’re thing.”

Morrissey Media has failed to file annual accounts since June 2007.

Charlie Bird on the case with Lynnide England

A bird brained documentary from RTE’s legendary chief news reporter simply doesn’t fly, but it’s the best comedy the station has done since Hall’s Pictorial Weekly.

Who says RTE can’t do comedy? While Montrose may have allocated every stand-up in the country their own TV programme and pinned great hopes on ‘Your Bad Self’, all with dubious results, the best laughs for years on the box came the last two Monday nights, courtesy of their chief news reporter. Whatever about being premature ‘Charlie Bird’s American Year’ certainly was immature and thanks to a comedy of errors and Charlie’s cry-baby carry-on, this ill judged two-part saga proved a comic masterpiece. So much so that it has repeatedly been the butt of Oliver Callan’s hilarious Nob Nation sketches.

Albeit unwittingly, Charlie pouring his heart out about being so lonely, wanting to come home and knowing nobody had an endearing side to it, a sort of first day at school, Lá brea cois farraige a bhí ann, quality and feeling ever so sorry for himself Charlie cut the look of a hound dog with a big bottom lip and sulky puss more so than the dash of an experienced news hound.

RTE have treated us  before to a Bird’s eye view of the world in the equally self centred and self-indulgent, Charlie goes down the Ganges, the Amazon or does the North Pole, but this time it’s more like Charlie’s Up Shit’s Creek without a paddle as he feels the chill winds of anonymity in Washington. The show is wrongly categorised as documentary as it’s really reality TV with Charlie taking the opportunity to pour his heart out about how unhappy he is in his new job, knocking back a bottle of Corona at the bar and laying it on good and thick lonely hearts style, about how isolated he feels. RTE should bill this series as reality TV and it might just single-handedly save the flagging genre. A sort of Big Brother, where Charlie is the only one in the house, talking about himself and talking to himself.  Or better yet, a mocumentary like ‘Path’s to Freedom’ and ‘Fergus’ Wedding’, I can already see Charlie closing out each episode with, “I need some soup luv.”

It could be properly billed like those two fat bikers cooking up stuff as they roam around, or Billy Connolly Does Oz, Debbie Does Dallas and Charlie Does America. For certain, Charlie’s old pal, Deputy George Lee TD has got to give him a call and tell him straight up that this is not a documentary. Earlier in the evening the excellent Scannal series did a programme on the blowing up of Nelson’s pillar in 1966, now that was a documentary.

Charlie Bird being interviewed by FOX

No, ‘Charlie Bird’s American Year’ is all about me, me, me and the Bird man of Washington constantly comes out with classics like:  ”There are hundreds of thousands of people here I could just talk to, it’s just amazing there’s so many people…The hardest thing to get used to as Washington correspondent is the time difference…Enjoy the day, give me a kiss,” as he lands a smacker on this blonde and then again on another black woman. It wasn’t just me but they too were taken aback with touchy-feely Charlie who looked like a giant school boy in awe of himself as he set up base in “Ben’s Chili Bowl one of Washington’s legendary landmarks.”

Then the immortal line and Charlie’s take on the inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20^th, 2009: “This is probably one of the biggest days of my broadcasting career…It’s just amazing, this time next year, who knows where this journey will have taken him, who knows, and indeed who knows where it will have taken me”? Who knows? Who cares? Jesus Christ get a grip man!

Birdwatchers don’t despair as it’s not that this series is without some redeeming features, moments of pure comic genius. Like when four gun-touting good old boys from West Virginia turn the tables and get Charlie to admit that he too would shoot someone to protect his family; the trip to Guantanamo where Charlie magnificently manages to come away without a picture of a single prisoner in an orange boiler suit and after chasing the new American Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney, the 77 year old owner of the Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Steelers, around Washington all St Patrick’s Day the intrepid Charlie fails to get the interview requested by his news desk. He even tries to enlist the aid of the Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Michael Martin who can hardly contain their mirth at his misery as he admits to camera, “The problem was I had no idea what Dan Rooney actually looked like.” One word for you Charlie - GOOGLE!

Ace reporter Bird bungles through this so called documentary more like Mr Bean as he keens to camera about his computer, the printer ,the alarm in his apartment (which he is unable to switch off) and oh yeah, did we mention how lonely he is in DC compared to back home in Dublin where “everyone knows me.”

“I didn’t know a soul here and was facing into a whole new life away from family and friends. It’s taken me a lifetime back home to build up solid political contacts and here in DC I was starting from scratch,” moans the Birdman. Perhaps if he wasn’t a proper Charlie, Bird could have asked his predecessors in the Washington bureau, Mark Little, Carole Coleman and Robert Shortt for their little black books so as to help keep the RTE flag flying stateside. Only when the credits roll on this opus that we discover that it’s an independent Crossing the Line production commissioned by RTE, so the entire gig is actually another nixer for the already well paid Charlie.

There is, however, one pertinent and poignant segment in this otherwise drivel of a documentary. For once Bird allows the camera to focus for a second on someone else - disgraced American army reservist, Lynndie England ,leaves her trailer-park home to meet the journalist in a diner, which they are asked to leave, as the former military police private has become a pariah, an outcast in her own community. The infamous face of the Abu Ghraib Iraqi prison torture scandal made for compelling television. Convicted of a felony, she is no longer permitted to possess or use a firearm.

Charlie Bird in Detroit with Limerick Boxer Andy Lee

“I was so heartbroken when I found that out. I would (like to be a soldier today). I miss it actually, miss wearing the uniform and I miss the weapons. I miss it, I miss it, I miss being able to fire a weapon even if it’s just a firing range target practice, I miss it so much.”

But generally, Charlie fails to get the money shot. It would be like doing a documentary on the humpback whale and not getting any pictures of the whale. All Charlie seems to get is the hump.

Part deaux continued in the same vein.

As middle America coped with the worst ravages of the recession Charlie Bird cut straight to the nub of the matter: “I miss Ireland, I miss my family. This year I turn 60 and I want to be at home with them, whatever that says about me, I’ve decided that really I’m a home bird (no pun intended)…In many ways the year felt very long for me. I found life in Washington very lonely. I can honestly say in the twelve months that I have been here that I’ve met nobody…As for me I was beginning to feel a little worn out. I don’t know what madness possessed me to take this job…I miss my kids, my kids are 33 and 30 years of age, but I do. It’s meant to be a four year posting, but there’s absolutely no way that I’m going to stick it here, I just couldn’t do it.”

The end of an era.

This morning, (February 2^nd) RTE confirmed on its website that Charlie Bird will be replaced in Washington later this year by an internal candidate as he is to resume his previous role as Chief News Correspondent. The announcement, appropriately enough was made not in the news or current affairs section but was posted under entertainment.

As the Home Bird faded from the screen last night Pat Kenny flashed up to announce: “Old, alone and living in fear,” and for one dreadful moment it looked as if Bird might be back, but PK was merely flagging the latest instalment of The Frontline.

I have just got a final warning and legal notice in the post to pay my TV licence, but it seems to me that the €160 is going towards subsidising Charlie Bird’s midlife crisis. For so long Charlie was a big fish in a small pond, but across the pond, he’s small fry and out of his depth.

In Washington, Charlie don’t surf. Send in the lifeboats as this legend needs rescuing and watch this space for the sequel: ‘I’m Charlie the Celebrity - Get me out of here’.

• The programme was the theme of the sketch on Nob Nation on Monday &Wednesday January 25^th&27^th and again on Monday, February 1^st.

Noel Hume

The pot-belly stove in the corner of Hume’s Pub is still up to heating the bar. It was bought by Arthur Hume at the outset of the War in 1939 for the princely sum of £2 from Davy Frayne in the Hammond-Lane foundry in Athy. But the stove won’t be stoked or pressed into service anymore as Hume’s Pub has called closing time and last orders for the last time after 147 years in business this week.

While the story of the demise of the rural pub has been well documented, Hume’s Pub on the other hand is slap bang in the middle of Portlaoise, on Main Street. The landmark watering hole gives its name to the junction with the Well Road as Hume’s Corner, just like Baker’s Corner in Dunlaoighre or Doyle’s Corner in Phibsboro. The town’s pub count is now down to twenty, with many of the Main St. establishments not even bothering to open during the day anymore.

Ironically, Hume’s did a roaring day trade thanks to its prime location and popularity with off-duty prison officers. While publican’s might be feeling the pinch now, Noel Hume (67) the fourth generation and final member of the family to pull pints there since 1863, recalls that at one time at least it was a regular little gold mine.

“It must have been a nice little earner one time as my grandfather Arthur Hume, who may also have had a penchant for dabbling in stocks and shares, bought 270 acres and a fine house at Ballinclea, Timahoe in 1905 for a purse of £1,800, so that was fair going out of a small pub.” The under bidders at the time were the Odlums, and the farm remains in Noel’s family to this day.

But there were tough times too and Noel Hume remembers being told by his father how throughout the 30’s and 40’s it was common for farmers to call in and barter country butter and cured ham, for other provisions, like pig meal and tea which was scarce and perhaps even a few pints and a whiskey. Hume’s kept a grocery as part of their trade up until 1958.

But mostly Noel Hume has fond memories of the great gas he had behind the bar and often, he would readily admit, on the other side of the counter over the years. He was too, he concedes, an accidental publican as he completed a successful Leaving Cert in 1959 he had an interest in art and architecture but qualified and opted for the army cadets, the youngest in the class of that year. There was a military tradition in the family as his father’s uncle, John Frances (Jack) a former Irish officer joined the American navy and was killed at Guada Canal in 1943 and posthumously awarded the purple heart.

There were clerical influences too, most notably Dr Patrick Collier (1880-1964) who was Noel’s mother, Maureen’s uncle. He impressed upon Noel’s parents to get him to quit the army and return to Portlaoise to help out in the pub as business was to pick up with the start of construction nearby of the new parish church, SS Peter and Pauls in 1960 and so it did. The bar business was in the blood as another aunt of Noels, Nora Malone was proprietor of a pub at the other end of Main St., Burke’s, colloquially known as Auntie Nora’s. While the premises has changed hands it remains a pub, Peig’s, run by another local family the Plunketts and Nora Malone is the sole surviving member of that generation of Noel’s family at 91.

“When all the builders came back from England there was great craic and mighty sing-songs,” which Noel encouraged. “Then came the showbands and as we were the closest pub to Danceland up the road Friday nights were brilliant and as busy as any Christmas Eve. We had them all in here, the Royal, the Miami, the Drifters, the Capital, I got to know loads of them. Then one night there was an all girls band over from London, the Ivy Benson All Stars Girl Band and they had mini-skirts up to you know where, there were old lads nearly lost the sight out of their eyes with the amount of leg showing. The Dubliners were playing next door in the County Hotel and Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna and Ciaran Burke called in and played here in ‘68, at their height. Then we had our own local heroes, The Rising Sons, with the ‘Skipper’ Deegan, Joe Brown, Mickey Robinson and the late Pat ‘Socks’ Whelan. There were some mighty sessions here and on Monday nights we’d have a sing-along and noble call with great singers like Johnny Dollard, Red Dickie Dempsey, Alex Bergin, Gerry Murphy and Peter Byrne who was better known by his nickname, as The Bunch of Violets after his signature tune.”

Hume’s prominent location also played a hand in it hosting some other dignitaries over the decades. Danceland, operated by former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds at the height of the showband era, also doubled as the election count centre for Laois-Offaly throughout the 60’s before it was eventually demolished in 1971. This led to, Noel recalls, his father giving a key of their hall door to then Minister, Brian Lenihan snr, Bill Davern and Ber Cowen, so as they could have a pint in peace upstairs in the family sitting room as the bar downstairs was mobbed. And as the civil unrest of the Northern troubles  regularly spilled over to protests outside Portlaoise prison in the early 70’s Noel remembers how the John Hume accompanied by a first cousin of Noel’s also John Hume (81) enjoyed a couple of pints of Smithwicks  in their bar in 1974. “My father was especially proud of that,” reflects Noel.  Proud moments too in 1969 to have all the Timahoe crowd back in the bar when they won the county football championship. The cup was filled with brandy and first to sup from the silverware was Paddy Whelan the blacksmith from Cremorgan remembers Noel.

Funny stories aplenty too: “There was the day that these two hairy fellas came in and I hadn’t a clue who they were until someone told me that they were the Furey brothers in town for a gig. I also had the embarrassment of refusing Mick Kinnane and Steven Craine when they came in to play a game of pool and ordered two lager shandies back in 1978. The guards had just been around warning about underage drinking, I’m small and these two lads were smaller and I refused them as I thought they were too young,” explains a red faced Noel who likes to have the odd flutter on the gee-gees and was so mortified he stuck the then apprentice jockeys one on the house to make amends.

Noel Hume sold the famous family pub to a property developer in June, 2005 as he and his wife Rosaleen, who have three daughters, Aishling, Aoife and Niamh decided to call it a day.

“We were blessed and probably lucky to get out when we did. We had great times but it’s a tough business and a young man’s game. As far as I know the pub has been repossessed by the banks as it was part of a portfolio funded by Anglo and will probably end up in Nama, a sign of the times I suppose,” shrugs Noel, outside the closed doors of the premises founded by his great  grandfather Robert 147 years ago. Noel has now turned his hand to one of his first loves, art and painting with no small degree of success, as his days of pulling pints in Portlaoise’s famous Hume’s Pub are well and truly over.

According to figures released by the Revenue this week, 22 pubs have closed in Laois over the last three years; 15 in Offaly, 17 in Kildare,  9 in Carlow out of a total of  833 countrywide which have not  renewed their drinks licence over the period 2007 to 2009.

The man himself, Jim Tynan

In December 2008, food critic Biddy White Lennon awarded Jim Tynan’s Christmas Pudding the accolade of the best plum pudding in the country. This award winning recipe is contained in the new cookery book, Jim’s Kitchen which has been selling by the dozens daily since its launch on November 5^th.  As delicious and all as the pudding is and it remains a yuletide favorite it now has a rival on the best seller list. Demand for the book was grossly underestimated and the entire first edition sold out by December 8^th and the book has now gone to re-print. New stocks will be on the shelves by January 22^nd.

But there’s far more to Jim’s Kitchen than this fab pudding and as the saying goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. After being so directly involved from the outset I think that the satisfying success of the book is like any great recipe - the right ingredients. This recession beating formula is not down to chance but most deliberate. While the tone of the book is of its time, there is no posturing here as the philosophies embodied are genuine and pre-date the current economic woes. While it is all premeditated there is no pretence and unlike so much that’s going on around the book is recession beating in more ways than one, as it’s positive and even optimistic, indeed posh in parts and a tad poetic.

Enough! Too much for a cookery book you say. Well, while others were cooking the books, we were cooking up a book that could hold its own on the shelves alongside its contemporaries, even those big fancy ones who have come back from Italy, Dubai, Singapore, Spain and dare we say Great Britain, like a distant cousin coming home from the States with a big swanky accent, still claiming to be every bit Irish.

Jim’s Kitchen is a great cookery book as its straight forward recipes really work for amateur cooks and chefs alike. It’s a real cook’s cook book. My sister Caroline, who is far from grudging, but will not dish up faint praise no more than bad food, maintains it’s every bit as good as any of the 50 or so cookery books in her kitchen. After testing and tasting a cross section of Jim’s recipes she has encouraged all her friends to go out and get it. The recipes are manageable, full of flavor with no booby traps or trapdoors of hidden ingredients difficult enough to find in a deli, let alone in your dresser. True, those family budget conscious favorites like Shepherd’s Pie and Bread and Butter Pudding are in there but this is not contrived to fit the bill as Jim Tynan has been preaching and pushing the cause of good, honest, sensible fresh food for years.  People who like cooking love the book because it works so well, but also lads I know who would only usually be found in the kitchen at parties have taken to these recipes. At first glance they look simple and doable, and they are, so Jim’s Kitchen has proved a winner with fellas too.

The team behind the best selling cook book -John Whelan, Editor; Martin Connolly, Print&Design; Jim Tynan,Chef; Gemma Guihan, Artist;Kevin Farrell, Printing and Kevin Byrne, Photography.

But it’s more than just a cook book and that’s why it gives you more bang for your buck at €20. This book won’t be discounted because it has just sold out in four weeks. You’re not going to find it in the bargain bins. Jim’s Kitchen is also a beautiful book that feels good to be around. It’s comforting. This aesthetic is largely created by the superb photography of Kevin Byrne, with some assistance and additional photography from Grazyna Rekosiewicz. The vast bulk of the shots, with the exception of the seascapes for the fish dishes, are taken on location in Laois (the veg and herb pics from our own garden here in Timahoe) and so there is a strong local flavor to the publication, one that has seen the book adopted as a Laois gift, a Laois brand that has seen it sent and brought all over the world this holiday season.

Then there are Gemma Guihan’s beautiful and delicate drawings, reminiscent of books from the 18^th century.  Realising that they shared a sympathetic appreciation for things past, it seemed a natural progression that the 19^th century tradition of pen and ink drawing practiced by the artist might complement this celebration of Jim’s cookery skills. An 1890 illustrated edition of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel ‘Cranford’, procured by Gemma about this time fortuitously inspired the subtle washes of watercolour, emulating the printing inks used during the 19^th century. Gemma’s touch gives a classical tone to this volume and one which will mature and matter more and more in the years to come. All these drawings were especially undertaken for the book and again help to ground it as a distinctive and special publication.

One other critical element in the book’s success and ongoing appeal is the quality of design and production. In this regard the book holds its own with any on the shelves and this is all thanks to the high production values brought to the table by another Laois firm, Martin Connolly’s KwikPrint. So no need to go outside the county, let alone outside the country to get the job produced and printed to the highest standards. For the record, the book is printed on recycled Italian Fedrigoni Freelife Vellum Silk 170g paper.

‘Jim’s Kitchen’, from award winning chef, Jim Tynan has a simple message which may shock some of his peers.

“I was fortunate enough to have trained in the 70’s and it was a real privilege to get a solid grounding in the fundamentals of cooking when food was still food, all before the nouvelle cuisine and all that modern nonsense,” charges the Portlaoise based chef.

Jim Tynan is not known for getting hot under the collar, his straightforward style, sensible approach and traditional use of tried and trusted fresh ingredients, sourced locally in season have earned him such accolades as the Good Food Ireland ‘Cafe Restaurant of the Year’ and a legion of good food fans.

At the launch of the book in November,  Darina Allen of Ballymaloe fame said she was stunned by the reaction to Jim Tynan’s book. “I have published 15 books and I have never witnessed anything like this. The crowds at the launch and the reaction to the book is amazing. But it’s well deserved as Jim Tynan has always pioneered the highest standards and promoted quality home grown food,” said Darina.

These were sentiments echoed by Managing Director of Good Food Ireland, Margaret Jeffares, who officially launched the book. “The turnout at the launch speaks volumes for the respect in which Jim Tynan is held. It is a testament to his high standards and his philosophy of promoting quality Irish food and making good cooking accessible to all. I am not at all surprised that this book is selling like hot cakes.”

“I readily admit that my influences are old school and may be regarded by some of today’s whippersnappers as old fashioned but for me that beats tasteless art on a plate hands down every time. There are a lot of people who have confused expensive with excellence and placed technique above taste. Good food and flavour never go out of fashion and central to this is quality ingredients and that’s what makes a good dish and without these it won’t come together no matter what tricks you employ. Foam and architecture on a plate don’t necessarily make a meal and should not be mixed up with good cooking. A lot of the time it’s celebrity chefs showing off with no real regard for their customer or genuine culinary craft,” Jim says, giving everyone plenty to chew on in that mouthful.

Good food guru, Darina Allen of Ballymaloe fame chats with Jim Tynan at the launch of his sell out book, 'Jim's Kitchen'.

“A lot of recipes in this new book are based on my own personal experiences, where a simple ingredient can evoke special memories. Using the best possible ingredients has always proved a winner for me

and this was first instilled in me by my parents, my father Jim who was a great gardener and my mother, Kathy who was the best cook I ever knew.”

Fast good, processed food and convenience food are also bugbears for Jim. “For a variety of reasons the trend of the past decade has been for fast-convenient-processed-food-to-go whereas people need to get back to basics and realise that good cooking need not be complicated. Good ingredients, properly cooked and seasoned, will turn a simple meal into an experience, a humble oxtail, no less than a prime steak. Expense need not be a deterrent in these recessionary times either as the book contains recipes for such family favourites as shepherd’s pie and bread and butter pudding. Cookery enthusiasts trying to hone their skills should also realise that all of the ingredients photographed for the book were grown right here in Laois - including the tomatoes, rocket and even the chillies and garlic.”

In keeping with his philosophy on food, Jim Tynan says he is delighted that his new cookery book, ‘Jim’s Kitchen’ is very much a home grown product from start to finish.

“‘Jim’s Kitchen’ is first and foremost a practical, functional cookery book, but with some fantastic photography by Kevin Byrne and an exquisite series of new pen and ink drawings from Gemma Guihan - another old school skill that has fallen out of favour - I believe it is a book that not only looks great but also feels good to have around. I think it evokes a strong sense of place and creates the kind of aesthetic that makes people just want to cook. The design and printing were also all expertly carried out here in Laois to the highest production values by Martin Connolly’s company and I’m extremely proud of that. It’s a home grown cookery book from start to finish.”

Jim Tynan trained at Rockwell Hotel and Catering School, where he won the Chef of the Year Award and the PPU Gold Medal for General excellence, before he went on to work at the world renowned Claridges Hotel in London. In April 1982 he opened his first premises in Portlaoise where his business has prospered and today The Kitchen and Foodhall at Hynd’s Square is synonymous with good food for visitors and regulars alike, a landmark for the high standards which Jim Tynan espouses. Jim Tynan was selected as the Laois Person of the Year in 2007.

‘Jim’s Kitchen’ is on sale for €20 (and while currently out of stock will be available again from January 22^nd from The Kitchen and Foodhall (Tel: 057 86 62061 or email: jimkitchen@eircom.net);  Easons, Portlaoise; All Books, Portlaoise and online from www.kitchendresser.ie and www.goodfoodireland.ie.

Gerardine Rowley of Ruhama, continuing to highlight the human trafficking, suffering and criminality of the sex trade in Ireland.

Recession has forced Irish woman ‘back on the game’

Prostitution is rampant in rural Ireland and it’s getting worse. That’s the stark message this week from support group Ruhama who contend that pimps and criminals behind the sordid business are getting harder to track down due their use of technology. Trafficking of foreign women for the sex industry is now endemic throughout the country they claim, while shockingly Irish women are being forced back on the game, due to the recession.

Ruhama, which this year marked its 20^th anniversary in caring for those caught up in the sex trade,  says that prostitution is going on under people’s noses in virtually every town in the country. They claim it often invisible in neighbourhoods as it is promoted on the internet making it difficult to detect by a poorly resourced Garda force.

“People would be shocked if they really knew what is happening on their own doorstep. This is not just in the cities but towns across the country like Monaghan, Drogheda, Sligo, Athlone, Portlaoise, Carlow, Mullingar, Kilkenny and even smaller towns. You have to remember that criminals drive the sex trade and it has spread throughout the country just as drugs have,” asserts Ruhama spokesperson Gerardine Rowley.

The Sunday Independent can reveal that a trial which is due to open in Cardiff on January 11^th will expose the seedy underworld of prostitution in the provinces. A suspected Irish vice boss and his associates will come before the courts in Wales on a variety of charges relating to prostitution and the case is expected to give a unique insight into the violence and criminality associated with the operation of brothels right across small town Ireland. “Evidence from witnesses in this trial will explode the myth that any of this is harmless and will put the spotlight on the more sordid and sinister side of the sex trade here, human trafficking and the ruthlessness used to strong arm both call girls and competitors alike in Irish towns where most people are going around oblivious to what’s going on. Make no mistake about it, it’s a dangerous business and this outfit are up to their neck in running prostitution right across the midlands and elsewhere,” outlined one well placed source.

Gerardine Rowley agrees that while prostitution has spread at an unprecedented scale over the past decade, it is much more difficult to capture and convict the crime bosses behind it. The street corner and kerb crawling through well known ‘red light’ districts is mostly a thing of the past. It has been replaced by the internet and the flexibility of the mobile phone.

“It is very complex and under the radar. The heavy hand of the pimp no longer has to be physically present but they are running the show from a distance. We need a wake-up call. Men willing to pay for sex are fuelling it in small towns and the images on the glamorous posters with the fish-net tights hide the real trauma and horrendous situations we encounter. Many of the women we help have been deceived and forced into prostitution. Even though it might not appear that way they are held captive and in fear, held indoors they only people they meet are their pimps and their punters. A lot of men and even some Garda seem to hold the view, ’sure, what harm, it’s a bit of innocent fun, aren’t they making a lot money?  But that’s ignorance and naivety and that’s why we need a National Vice Squad which we’ve been calling on for years, with well trained officers, who know what they’re looking for in a focussed and effective fashion. At present there are only two officers based in Dublin and that’s totally inadequate,” insists the Ruhama spokeswoman.

“You would wonder at times if people want to look for this crime. You don’t have to be a detective to  realise what is being advertised on the escort websites and even the adverts for many of the Chinese Massage Parlours offering ‘full body massage’ in the mainstream media and Buy & Sell are fronts for selling sexual services. The lap dancing clubs too are linked to prostitution. Very often the women we deal with are in debt bondage, fear for their families back home and are even under the influence of ritual voodoo oaths. But we turn a blind eye as the women being exploited are not white, not middle class, not me, not my daughter, they’re nobodies,” is the prevailing attitude maintains the Ruhama spokeswoman.

Gerardine Rowley is furious when she hears the term ‘happy hooker’ and how much money they are making.

“This upsets me and is a totally wrong characterisation of what is usually organised crime. Can someone explain to me how a woman can arrive here, barely able to speak English and within 24 hours be set up in an expensive apartment in Dublin 4 with a new mobile phone, that’s not a happy coincidence, these women are being trafficked and we’re turning a blind eye to it with only two officers based in Store Street charged with dealing with this lucrative criminal trade. We have to get rid of the idea of the ‘happy hooker’, that’s a myth. These are real people who are being abused and men who pay for sex should really hear what these women have to say about them and really think about them, there is nothing harmless about it. Lives are being ruined and these women may be compliant out of coercion but they are not consenting and we have got to stop kidding ourselves,” insists the Ruhama spokesperson.

Fine Gael spokesman, Denis Naughton is in agreement.

“It’s well over a year since the introduction of human trafficking legislation, yet the Government has failed to establish adequate protections and secure accommodation for these victims and to ensure prosecutions against traffickers occur. One hundred and fifty-one investigations have been undertaken by the Gardaí in the last 18 months into alleged trafficking but there have been no prosecutions to date. The reality is that unless we adopt a decisive and practical approach to protection and support systems, victims will not come forward to Garda authorities. This is fundamental to securing convictions against those directly involved in this trade.

“It’s time that Ireland hit the demand end of this multi-million euro illegal industry. Our law currently provides for a defence in court to prove that they did not know that the person was trafficked. However, the new law for the UK will bring a provision of direct liability into force - ignorance to the fact an individual was sex trafficked will not be defensible in court. Men who know they are paying for sex with a trafficked woman may face a rape charge in court.”

And in the latest worrying development Ruhama have detected a pronounced increase in street based prostitution in the bigger cities over the past year.

Says Gerardine Rowley: “We have noticed a big increase in street based prostitution in recent months as people struggle with bills and are forced back onto the street. They tell us, ‘it’s not easy money, but it’s quick money.’ We try to support them and direct them away from this high risk and violent life to MABBS and Vincent de Paul. These are ordinary women who can’t pay their household bills and we are aware that there are those who turn to prostitution coming up to Christmas, First Communions and back-to-school, all these times.”

Public prefer cheese & onion crisps story to cheesy politicians’ saga

Arguably, not that long ago, he was the most popular person in the country, but Bertie Ahern’s cache has plummeted if this year’s best sellers list is anything to go by. Always a good barometer of public opinion the top sellers in the run up to Christmas show the public have little appetite for Bertie or bankers.

Forging ahead in the sales figures in book shops around the country this week is Senator Shane Ross’ The Bankers: How the Banks Brought Ireland to Its Knees, in sixth place overall on the bestsellers list retailing 2,009 copies. Reflecting the angry mood abroad the week of a brutal budget, sales are also flying it for Fintan O’ Toole’s, Ship of Fools, 1,286. Bertie trails them both with sales of 1,167. Showing steady numbers too are Matt Cooper’s, Who Really Runs the Country, 981 and David McWilliam’s, Follow the Money, 930.

This pattern is consistent throughout a year which has been marked by an obsession with the economy and the banking crisis. Countrywide data from Nielsen’s BookScan for the year to date up until Thursday last showed that Shane Ross’ book, The Bankers has already moved into 12^th place overall in the non-fiction category for 2009 with sales of 10,312. This is not to be mistaken with the title, The Banksters, where David Murphy and Martina Devlin’s book published last May similarly covers our new found fascination with financiers with total sales of 9,895. Bertie Ahern’s Autobiography, which despite appeals from the Tanaiste, Mary Coughlan to cross border shoppers not to be supporting “her majesty’s government”, was nonetheless “printed in Great Britain.”  Bertie’s book hangs precariously inside the top twenty non-fiction list at number 19 with total sales of a modest 9,351.

But fairing even far  worse than Bertie Ahern is the current Taoiseach. Brian Cowen: In His Own Words, has proved a real stinker altogether. Written by Johnny Fallon and published in May it has sold a grand total of a paltry 141 copies. Not doing much better is Jason O’ Toole’s, Brian Cowen: The Path to Power which has only sold a total of 331 copies since published in October 2008. The latest statistics also show that former Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds is not in much demand and his autobiography is languishing in 465th place in Nielsen’s top 1,000 chart with sluggish sales of only 106 books this week, bringing his total to a fairly miserable 2,806.

It’s not that the book buying public have gone off all politicians as topping the non-fiction list for this year by a country mile is Barack Obama’s, Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance with sales of 27,135. You would never have guessed that in second place is Mathematical Tables: For the use in State Examinations, 18,699; The Secret is still selling well at 17,048; The Official Driver Theory Test is at number four (16,900) and the Guinness World Records is in fifth place in the non-fiction category, 15,873.

“Bertie’s book is certainly taking a bath despite heavy discounting and is proving a big disappointment,” according to John McNamee of Eason’s Portlaoise and President of the European Booksellers Federation. “Celebrity publishing like everything else will have its lifespan and is probably coming to an end of the cycle. Rumour in the industry is that Bertie got a significant advance and the publishers Random House will struggle to get their money back on this one. The days of paying out big dosh up front for this kind of book are over as there’s no sustainability in that kind of publishing. In these tough times publishers are no longer going to pay out advances before a book is published or even written.” In some instances Bertie Ahern’s Autobiography which has a reputed print run of a whacking 50,000, is being discounted down from €26.30 by up to 50%.

Mr. Tayto

But it’s far from doom and gloom for all publishers and book shops. Amid the recession the Irish public have retained their voracious appetite for reading. The surprise package of the year, well it’s The Man Inside the Jacket, Mr Tayto. The story of how the humble cheese and onion crisp was pioneered by a real Dub hero Joe ‘Spud’ Murphy from Dawson Street to Coolock before moving on to worldwide domination really is flavour of the month. The dinky little hardback is a snip at €5.99, a masterpiece in guerrilla marketing and tops this week’s all titles best seller list with sales of 3,199. Mr Tayto’s Forest Gump style story not only leaves Bertie Ahern in his wake but also trumps Marian Keyes, Stephanie Meyer, Stieg Larsson, Dan Brown, Rachel Allen and even Shane Ross. Mr Tayto is in tenth place overall for non-fiction this year with a total of 10,793 sales.

Cook books remain as popular as ever as among the other big sellers in non-fiction this year are Rachel Allen who has two books in the top 20, Home Cooking (15,514) and Bake (10,182). The best selling sports book so far this year is Cody: The Autobiography with total sales of 9,537 (854 this week). Grand Slam by Alan English is also going well with sales this week of 1,123; Donal Og Cusack’s, Come What May sold 1,001 and Michael O’ Muircheartaigh’s GAA Odyssey moved 668 units.

In fiction this year Sebastian Barry is way out in front for Faber and Faber with The Secret Scripture selling 71,487 copies, well ahead of Dan Brown’s, The Lost Symbol for Bantom Press in second place on 58,829. Stieg Larsson’s, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is ranked third with 40,294, only ahead of Colm Toibin’s award winning Brooklyn, with sales of 35,665 and in fifth place Patricia Scanlon’s Happy Ever After, which has sold 29,260. This Charming Man by Marian Keyes sold well again this year with 26,003, after she topped the best sellers list last year with the same title with 49,295 copies for Penguin. Her latest title, The Brightest Star in the Sky has sold 20,901 so far this year. But not such a good year for Cecelia Ahern either. She had three books in the best sellers list in 2008 - Thanks for the Memories, The Gift, and PS, I Love You - with total sales of 86,097, in stark contrast with one entry at number 20 this year for The Book of Tomorrow with disappointing sales of 13,330. The Ross O’ Carroll-Kelly brand remains strong with two titles in this year’s top twenty - We Need to Talk About Ross and Rhino, What You Did Last Summer - totalling sales of 39,465.

Overall, however the Irish retail book sector remains remarkably resilient despite the recession with the latest Nielsen data valuing the fiction market here at just over €37 million for 2009 with sales of 3,882,427 to date for 46,929 titles. The non-fiction figures are running at 4,630,297 book sales worth just €65 million for a staggering 199,377 titles. This compares with the 2008 total market value of €111.3 million.