Re: Irish Books

["D OC" <donaloc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Sam,

Denis O'Hearne is a good friend of mine. His book 'The Celtic Tiger' must be
read in context - basically, it was an attempt to explain to a wide audience
the unprecedented rates of growth which the twenty-six counties have
experienced and its underlying structural difficulties. Having said that I
haven't read the book; although knowing Denis, it's likely that he would
have adopted a market socialist critique rather than anything more
fundamental. Furthermore, Denis would recognise the current, concrete
reality of Irish dependency on FDI - such a recognition, while hard to
stomach for any of us raised on notions of real self-determination, is the
basis for the generation of a correct response at this juncture - which we
must ensure is not merely a re-run of FF/FG/Labour policy.

If you want to chat to Denis, I can give you his email address off-list, I'm
sure he could expand on his book. I think he's currently working on another
paper.

As for Fintan O'Toole, he's a central figure in the liberal media
establishment. He writes for the Irish Times and is very self-absorbed. A
classic occasion was when he challenged the Wolfe Tones on the 'Late Late
Show' - basically the most popular TV show in the Republic on Fridays (the
Wolfe Tones are the main Balladeers of Nationalist/Republican tradition). He
asked them why they didn't sing any songs about those murdered by the IRA -
the crowd heckled him. People like Fintan O'Toole have made their careers
out of attacking Republicans, with the success of the peace process these
people have been completely wrong-footed and are now grabbing at anything
they can. A few nights ago I watched a programme about the Irish diaspora
around the world and Fintan's contribution was the notion of the very real
existence of an Irish Empire - in some way an empire conquered as opposed to
the survival of cultural forms around the world resulting from a mass exodus
from the 'native' land. He then harped on about how Irish settlers murdered
Native Americans in disproportionate numbers as they were 'making room for
the other Irish' - something I have never heard about - perhaps Jim or
Hunter could explain this. The only thing most people over here remember is
the couple of hundred pounds that some native tribe sent over in 1847 when
our people were starving.

Terry Eagleton is an English commentator with strong left and
pro-Nationalist tendencies. He has been subjected to some serious assaults
by the usual pantheon of 'authorised' historians. I think his books are
generally well-researched although I have not completely read any of them.

As far as the criticisms of Lawrence McKeown's book 'Out of Time' are
concerned: he didn't include any interviews with OIRA or INLA prisoners but
he did interview people like Darkie Hughes and Tommy McKearney who are
leading lights in the anti-agreement camp. I guess he was trying to write
his experience - as such there are massive gaps, e.g. women ex-prisoners,
non-PIRA prisoners, the Loyalists, the prison wardens, etc.

Domhnall.



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