Death of Seamus Heaney

The death has occurred today of renowned Irish poet, Seamus Heaney at the age of 74.  A former teacher from the the North of Ireland, in 1995 he won the Nobel prize for literature

Leading tributes, fellow poet the Irish President Michael D Higgins said:

generations of Irish people will have been familiar with Seamus' poems. Scholars all over the world will have gained from the depth of the critical essays, and so many rights organisations will want to thank him for all the solidarity he gave to the struggles within the republic of conscience.

Seamus Heaney who died today

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

Going Dutch

The Irish Times has reported that the 'Dutch photonics company FAZTech Research is to open a global research centre in Dublin with the potential to create 25 jobs.'

Although only a drop of relief in the ocean of austerity it will be welcome news to a city ravished by unemployment and cut backs.

The industrial giant is expected to enage in a joint projcts with research centres at a number of Irish universities.

The move has been hailed by the Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton, who claimed that it  'demonstrates once again Ireland’s strengths as a hub for innovation, research and development.'

It is not the first time that Dutch industry has made the headlines in Ireland. In 1975 Tiede Herrema the Dutch industrialist shot to international prominence when he was subjected to a kidnapping ordeal at the hands of republicans whose number included a Portlaoise prison escapee.

Fugro chief executive Paul van Riel, seemnigly confident that there will be no repeat of Herrema's Monasterevin siege stated that the reasons for selecting Ireland for the jobs initiative were that:

key intellectual property was developed in Ireland by Irish researchers and engineers, the vision and enthusiasm of the current workforce and the outstanding professionalism and support by IDA Ireland.

Dr Herrema showing Bullet at Press Conference 08/11/1975

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

The Wrong Prisoner

Catherine Teeling a 64 year old grandmother has been jailed for four months. The horrific crime that earned her this bout of incarceration was a failure to pay a fine of 4,000 Euros.

A country ravished by the unethical behaviour of bankers, to which it has for the most part turned a blind eye, can nevetheless imprison people whose misdemeanours pale by comparison.

Mrs Teeling who only six months ago found her sister dead after a fall from an apartment owed a fine resulting from a breach of casual trading laws.

The jails are filling up with the wrong people while those who should be under lock and key are in charge of the country's financial health.

The female win in Mountjoy Prison

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

Dundon Down

With the conviction last week in the Special Criminal Court in Dublin of John Dundon, hope has arisen in Limerick that a corner has been turned in the city's long struggle against gang related violence. Gardai have spoken of the force's capacity to deal with serious crime.

Dundon was found guilty of murdering rugby player Shane Geoghegan in a case of mistaken identity.

Violence in Limerick has been to the fore in recent years with incidents like the Moyross incendiary attack on young children in a family car causing much public outrage.

The city has a history of poverty which has fueled much of the city's crime and drugs epidemic.

Limerick street scene, 1962

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

Death Of Brian Stack

The Provisional IRA has admitted that it shot dead prison officer Brian Stack in the 1980s. Stack, the only prison officer to be killed as a spin off from the Northern Irish conflict, died from his injuries a year after he was shot in the head while leaving a Dublin boxing match in 1983.  Portlaoise Prison given its maximum security status has frequently featured in news coverage either for its escape attempts or nature of the regime prisoners are held under.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams along with a former IRA leader met with the family of Brian Stack at which it was confirmed that the IRA was responsible for the death of Mr Stack. Mr Adams said he would not call on the IRA to assist the Garda in solving the killing.


Portlaoise became the main penal holding centre for IRA prisoners, replacing Mountjoy, in the mid 1970s.

The female win in Mountjoy Prison

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

Violence in Pakistan

Last week a suicide bomber was reported to have killed 30 people during a funeral service for a police officer in Pakistan. The type of attack has been a frequent occurrence in the country.

Pakistan is subject not only to the violence of Islamic radicals who are normally blamed for being behind the suicide bomb attacks, but also faces the infliction of US military violence which is often delivered by means of drone attacks.

Benazir Bhutto was one of the more prominent Pakistani pliticians ot have been killed in suicide bomb attacks.

Benazir Bhutto during a 1994 visit to Ireland

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive

Unsafe Passage

Despite the public's taken for granted expectation to travel safely by road or rail and end up in one piece at their destination, events in recent weeks in Continental Europe serve as grim reminders of the hazards that sometimes face travellers and beg us to consider whether the requisite level of safety awareness is at the centre of the minds of the people tasked with operating the vehicles in which we travel. When a fatal car crash occurs the deaths are usually low. In trains and buses they can be significantly higher.

After the Spanish rail disaster which claimed around 80 lives, Italy fell prey to a transport disaster when a coach carrying pilgrims to Naples plummeted into a ravine, leaving almost 40 dead.

Ireland's bus service has not been fatality free. In March 2005 an incident involving a school bus saw five pupils on bard the vehicle lose their lives.

CIE Bus in Dodder River after a crash in 1996. 

Purchase framed photographs and prints @ Irish Photo Archive