Don Deireadh Seachtaine (Trí)

Not a good week for Belfast. A week that saw the burial of the city’s most influential and respected priest Fr Alec Reid, a week that saw the re-introduction of  vehicle checkpoints in response to the attempted car bombing in the city centre and a week that saw the build-up in tensions as Belfast braced itself for the festive flags season.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/troubles-priest-artisan-of-peace-29787862.html

The most extraordinary headline of the week goes to the Newsletter which stated on Monday that “Sinn Fein leader Adams was sent by God”. Admittedly it did also have the words “said Fr Alec Reid”.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/sinn-fein-leader-adams-was-sent-by-god-said-fr-alec-reid-1-5704739

Gerry must have wondering what the world was coming to – with that sort of coverage from themmuns over at the Newsletter – perhaps there might be a United Ireland in his lifetime after all. 

But of course it was all too good to be true and it was business as usual with the media using the sentencing of Gerry’s brother Liam, as an opportunity to just keep talking about Gerry.

After a couple of excellent programmes on the Disappeared and the Army, the BBC, disappointingly, pushed out a re-heated, re-run of the controversies surrounding Gerry. A muddled programme that had the distinct feel for the need to fill the schedules and which (literally) cut and paste bits out of one it had prepared earlier (The Disappeared). 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006v04h

Not to be outdone in the highly skilled art of recycling old (Gerry) stories or in the fine art of cutting and pasting, Mick (Fealty) over on Slugger combined the now less than tepid BBC offering with other old ingredients which were pre-prepared by his trusty lieutenant Pete Baker and his good self. Link below for a taste of this quality (not) cocktail.

http://sluggerotoole.com/2013/11/28/micheal-martin-claims-sinn-feins-cover-up-of-sexual-abuse-goes-beyond-the-adams-case/

Runner-up in the headline of the week has to go to the Telegraph which stated encouragingly that

 “UDA finished, says loyalist paramilitary terror group leader”. But any optimism generated by this headline would have immediately dissipated on reading the small (non-headline ) print –  which informed us that a process of splintering into smaller more violent groups was under way.

“http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/uda-finished-says-loyalist-paramilitary-terror-group-leader-29791310.html

Comment of the week goes to “seamasbeag” who, in responding to the Telegraph article, reminded us of the basis for the nomenclature of Loyalist paramilitary organisations.

“A split means a new organisation and a chance for unionists to use the old fruit machine name deviser. You know the one I mean. It has Loyal, Royal, Unionist etc on one wheel, Orange, Protestant, Unionist etc on another and Force, Army, Commando on the third one. Pull the lever and hey presto The Loyal Orange Commando, or the Ulster Protestant Force. Brilliant!!”

Slán and remember there are only 25 flag protest (and bombing days) left until Xmas.

The Migration Effect…….Serious number crunching

A guest post by Faha

(This is a follow on from Faha’s previous post Here– BD)

I did a post in March on the effect of immigration on the 2011 census figures for Northern Ireland. At that time I estimated that 50% to 55% of the foreign nationals that had immigrated to Northern Ireland were Catholic. Based on that estimate it appeared that the Catholic immigrants would have contributed little to the PERCENTAGE increase of the Catholic population but would have contributed approximately HALF ( 40,000 ) to the 80,000 increase in the Catholic population.  In May the census office released the file, DC2242NI-Country of Birth by Religion or Religion Brought in, which provides full detail of the religion background of the 80,760 people who were born outside of the UK or Ireland.

What were the results?

Total         Catholic    Protestant&OtherChristian    Other        None

80,760         42,874                 18,201                          6,641         13,044

53.1%                   22.5%                            8.2%          16.2%

The Catholic percentage is in the 50% to 55% range that I expected but the Protestant percentage is much higher than I expected. The Other group is much lower than expected and the None higher than expected.

Europeans account for 8,271 of the Protestant immigrants (almost half all Protestant immigrants ) and other religion files indicate that 1/3 are Eastern Orthodox. Half ( 2,782 ) of all African immigrants are Protestant and there are 2,963 are from Asia. The remaining 4,000+ are from Latin America, North America and Australia-New Zealand. There were some other unexpected findings. The number of Catholics and Protestants from South America are equal and the numbers are equal for the USA, Canada and Australia. Of those born in India 1/3 are Catholic. 70% of Chinese have no religion.

These numbers do not include the children of immigrants born in Northern Ireland. Birth statistics and school information for children who speak a foreign language indicate there are approximately 18,000 children of immigrants. Since the Eastern European immigrants did not begin arriving until 2004, those immigrant children born prior to 2005 (much lower numbers than currently) were predominantly of Chinese, Indian, Muslim and African origin. The Catholic percentage among all the children of immigrants would be less than 50% but those born in the 2 years since the census would definitely be above 50%. In the 2011 census Catholic immigrants (including their children) are probably 50% of the immigrant population. The 42,874 foreign born Catholic immigrants plus their Northern Ireland born children would be approximately 50,000. Approximately 5,000 were already present in the 2001 census so 45,000 would be new to the 2011 census .

While most have concentrated on the Catholic numbers the Protestant numbers are also interesting. There are 18,200 Protestants among the foreign born. There would also be approximately 4,000 children of those immigrants for a total of 22,000. Now perhaps 2,000 of those were present in the 2001 census so 20,000 would be new to the 2011 census.

With these figures on the ethnic population it is possible to give a breakdown of the entire 1,811,000 people in Northern Ireland. In my September 21^st post on the 2011 school census, the school census indicated a minimum undercount of the entire Catholic population of over 20,000 and I will use those estimates. While the census definition religion of Catholic is straightforward the census definition of Protestant is more complicated. The definition is actually “Protestant and Other Christian and Christian related”. Included in this category are 435 who gave their religion as “mixed Catholic-Protestant”, over 2,000 Eastern Orthodox, over 2,000 Non-denominational or Independent, and 14,630 as “Christian”. The mixed Catholic-Protestant and Eastern Orthodox are clearly not Protestant and I include them with “Other”. I assume the Non-denominational and Independent are of Protestant background. The 14,630 “Christian” increased from only 8,000 in the 2001 census so it may be that this group is including more children of mixed marriages and Protestants and Catholics who do not belong to any church but still consider themselves Christian. The estimated numbers are:

Native Protestant                     848,000                          46.8%

Ethnic Protestant                        22,000                             1.2%

Native Catholic                         787,000                           43.5%

Ethnic Catholic                            50,000                             2.8%

Native Other/None                    77,000                             4.3%

Ethnic Other/None                    27,000                              1.5%

There was a significant emigration of the native Catholic and Protestant between 2001 and 2011, though less than between 1991 and 2001. The total Protestant population in the 2001 census was 895,000. There was a slight undercount of the Catholic population in the 2001 census, as indicated in the 2001 school census, but this was much less than 2011, approximately 5,000 with a corresponding over count of the Protestant population by 3,000 and the None group by 2,000. After subtracting that 3,000 from the Protestant total and removing the Protestant ethnic nationals and others that are not actually Protestant (Eastern Orthodox, etc.) the native Protestant population in 2001 was approximately 888,000. The native Protestant population declined by 40,000 between 2001 and 2011.  The census office estimated that the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 5,000 so the remaining 35,000 decrease would be due to emigration. However, the number of British soldiers and dependents stationed in Northern Ireland decreased from 17,000 in 2001 to only 4,000 in 2011 and since they are included in the census this influences the emigration numbers. Approximately 10,000 of those soldiers who left would have been Protestant, 1,000 Catholic and 2,000 None.  The actual emigration of the native Protestant population would have been only 25,000.

The actual Catholic population in the 2001 census would have been 742,000 but excluding the estimated 5,000 ethnic nationals the native Catholic population would have been 737,000. The census office   estimated that the Catholic population had an excess of births over deaths of 72,000. Adjusting for the Catholic children of ethnic nationals who were born during that 10 year interval (and the 1,000 Catholic British soldiers who left) would indicate that the native Catholic population should have increased by 65,000. Since it only increased by 50,000 there was a net emigration of 15,000 from the native Catholic population. This is 10,000 less than the 25,000 Protestant numbers. This is probably due to the excess number of Protestant university students who attend school outside Northern Ireland and who do not return. This has been well documented. The University religion figures for Northern Ireland show more Catholics and fewer Protestants than would be expected from the religion numbers for those in secondary school.

The arrival of ethnic Catholic immigrants influences the overall figures since the Catholic population is increasing faster than it would otherwise. The arrival of Protestant ethnic immigrants is masking the overall decline of the native Protestant population. It is also clear that native Catholics and Protestants together are 90% of the population. The other 10% are ethnic immigrants and native people with no religion or Other religious background. Since native Catholics and Protestants are both in a minority the political balance of power will be determined by this 10% of the population in future elections.

Is it possible to predict the results of a future census?

Future predictions are always fraught with uncertainties. Among these would be changes in the birth rate and death rate, immigration and emigration. The death rate has not changed significantly for many years at 14,500 per year. The parents of almost all the children who will be born in the next 20 years are already present in the 2011 census so I would not go out any further than the 2031 census. If the birth rate remains at approximately 25,500 per year there would be 510,000 children born in the next 20 years. The religious breakdown would be approximately:

Catholic                      260,000

Protestant                  170,000

Other                             10,000

None                             70,000

If the death rate remains constant for the next 20 years the figures would be:

Catholic                    100,000

Protestant                180,000

Other/None                10,000

If current birth and death rates continue the natural increase (or decrease) would be:

Total Population

Catholic                    160,000                     1,000,000

Protestant                 -10,000                        860,000

Other/None               60,000                        165,000

If native emigration continues at the same extent as the time period between 2001 and 2011 (15,000 Catholic and 25,000 Protestant per decade ) the figures would be:

Catholic                                                          970,000               50.0%

Protestant                                                      810,000               41.8%

Other/None                                                   160,000                  8.2%

The Catholic population will be half the population. The Protestant population will have plummeted from over 53% in 2001 to only 41.8%. The Other/None group would hold the balance of power in any elections although these people are very diverse and it would be difficult to predict their voting patterns at this time.

The final unknown factor, and the least predictable, is the extent of immigration in the next 20 years. Since 2009, the number of ethnic nationals coming to Northern Ireland has decreased dramatically compared to earlier years and the net immigration is only 5,000 per year. The source of immigrants has also changed with few from Africa or Asia and 85% are of European origin (mainly Eastern European). I estimate that 70% of all recent immigrants are Catholic. Immigration is very dependent on the state of the economy and it is not possible to predict future economic growth in Northern Ireland. If net immigration of ethnic nationals remains at the current low levels over the next 20 years I would estimate the following (including future children born to these immigrants).

Catholic             90,000

Protestant         10,000

Other/None      25,000

If the current low levels of ethnic national immigration continues for another 20 years the final numbers in 2031 would be:

Catholic              1,060,000                                     51.3%

Protestant             820,000                                     39.7%

Other/None          185,000                                       9.0%

Total                    2,065,000

The Catholic population would have a narrow majority. However, the native Catholic population would only be 43.5%. The Protestant population would be just under 40% but the native Protestant population would only be 38%. The Other/None group (both native and ethnic immigrants) and ethnic Catholics and Protestants will be 17.5%.

Don Deireadh Seachtaine (dó)

A good week for the British Broadcasting Corporation, a bad week for the British army and a controversial week for Johnny Larkin.

Not content with just reporting the news, the BBC had decided – for the 2nd time in a couple of weeks – to got out and make some. Having just delivered the excellent ‘The Disappeared’ they then delivered the arguably even better Panorama programme ‘Britain’s Secret Terror Force’.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03jprmx

As indicated on this site and by ‘an Sionnach Fionn’, we here in Ireland are not unfamiliar with what the ‘best army in the world’ likes to up get up to.

http://ansionnachfionn.com/2013/11/21/death-squad-britain-the-past-that-wont-stay-hidden/

The Panorama programme came hot on the heels of the Attorney General, John Larkin, uniting large swathes of political opinion in oppostion to his (sensible) suggestion that the GFA might be the cut off point for prosecutions for Troubles-related killings.

With Unionists and the SDLP jumping up and down – Davey Cameron assured parliament that he had no plans to introduce an amnesty – perhaps simply reflecting the fact that Northern Ireland has its own Justice Department and perhaps that would be their job? Whoever has the job of actually changing the law – I think we should be expecting the highest legal officer in the land -to be actually passing comment on the law.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/no-plans-for-troubles-amnesty-says-david-cameron-1-5693839

Richard Haass, reassuringly ignoring the fuss surrounding Johnny Larkin, duly complimented the AG for moving the debate along – and quickly left the country.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-25058725

… and with only 32 flag protest days left till xmas – next Saturday has been booked up – thus ensuring there will be one less shopping day.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/obey-law-belfast-traders-urge-flag-protesters-29775024.html

(Sammy McNally)

The Cairo Gang and other stories

Today’s “revelations” regarding the activities of British Government forces in Ireland  in the 1970’s are no surprise to some of us who have been around for a while. I’ll not go over that ground again. It has been better done by others.

For me the interesting thing is how history repeats itself and the mistakes of the past tend to dictate the narrative of the present.  We have all, in a sense, been prisoners of history in Ireland. Interpretation of that history and our own perspective tends to be the point of contention. From my own point of view, education is the escape from that particular multi dimensional map.

The activities revealed in tonight’s Panorama programme are no surprise. The surprise is that they were admitted to and acknowledged by those responsible. They are yet to be admitted to and acknowledged by those, to whom those responsible, reported to.

With a little historical perspective none of this is new. The Cairo gang- named in honour of the Dublin café they frequented (pictured above) did pretty much the same job as the FRU (pictured below). The Black and Tans and the Auxillaries operated with the same impunity from law during the 1920’s.

Courtesy An Sionnach Fionn

It is arguable, indeed increasingly provable, that the RUC, UDR, British Army  and Loyalist paramilitaries operated in concert and with overlapping membership, common goals and shared resources over at least a 35 year period.

To sum up I have two questions.

1.Will The British Government be pursued to answer for their actions in the same way that nationalist and republican politicians are? (Particularly by the Bel Tel and Slugger 😉 )

2. When will the lessons of history be learned? I refer to the records of success of both the Cairo Gang and the FRU.

Given recent events in Iraq regarding British Army actions, does anyone else see repetition in British Government policy in Ireland?

A shift in emphasis- all Ireland mapping

From the Irish Times:

We share the same island but a new interactive atlas mapping census data from both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland reveals some big differences north and south of the border.

An interactive mapping tool developed by the All Island Research Observatory (AIRO) based in NUI Maynooth reveals that ethnicity, religious belief and people’s perceptions of their own health vary greatly between north and south.

In the Republic 84.5 per cent of the population were of a white ethnic background, a statistic taken from the 2011 census. Yet in the same year in Northern Ireland an overwhelming majority of the population, or 98.2 per cent, listed ‘white’ as their ethnicity.

The All-Island Atlas allows users to look at the data at small area level meaning they can zoom in on areas which contain an average population of 277 people.

So, for example, while some areas around Limavady in Northern Ireland are more than 99 per cent ‘white’, over 40 per cent of the population in one neighbourhood off the Ormeau Road in Belfast (population 118) lists their ethnicity as Asian.

The map, which is now available to browse on airo.ie also gives users a striking visual breakdown of religious orientation on both sides of the border, as well as the concentration of religious backgrounds at a small-area level.

It also allows users to see, at a glance, how people rate their health in both the North and in the Republic with some surprising differences: less than half (47.7 per cent) of the population of Northern Ireland rate their health as ‘very good’ compared to almost 62 per cent in the Republic, while the percentage of people who rate their health as ‘very bad’ was four times higher in the North.

The combined mapping of the 2011 census data, which was carried out by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency in the North and by the Central Statistics Office(CSO) in the Republic, can only be compared once every decade because the census is only carried out once every 10 years in the North.

Justin Gleeson of AIRO says that mapping the data, something he described as a “once-in-a-decade opportunity”, had been aided by improvements in technology in past 10 years as well as an enhanced level of detail at “almost neighbourhood level” which have combined to allow AIRO to map “seamless data” from both sides of the border.

Mr Gleeson said the combination of the two datasets were important as “life doesn’t stop for the Border”.

“There’s a huge interest in all this because the border isn’t a concrete wall: people use services on either side of it so you need this evidence base to see what’s going on on both sides: you can’t look at these two areas in isolation anymore.”

Link to the Map:: http://airomaps.nuim.ie/flexviewer/?config=AllIslandAtlas.xml

 

Don Deireadh Seachtaine

(Or “something for the weekend” for the non Irish speakers out there)

Sammy kicks off our new series……….

Last week it was Gerry who dominated the Irish media – this week it was Roy’s turn. Roy, who is either the greatest Corkonian since the big Fellah liberated the 3 Green Fields or the most traitorous Corkman since the big Fellah cut a deal with the British and gave away the 4th Green Field. Take your pick.

Yes, Roy Keane had been appointed assistant manager to Martin O’Neill for Ireland/Republic of Ireland/The Beggars(Copyright OWC).

In an historic U-turn, the boy Roy had gone to work for his (former) sworn enemies – the FAI – if Gerry had turned up at Westiminster when he was MP for West Belfast to swear an oath of allegiance to herself – there would have been less surprise.

Saturday’s Irish Times reported on ‘Northener’ Martin O’Neill’s first press conference as Roy’s boss where Martin, in seeking to allay fears regarding Roy’s temperament, suggested that “a bit of volatility never did anybody any harm”. (Not a view likely to be shared by Mick McCarthy)
http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/soccer/international/video-martin-o-neill-brings-calm-before-the-storm-1.1589994

Back across the international frontier (in Green Field number 4) there were howls of outrage over another footballing matter when word spread that Enda Kenny, head honcho of Green Fields (1,2 and 3) wanted an ‘All Ireland’ team. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/taoiseach-enda-kenny-wants-allireland-team-to-play-england-at-croke-park-29737499.html

As you might expect this All Ireland malarkey did not go down well on OurWeeCountry(OWC) the Northern Ireland fans website where they also have to put up with the lesser O’Neill(Michael) as their manager and their best players opting/being poachrd to play for their bitterest rivals. (Martin O’Neill also, not unexpectedly, was the target for some choice ‘criticism’). http://ourweecountry.ipbhost.com/

Sunday was ‘Rememberance Sunday’ and in Green Field Number 4 that means trying to remember all those illuminating arguements about wearing or not wearing a poppy which were enjoyed by everyone so much in previous years. Last week, it was noted how the boy Jude(Collins) leapt to the defence of Gerry (Adams) and on (Rememberance) Sunday, Jude appeared on the (excellent) BBC Radio Progam, Sunday Sequence, to discuss the fallout of the previous weeks BBC program on the disappeared. In soccerball parlance, the boy Jude done good (he perhaps wisely avoids giving his own view opting instead to explain the ‘Republican’ perspective.) Some very interesting comments from Dawn Purvis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03hcm77

If you fancy an alternative view on Remeberance try this –

http://www.philmacgiollabhain.ie/remembering-the-fallen-2/

Over on Slugger, I’m afraid it was largely tedious – dominated as it was by the thorough coverage of the SDLP conference which is always likely to be at least a bit – if not very – tedious and both Slugger and (comeback kid) FJH covered the death of Eddie McGrady.

 http://fitzjameshorselooksattheworld.wordpress.com/2013/11/11/eddie-mcgrady-rip/.

And it was depressing news as usual with  the ‘right to march to school’ probably now also on the agenda for Richard ‘Clint’ Haas who has checked into a local saloon and will be rounding up the usual suspects for a showdown over their poor behaviour.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/schoolgirl-who-fears-walking-through-ardoyne-loses-case-1.1592294

The good news of Ireland (3 Green Fields only) exiting the bailout couldn’t even get a positive noise out of the Irish Times who seemed to be lamenting a lost opportunity for more ‘reform’ whilst there were foriegners about the place to take the blame.(God be with the days when we just blamed the Englezes for everything)

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/real-story-of-bailout-exit-is-how-good-crisis-was-wasted-1.1590267

To be fair to Slugger, perhaps the most interesting (and best) tinternet story of the week was by Brian Walker – writing about the death of the BBC political correspondent John Cole and noting how his Unionist attitudes had hindered his carreer in the British press – attitudes that I dont think could be gleaned from his excellent BBC broadcasting.

 http://sluggerotoole.com/2013/11/08/john-cole-a-personal-view/

Slán – and dont forget folks – there are only 39 flag protests days left ’till xmas.

Oh Dear, FJH is back

Fitzjameshorse is back.

He retired from blogging some time ago but has reconsidered. In his usual style there has been no announcement or fanfare. Just wanted to let those of you with an interest in contemporary Jacobean politics know.

Fitzjameshorse, needless to say, drives me mad sometimes as I’m sure he does to the SDLP party in general. (And I’m no SDLP’er)

The British Labour party had their Anthony Wedgwood Benn, The Tories have Boris, Fianna Fail had their differences with Neil Blaney and as for the UUP…Well, that’s a developing story.

I always thought that his contribution was worthwhile and his experience worth listening to. Perhaps his “retirement” was a fit of pique, I don’t know but he is back.

If I may say something directly. ” Please don’t leave the field without good reason”

A New Random Series

Sammy McNally of this Parish has come up with a sensible suggestion. A regular post highlighting, well, highlights from the web.

Sammy is kicking things off although he appears to be a more avid Newsletter reader than Carrickally!

It was a week dominated by the reaction to the (excellent) BBC program – which you could be forgiven for thinking was about Gerry Adams – but was actually about the Disappeared…

Unionists did however take some time off from demanding Gerry’s resignation to complain about being force fed Irish stationery – “I’ve no time for the Irish language when it’s being shoved down your throat.”

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/bi-lingual-boycott-by-dup-councillor-1-5633618
and Unionists also had time to complain about the other Gerry (Kelly) signing his new book

“I am totally disgusted. We have good community relations in Antrim that we have all been trying to build, so to bring a convicted terrorist ”

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/gerry-kelly-urged-to-cancel-book-signing-near-massereene-murder-site-1-5657179

In the comments section – before the Newsletter removed it – someone had suggested that rather than Antrim having good community relations – “It was a wee black hole”.
Back to Gerry (Adams) – having perhaps sated itself in the preceeding weeks on the charges against Gerry’s (Adams) brother – and why that also meant Gerry had to go – Slugger was somewhat more reserved than might have been expected (by its own enthusiastic standards for criticising the Adams family) with only 5 posts on the subject (by Friday evening).
At times like these both Gerrys’ can normally find some tinternet succour over on Jude Collins’s site – and the boul Jude didn’t disappoint – sticking rigidily to the requirement for ‘proof’ of Gerry’s involvement in the IRA.

http://judecollinsjournalist.blogspot.co.uk/

(Note to Jude: Asking whether Gerry (Adams) was ever in the IRA is bit like asking if Alex Ferguson ever played for Manchester United)

…and the week finsished with some good news with wee Davey Ford the Minister for Peace Walls assuring everyone that the new Peace wall through the grounds of St Matthews Church was not actually a Peace wall at all – because it could could be retracted – and was only there for those occasions when projectiles were in transit in either direction.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/structure-used-as-barrier-to-sectarian-attacks-not-a-peace-wall-1-5665713

My own contributions would be the following two pieces (BD):

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/poppycock–or-why-remembrance-rituals-make-me-see-red-8927751.html

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21589231-even-if-scotland-votes-stay-united-kingdom-union-fraying-centrifuge?fsrc=scn/tw_ec/the_centrifuge

Language please!

Language seems to assume ridiculous importance here.
It is a means to define identity. We seem to think it important how we say things. Derry or Londonderry, Aitch or Haitch, The North, Norn Iron or the six counties.
I had an interesting conversation today with a Derry girl who self consciously corrected herself as being a Londonderry girl. I said nothing but I understood. There is much that doesn’t need to be said.
Being a Dubliner I fully understand the subtleties of why Corkmen or my ex wife from Mayo would not speak the same language as I do. Mrs Bangordub is from Enniskillen and speaks a western language that I am only learning now after years. That is actually one of the reasons why I am still mad about Her.
It would be easy to take the proverbial, so it would. It is much better to be a Dub learning, so it is.

I should add that I have, with my limited knowledge of Irish, probably done more for the learning of our shared language, than any Govt scheme I know of. So has Linda Ervine.