Irish schoolkids vote to quit Paris trip in protest at Henry goal

BY THOMAS KINSELLA (http://newsfromireland-quirkynews.blogspot.com)

A group of 52 Irish schoolkids have pulled out of a planned school trip to Paris in protest against the failure of the French FA to make any conciliatory gesture in the Thierry Henry "cheatgate" affair.

The fourth-year students from Ballyeighter Secondary School in Westmeath were to spend four nights in the French capital early next month, but last night, they took a vote to switch their trip to Munich as anger mounted in the saga over the controversial goal which knocked Ireland out of the World Cup.

The trip for which the students were paying €500 each had been planned for five months but the students said that they were boycotting Paris because they felt Ireland had been cheated by the French and the world football body FIFA.

Principal Sheila O Baoill said last evening that the teachers had not put any pressure on the students in the vote.

"The travel company had told us that next Monday would be the last day that we could change our destination, and such was the anger and disappointment in the

in the school after Wednesday's match that the students decided to take a vote on it.

"They said that they did not want to be supporting the tourism of a country that had not shown Ireland any respect and one that did not stand by the integrity of international sporting rules.

"They then took a vote and all 52 students voted to cancel Paris and go instead to Munich," she said.

Student leader Micheal Sheridan said that it was just a small gesture but one that he hoped would be replicated by other potential holiday-makers from Ireland who were considering supporting French tourism.

"I don't think in any way that this will have much impact on French tourism or make the French FA reconsider, but we feel that we are proud of our country and we will not spend our holiday money in a country that is represented by cheats in their national football team.

"They showed little respect for Ireland in Croke Park with the way they behaved and this latest act of deceitment, allied with the behaviour of FIFA in the seeding process has angered us all.

"This is a stand for Ireland and for our national pride," he said, adding that all French products should be boycotted for a period of time.

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IRISH CHOIR PLACES JACKSON'S 'FIELDS OF ATHENRY' TAPES UNDER BANK LOCK AND KEY

By Kevin Brady (http://newsfromireland-quirkynews.blogspot.com/)

DUBLIN, IRELAND - The priceless recording of Michael Jackson singing The Fields of Athenry with an Irish choir, has been placed in a bank vault until its exact ownership is determined.

News of the amazing recording was revealed this week as the late King of Pop's movie This It It opened in cinemas worldwide, but the revelation is set to spark off an international battle for royalties should the Caheraggin Village Choir opt to release the song which could turn out to be his last ever recorded single.

The amazing recording featuring the late Jacko singing six verses of the popular Irish song only emerged last week when the choir revealed that they had the digital tapes of the impromptu session recorded while the star was living in Ireland in 2006.

However, now their spokesman Kevin Gillane has revealed that the choir and its trustees have determined that after all, they may hold the entire rights to the recording as technically Jackson was merely a guest on their recording.

'Technically, what we were doing when he sang the song was recording the Caheraggin Christmas choir single, so it was recorded in our time. We were in the former Sunset Studios recording our album with owner, the late Gerry McGrade when we were asked to work on doing some backing vocals for material that Mr Jackson and his people were working on.

"However, it was during our paid-for time and down time in his recording that we got together to sing The Fields of Athenry, so technically, this creates a different issue for the choir and the trustees. That is why we have placed the tapes in the vault," he said.

If the song proves to be releasable, then the village choir from Caherraggin and the song's writer Pete St John could be in for a massive windfall. St John already benefits from the song being used in football grounds in Liverpool, Glasgow and wherever the Munster and Irish rugby teams play.

Jackson became attracted to the song because of the line "Michael, they have taken you away." The song refers to the deportation of an Irishman during the Famine years of the mid-1840s.

The recording was discovered by the secretary of the Caherraggin Choir group, who were brought in to perform backing tracks in rehearsal sessions while Jackson spent five months in the county recording in 2006. Mr Gillane said last week they had known about the recording for three years but were unwilling to record it out of friendship and respect for Jackson.

However, they have now denied reports that they are now merely exploiting the singer's publicity

"No, that is not the case," said Mr Gillane. "That is why we met last night (Saturday) and decided to ensure that the digital tapes, and all the recorded materials be placed in the bank vault. We do not want to be seen as exploiting the situation at all.

However, AEG who own the rights to This Is It said that they were not involved in any way with negotiations with the Irish choir as the recordings were now made under their jurisdiction.

Music analysts have estimated that the recording could be worth as much as 20 million dollars to the owners of the tape.

Marve Herbstein, the NY publisher said that he is aware that several record labels are investigating the reports and that Sony Music may not be able to claim ownership of the Jackson recording if the singer performed as a guest on the Irish recording.

"Whatever way it works out, a new Michael Jackson single, away from all the controversy of This Is It would be worth at least twenty million dollars for starters to whoever owns the rights," he said.

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JACKO'S LAST SONG MAY HAVE BEEN IRISH FAMINE DIRGE

Irish choir have priceless recording of King of Pop singing Fields of Athenry

BY KEVIN BRADY

(IRELAND, WEDNESDAY) Michael Jackson's last original recording may not be any of the music featured in the This Is It movie, but an off the cuff singalong of The Fields of Athenry with a little known Irish choir.

The amazing recording featuring the late Jacko singing six verses of the popular Irish song only emerged tonight (Wednesday) when the choir revealed that they had the digital tapes to the impromptu session recorded while the star was living in Ireland in 2006.

If the song proves to be releasable, then the village choir from Caherraggin and the song's writer Pete St John could be in for a massive windfall. St John already benefits from the song being used in football grounds in Liverpool, Glasgow and wherever the Munster and Irish rugby teams play.

Jackson became attracted to the song because of the line "Michael, they have taken you away." The song refers to the deportation of an Irishman during the Famine years of the mid-1840s.

The recording was discovered by the secretary of the Caherraggin Choir group, who were brought in to perform backing tracks in rehearsal sessions while Jackson spent five months in the county recording in 2006. Spokesman for the choir Kieran Gillane said last night they had known about the recording for three years but were unwilling to record it out of friendship for the singer and in the last few months, out of respect for him after he passed away.

"He had a great interest in the old Irish stories so one day while we were there getting ready to provide a sort of choral wall for him, we started belting out Irish songs and he was fascinated by The Fields of Athenry, especially, the song has a line "Michael, they have taken you away."

"He was amazed by that that and then he asked for the lyrics.

"We were doing this to loosen up the vocal chords but Mr Jackson came in with his entourage and clapped to the music.

"He wanted to know what it was so we printed out the lyrics and he sang along to it for about five minutes. At that stage, we were all laughing as he didn't make a bad fist of it at all.

"The decks were recording our own efforts and so it was all put down on tape and lo and behold, it is excellent quality.

"We have had it in the local studios and the engineers say that it is possible to make something out of it. We haven't contacted Mr St John yet about it because as a mark of respect to Mr Jackson and the release of his film.

"However, now that we know there is considerable interest in it, it may be a hit, you'd never know.

Last night, a spokesman for the company who owned the rights to Mr Jackson's music for the This Is It concert series said that they had known for some time that he had made several recordings in Ireland which are not their property because they were made in his private capacity.

"We know that Michael had a very enjoyable time in Ireland and recorded several songs but any recordings there would be totally owned by the Jackson estate, his record company and his legal entity.

SUNDERLAND BEACH BALL THROWER IS DEVASTATED, SAYS IRISH UNCLE

BY THOMAS KINSELLA

 

(IRELAND, SATURDAY) The young LIverpool fan who threw the beachball at Sunderland that ended up sinking his own team's title hopes is "devastated" over the matter, according to his Irish uncle.

The fan who has not yet been named was seen on TV throwing the ball onto the pitch at the Stadium of Light and moments later, a shot which deflected off it, went past Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina for what proved to be the only goal of the game.

Paddy Lawless, from Caherreagh, in Westmeath said on Saturday night that his nephew is devastated about the incident.

"He is genuinely scared. He's my sister's lad and was really looking forward to travelling to the game at Sunderland. I spoke to him during the week and he was really thrilled, but he was a different lad after the game.

"He said that he thought the ball wouldn't be left on the pitch and would have been removed by a ballboy.

However,  the wind caught it and brought it further out into the pitch and into the goalmouth, where it resulted in the freak goal by Darren Bent that has all but killed Liverpool's league chance.

"He is afraid to go out now because a lot of the guys he knows had money on the game and they are genuinely annoyed about that happened, and all it takes is one lunatic to attack him," he said. 

"The goal should not have been allowed, but that's another story. The bottom line is that he has become well known in Liverpool now for something totally freakish."

"I'm genuinely worried for him now. He was crying on the phone tonight when I rang him. It was shown here on the telly in the pub and when I saw it shown on the Tv, I said 'of all the people in the ground and it had to be him.'

"However, the pubowner in The Dragon's Arms bought me a pint because he's a Man United fan, so it hasn't been bad luck for all the family. I hope it'll all blow over in a few days," he said.

ANGRY ELDERLY KNITTERS TO KNIT HAIR SHIRT FOR CEANN COMHAIRLE

BY NOIRIN CAWLEY (http://newsfromireland-quirkynews.blogspot.com)

A west of Ireland-based group of elderly knitters angered that its Community Development Grant was cut in the last budget is to knit a special hairshirt for underfire Ceann Comhairle John O'Donoghue.

The Ballinaskeagh Knitters Group which aims to combat isolation among elderly rural women had been in operation using a €5,000 Community development Grant but this was cut in this year's Emergency Budget.

Now the angry group are to knit a special hair shirt to be sent to the Ceann Comhairle to make the point that one of his trips at the races cost as much as their grant.

Maisie Corcoran who heads up the knitting group said that the amount of money that they received in a grant was the amount that he would spend in an afternoon.

"The amount of money that keep our group going for three years was the same amount of money that he spent at Longchamps. We have 16 women who had not been out of their homes for many years before this programme came along and then it was cut.

"Now we can all accept that we have had to tighten our belts, but when you see the expenditure by this man, it makes us all very angry.

"So this week, we decided to use goat hair and knit a special hairshirt as a symbol of what he should be wearing and of our anger.

"We will be travelling to Dublin to present this to him at the Dail and we will see if he has gall enough to come out and take it from us," she said, adding that the grant cut had devastate

"We met twice a week for knitting and a chat and it was great because it gave us all a chance to get out and about and contribute something to the community

"It enabled people who had been out of society for many years to renew their skills and then it was all dashed by people like Mr O Donoghue. Just one month of his state car would pay for us to keep going for two years," she said.

ISLAND DOG ROGER FIRST UP TO VOTE IN LISBON POLL

RUFF JUSTICE AS MISTAKEN IDENTITY GIVES SHEEPDOG A VOTE

By Kevin Brady (News From Ireland)

THE first person who presented himself to cast their vote on the Aran Islands this week was a dog, it has emerged.

The border collie named Roger was brought along to the polling station at Scoil Eanna by its owner, who presented a valid polling card in the dog's name.

His owner Seanin Mac Dhonnchadha said that he got the surprise of his life when his 12-year-old sheepdog received the polling card."

"When the polling paper came out, I got two, which was strange as I live on my own. One was for me and the other was for a Roger MacDhonnchadha. That's the dog's name, you see, but I asked the postman if it was a joke, but he said no.

"I don't know how it happened that Roger got his own card, but he did. Everyone knows Roger so maybe for the laugh, someone said that Seanin and Roger live there," he said.

"The women at the polling station were laughing when I showed up with the dog and with the card.

"I suppose if I pushed it I could have got him the vote, but they were having none of it," he said.

Mr O Dhonnchadha said that he voted Yes himself but that he could not be sure which way the dog would vote if given the chance.

"He can be a cantankerous auld divil some mornings so on a day like that, he could be going for the No side," he said.

A spokesman for the Department of the Environment said yesterday that he did not know how this could have happened, but that there was never any question of the dog being allowed to vote.

"For a variety of reasons, there is some confusion at polling time over names and addresses and so on. In the past we've had babies who have receiving polling cards, but this is the first time that a dog has been registered.

"However, with the history of legal actions against referenda in the past, it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility that a legal challenge might be made to allow him to vote," he said.

Roger and Seanin were back home last night after their day in the limelight on the island.

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NEWS FROM IRELAND - FROM A TRUSTED TEAM OF REGIONAL IRISH JOURNALISTS

Hello and welcome to News From Ireland — this is a website set up and operated by a group of journalists who have all been made redundant during the recent economic crisis. There are six of us involved in this venture which will upgrade to a proper news site in a few weeks time when the redundancy cheques arrive. The team is led by myself, Kevin Brady, and I am ably assisted by my team of Sile Nolan, Noirin Cawley, Thomas Kinsella, Simon Kilfeather and Deirdre Delahunty.

Here's our biogs:

Kevin Brady

28 years working with a large provincial newspaper in the Midlands. I joined straight from school and worked my way up to senior news reporter and sometimes editor whenever himself was away on holidays. I cover news, sport, politics and music. I won a McNamee Award for my GAA writing in the mid 1990s and the AT Cross Award for Outstanding Young Journalist in the mid 1980s. I'm a jovial character who is always on the lookout for a good yarn and I hope that the team I have selected around me will provide that. If you have any good yarns, you can send them to us here. I'll have all the contact details sorted later when the fella from Dell gets back to me about the server here.

Sile Nolan

Sile is a class act. She's worked in the radio and has a college degree in journalism. She is also a talented athlete having represented Meath in the Community Games finals on many times and her picture having graced the pages of our papers as well. She is very good on quiz teams and is excellent at covering meetings as she has great shorthand. When the radio let her go this year, I told her she would be on my team here at NFI and here she is.

Noirin Cawley

Noirin joined her local newspaper in the west in 1983 and won an AT Cross award like myself. She specialises in womens issues like health and welfare and entertainment and music and showbiz. Her contacts book must rival Simon Cowell's. Noirin will be bringing us the lowdown on all the happenings in the entertainment world.

Thomas Kinsella— Thomas is our sports expert. He played u-19 rugby for the province and has ben called into several development squads. He has a college degree as well in media so he knows his way around a keyboard. He got a trial with Aston Villa and Scunthorpe United three years ago and now he plys his trade with RossHill United in the local premier league. Thomas has an unique turn of phrase that will brighten up the sports stories in the coming months. He was gutted to be let go by his local paper, saying that he would never buy anything Scottish again ever. He's a gas man.

Simon Kilfeather

Simon is a real all-rounder too. He was a finalist in the Young Scientist of the Year award back in the 1980s and he will be covering all aspects of technology for us. He has a college degree as well, but not in journalism or media, but in systems analysis and computer programming. He is single and lives in the village.

Deirdre Delahunty

Deirdre is a real journalist. She could pick out a story from a mile away. She has a college Masters degree in Journalism which she got in Galway. She has worked for the national newspapers in Dublin and several of the locals. She is not too downhearted by the layoffs at her local paper and is looking forward to keeping her hand in by working for us here at NFI.

So that's the team. No doubt with the layoffs in the industry, there will be plenty out there who will be contributing to us over the next while. Please bookmark us on your browser and we will be here regularly bringing you quirky news stories from the regions.