London bomber seen as victim of an obsession

THE national and international media may have made the funeral in Gorey of IRA member Ed O'Brien look like a peace demonstration, but the local media were not buying it. The banning of the IRA by the O'Brien family was not the clear cut illustration of the people's growing revulsion at the IRA which outsiders made it out to be, the local press believed.

"Sinn Fein IRA make their presence felt at funeral," said the Gorey Guardian, which went on to list a who's who of the "dozen or so" Sinn Fein members in attendance.

The Echo also had no illusions, blaming O'Brien's choice to become a bomber on being reared in "a county obsessed with nationalism."

It said: "The loving environment of the O'Brien family home was powerless to censor the influence on their son of a society enmeshed in the darkness of this country's history."

Parents all over Limerick are wondering why their teenagers have not become terrorists too, said the Limerick Leader, which described O'Brien's actions as a symptom of "teenage rebelliousness."

"How was it that young Ed got involved with the death squads?" despite his good family background, the Leader asked. "Ed O'Brien was evidently imbued with idealism and a sense of injustice if not a natural teenage rebelliousness." The question that should be asked is: how did society respond?"

Not very well, it believed. "Contemporary culture seems to afford idealism less room than it did, say, in the Sixties. With the death of conviction politics, pragmatism has for years now been the order of the day . . .

"Society - not least Fianna Fail (`the Republican party') and Fine Gael (`the United Ireland Party') could and should do more to ensure that the patriotism of youth is allowed full and peaceful expression in the life of the nation."

If even the peace marchers cannot be peaceful, what hope is there? The Sligo Champion, in its coverage of the peace rally there, focused on the "vicious assaults" which are alleged to have occurred when "furious peace rally marchers" confronted Sinn Fein marchers who attempted to display political placards.

THE local press in Wexford played an enormous role, not only locally but nationally, in its coverage of the Bishop Comiskey affair - so how did it approach the day of reckoning last week? The Echo, which has adopted a far more cautious stance than the Wexford People, did not carry a word about the bishop in its edition of Thursday, March 29th (the day after the press conference). That's good news for the bishop, because it looks as if he can purchase at least one local newspaper from now on without fear of reading about himself.

The People, which has been so dogged in its coverage of the affair for months that at times it has led the national media, was not at all chastened by the Bishop's statements, unlike some of the national press. Vigorously defending its poll which found that 55 per cent of people had little or no confidence in Bishop Comiskey, it fully and neutrally covered his statement - but allowed its colour writer to get the knife in.

"Like a well coached Daniel entering the lion's den," wrote Maria Pepper of the Bishop's performance. "What a show it was - the style was more plentiful than the substance, but the choreography was top class and the presentation was faultless."

Ms Pepper "didn't get a back stage pass" but she got to "see the headline act" and from the "plain Marietta biscuits", to the "fresh faced seminary students" directing the incoming traffic, Pepper left no detail unnoticed.

The Wicklow People had interesting coverage of another major story of the week, the allegations about abuse at St Kyran's orphanage in Rathdrum.

Local people were "shocked", at the negative publicity surrounding the now elderly nun at the centre of the allegations. "The articles paint a picture of a woman different from the one they knew," the Wicklow People said.

Croom, Co Limerick had its own "Black Friday" last week when a council tar lorry "ran amok" in the town, blackening houses, spraying a row of 12 brand new cars, and turning passing schoolchildren into "tar babies". Writing about the "tar-some" affair in the Limerick Leader, Norma Prendiville said that "the toast of the week in the pubs of Croom was "a gallon of the blackstuff and whatever you're having yourself... Now, if only we could coax that tar happy lorry out around Knockaderry where there really are potholes to be filled in each and every direction."