The Lockdown Papers by John Dillon

Author:John Dillon [Dillon, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781527248779
Google: ez5YzgEACAAJ
Publisher: Katounia Press
Published: 2021-03-03T10:45:40+00:00

Sex and scandal diet is

inedible to foreigners

April 11, 1993

There is nothing like a few months abroad for reminding one that Ireland is not after all the centre of the universe – indeed for bringing home the realisation that our actions and passions, joys and tribulations, are of almost no interest to the rest of the world, and are generally consigned to complete oblivion by our fellow earthlings. In fact, in three months in the US, the only news about Ireland that I can recall seeing – never mind in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, but even in The New York Times – was, first, the awful incest case from Kilkenny (and the remarkable verdict handed down in it), the latest heroic exploit of the Armed Strugglers in Warrington along with, I am glad to say, the impressive peace demonstration in Dublin that followed it. Nothing else can I recall, from the whole first quarter of the year.

Not that I am complaining, mind you. It is actually rather pleasant to put Ireland entirely behind one for a space, and then check in after a decent interval to see how it has been getting on. My point is merely how easy that is to do. One does not have to go to the far side of the US to achieve this result. A spell in France or Germany or across the Irish Sea in Britain would do just as well. The fact is, our doings are just not very important to the rest of the world – as we were reminded, to the chagrin of many. When one departs these shores, in fact, Ireland sinks beneath the threshold of consciousness very quickly indeed.

Admittedly, even as I write these words, news comes in that both the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom have jointly expressed an interest in finding a solution to the Northern Ireland problem, but I suggest that that is just the exception that proves the rule. If Bill Clinton ever turns his thoughts to Ireland (which he would do only very occasionally – John Major, to his grief, thinks about us somewhat more frequently), the first and perhaps only thing that would come to his mind is that problem with Catholics and Protestants up in the North which he had been persuaded to make some noises about during the campaign. And now, since he has decided that this is to be a year for tidying up trouble spots, Ireland naturally comes to his mind (though considerably below the Middle East and Bosnia in urgency – on a par with Abkhazia or Liberia).

But enough of that. What I really wanted to talk about is what’s new, and what’s not so new, since I went away.

First of all, what hasn’t changed? (Apart, of course, from the dismal morass of Ulster, over which I will draw a veil.) Well, first of all, there’s the Beef Tribunal. This is proceeding just as many of us had foreseen, fulfilling the fondest aspirations of the legal profession, and boring just about everyone else witless.

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