Well done on getting the interview UI: very interesting.
The one motive for joining the EU that ambassador Sobkow doesn't mention but that both drove countries is getting out from under the thumb (at least in the eyes of others) of large neighbours. AFAIK Jack Lynch explicitly said that membership of the EEC, as was, would be good for Irish sovereignty. I presume the Poles were also motivated by the wish to be seen as an independent Western European state and to put the old Eastern Bloc associations behind them.
Just thinking about it now, I suppose that the Polish situation is a bit more complex than the one we faced. After all, loosening ties with Russian by joining the EU has meant creating a close relationship with Germany. On the face of it, that this is possible is one of the great things about the EU, but I wonder what Poles think about it?
Interesting interview UI, so well done for that. However, the ambassador's responses seem a little sycophantic to my reading. It would also have been interesing to hear his views on the state of minority rights in his country - didn't the mayor of Warsaw or some other high-powered politician crack down heavily on the rights of gay protestors some time recently??
On other matters... you certainly have received a battering on the comments page of Twenty Major yesterday. Couldn't locate the offending post of yours (28.03.06) to judge for myself. Might not always agree with what you write, but debate is healthy.
again UI you have got a good interview especially given the number of Polish coming to work in Ireland. However I would have liked you to ask him about how the polish will try to adapt to Irish lifestyle. A while back you were giving out about a Polish part to the evening hearld but no question in relation to this topic.
You were getting a ribbing on twenty about the Saying good bye posts not any other article.
MacDara
"However I would have liked you to ask him about how the polish will try to adapt to Irish lifestyle. A while back you were giving out about a Polish part to the evening hearld but no question in relation to this topic."
I don't recall giving out about about the Evening Herald. In relation to how the Polish will try to adapt to Irish lifestyle, in fairness he did say they felt at home through the Polish shops, churches etc.
In relation to the Twenty Major post, the comments are disappointing and people have got the wrong end of the stick but as Oscar Wilde once said:
"The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about."
"One example of such a positive attitude is a decision to give up the requirement of knowing the Irish language for Garda recruits - as a result more than 200 immigrants are being trained to serve the Irish and their national communities - this is a step towards a better integration."
Interesting point that Ambassador Sobkow makes about the Irish language requirement being a bar to immigrants entering certain national services. I guess accomodating them by removing such requirements is an example of how we lose a little of our own identity in the process. Ah well, compromise is the nature of community.
“A cable television channel for the greater Dublin area is to broadcast the country’s first ever dedicated Polish programme.”
”I think this is absurd!”
”These people have chosen to come to our country and I don't begrudge them that right. I would however like to see them make an effort to adopt to our way of life. Such has been the case for Irish people who have gone abroad to other countries.”
Therefore, I think this idea is very bad. It's a waste of money in my view.
UI your right it was about a TV program not the Newspaper.
Yes I thought so.
Do you still think so?
It's gone awfully quiet in here UI...
JG
"Do you still think so?"
Do I still think what?
MacDara quoted UI:
"Therefore, I think this idea is very bad. It's a waste of money in my view."
UI responded: "Yes I thought so."
JG asked: "Do you still think so?"
Just curious...
JG,
MacDara thought a post I made about a TV station was actually about a newspaper. As he acknowledged:
"UI your right it was about a TV program not the Newspaper."
I replied:
"Yes I thought so."
You then asked:
"Do you still think so?"
So I wasn't sure if you were asking for my opinion or whether you disputed that the post was in fact about a TV programme.
I still stand by my initial views if that's what you meant as I felt the whole thing was patronising and OTT.
the whole thing was patronising and OTT
How? It's a tv show in a language you don't understand.
Patronising to them. Irish people who went abroad didn't desire an Irish channel to feel at home. God knows what that would have been like anyway...
UI, do you know any foreigners that live here?
"UI, do you know any foreigners that live here?"
I know several.
I remember you saying before, when Chris Gaskin asked you, that you knew families in the North who had been victims of state collusion with loyalist mobs. Is that true UI?
I've lived in America and Australia. In America they have an Irish paper called The Irish Emigrant and another called The Irish Echo. In Australia they have The Irish Voice. Are they patronising to Irish expats?
JG
"I remember you saying before, when Chris Gaskin asked you, that you knew families in the North who had been victims of state collusion with loyalist mobs. Is that true UI?"
I don't recall being asked that by Chris Gaskin. What's with all the questions anyway?
"I've lived in America and Australia. In America they have an Irish paper called The Irish Emigrant and another called The Irish Echo. In Australia they have The Irish Voice. Are they patronising to Irish expats?"
I note these aren't TV channels but it's worth acknowledging that Irish people have emigrated to America and Australia for centuries, a point Ambassador Sobkow acknowledged. Polish people have been in this country only a short period of time and I looked upon the TV channel as unnecessary mollycoddling.
unnecessary mollycoddling
What? They set it up themselves. More power to them.
I don't recall being asked that by Chris Gaskin. What's with all the questions anyway?
What's with the lack of an answer?
We'll agree to differ then.
"What's with the lack of an answer?"
What's with the all the questions?
Agreeing to differ is good!
What's with all the questions? Well there's just one really, but it's important. When the OTR legislation was proposed and SF initially endorsed it you were complaining that they were letting the families down who'd been victims of the Brits' collusion with loyalist mobs. Chris stated that the families were never going to get convictions anyway and you claimed that SF were selling the families out so their OTR friends could come home.
Chris asked you did you actually know any of the families in question and you answered 'yes'. I'm sure he'd remember the exchange.
I remember thinking it highly unlikely that you were telling the truth. I thought it was much more likely that you were telling a white lie so you wouldn't have to climb down from the position you'd taken.
So that's why I asked. What is the answer?
I don't tell lies. That is the answer.
Mmmmm... a little ambiguous!
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