Prayer Request for Northern Ireland
A 225-pound car bomb went off in front of a courthouse in Newry, Co. Down two weeks ago today. Thankfully, no one was injured. A splinter group of Irish Republicans is claiming responsibility, having tipped off police just 17 minutes before the explosion.
While this is an unfortunate incident, there has been increased activities like this leading up to that Monday. This past summer, both Protestant and Catholic families have been intimidated out of their homes and riots are becoming more common, usually involving teenagers. Police and their police stations have been attacked with increasing regularity and severity, whether it be gunfire or blasts from petrol bombs, and the intent is to kill. This month marks the one-year anniversary of three policemen’s deaths due to this new surge of violence.
From RTÉ News: “Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern has said the threat posed by dissident Republicans is as dangerous as it was at any time during the 30 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He said there was a growing escalation of major incidents since September last year.”
The green and orange colors of the Irish Republic flag were painted on a herd of sheep owned by a Protestant farmer. Even an editor from a known Sunday newspaper was beaten up in the center of Belfast in November due to his reports about this surge in violence. Sir Patrick Cormack was quoted as saying that those responsible for all the attacks “have no respect for human life and must not be allowed to dictate progress.” Indeed, one of the dissidents’ own was found executed in a brutal manner as they thought he had informed police about them.
The vast majority of people living in Northern Ireland want peace and do not condone any of this behavior. Please pray for peace in Northern Ireland.
Lately Around Ireland
- County Kildare is in the top three counties for highest increase in unemployment; not surprisingly, crime is also rising
- “Head Shops” are springing up everywhere, taking advantage of the lag in laws by selling what are, for now, “legal highs”
- All aspects of horseracing (popular in County Kildare), including bloodstock sales, are down substantially this year
- From the “I’m Not Making This Up” category: people across Ireland are being asked to report anytime they see a frog or tadpoles due to an EU mandate to count frogs; this will cost €120,000 to complete but will result in a much larger fine if it is not completed
- The average lifespan continues to rise in Ireland, and those living to 100 and beyond are expected to increase by 13 fold by 2041
- Fears for increased violence were raised over a possible law that will allow homeowners to use lethal force against intruders
- A 30km/hr (18 mile/hr) speed limit has been introduced to the heart of Dublin in an attempt to prevent pedestrian injuries; grid lock usually ensures that you can’t even drive that fast!
- A Sligo medical doctor is hoping to revive an interest in eating seaweed with his cookbook, “The Irish Seaweed Kitchen”; seaweed is also used in seaside communities as a fertilizer
- There are an estimated 600 “ghost estates” (tract housing developments) throughout the country that are either structurally incomplete or sparsely populated; meanwhile, an estimated 60,000 people are behind in their mortgage payments
- Unemployment is now at 12.7% and is not increasing due to out-of-work people emigrating permanently out of Ireland
- A meteorite, witnessed by many, is suspected to have landed in the Midlands though it has yet to be located
- This was officially the coldest winter in Ireland in the last 47 years; the south and south-west enjoyed the sunniest February in four decades
- An invitation to visit Ireland is expected to go out soon to Queen Elizabeth; if she accepts, she will be the first British monarch to visit Ireland since it became a Republic and it’s believed this visit would accelerate the peace process
It’s the Eighties Again: Ireland’s Youth Leaving
If you’re familiar with recent Irish history, then you know that unemployment was at its worst in the 1980s. This meant that most young people emigrated out of Ireland for jobs in Britain, the US and Australia; it was just expected once someone graduated school. When the Celtic Tiger started providing more jobs in the 1990s, not only did some of these Irish return to their homeland, a new generation grew up with the expectation of staying in Ireland as an adult.
Now that attitude is changing as unemployment is expected to hit 13.8%, so the number of people leaving has spiked back to 1980s levels. This article in Business Week sums it up, and while the short-term outlook is not good, perhaps things will settle down in a few years’ time. When you see the numbers of jobs lost, they may look like a small amount, but remember that Ireland has only about 4 million people in the Republic.
Check out the article here: “The New Generation Leaving Ireland”
Interview in today’s Kildare Nationalist
Click on the image to view an interview article about me for the Kildare Nationalist. This is from today’s paper, 17 February 2010.
Note: Depending on your internet browser, you may need to click on the opened image of the article once more to enlarge it to view the actual size so you can read it. 
Second Evening Service Went Great
Last night we had our new evening service for the second time. It is a monthly service for now, but we are hoping and praying that eventually it will be weekly. Not counting a couple annual services that we have (Christmas & Harvest), it was our largest attended service since I became pastor here. Combined attendance in the two services was 76, and not counting those coming to both services, we had 58 different people in church yesterday!
I think the biggest surprise was that we had more people at our evening service than our morning service. With it being Valentine’s day, we weren’t really sure what type of attendance we would have. We were encouraged not only by the turnout, but that people were inviting friends, one couple came because of a mention in a local newspaper, and also that the format of the service was so well received.
Ireland Weather
